HomeMy WebLinkAboutTelecommunications Board - Minutes - 02/02/19991.
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
MEETING MINUTES
**"* February 2, 1999 ***'
*** 6:00 PM ***
Council Liaison: Chris Kneeland Staff Liaison: Liz Stroh
Chairperson: Greg Smith Phone: 686-4755 (W)
Members Present: Braun Mincher, Howard Llowell, Tim Tillson, Dave
Augustine, Greg Smith, Larry Bontempo, Tom Maher
City Staff Present: Eric Dahlgren, Gary Gordier, Liz Stroh
Guests: Kathy Stewart, TCI Area Manager
Chair Greg Smith called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM
Greg welcomed the new board member, Braun Mincher.
Aooroval of Minutes
Howard Llowell moved to accept the minutes as submitted; the motion was
seconded by Tom Maher and passed unanimously.
Fifth Year Review of TCI Franchise
Liz Stroh presented a proposed timeline for activities related to the 5th year
review of the City's cable franchise with TCI. The City's desire is to complete the
review before September, 1999.
Liz explained the board's role in the public outreach and discussed the
development of a survey to gather information regarding subscriber satisfaction
with TCI services.
Tom Maher moved to approve the timeline as submitted; seconded by Dave
Augustine. Motion was approved unanimously.
Howard Llowell asked about the Portland, Oregon franchise issue with regard to
the merger of AT&T and TCI. Liz Stroh explained the Portland issue is that of
wanting open access to cable infrastructure for competing Internet service
providers. A ruling on this is currently being discussed at the FCC level.
However, open access to the TCI system is not currently a requirement of the
City's cable franchise with TCI, and consequently cannot be required without
negotiation and modification of the franchise.
Information Strategic Plan
Gary Gordier, Information Technology Director, provided information to the Board
about activities to develop a strategic plan for City Information Technology. He
summarized recent efforts in this area, and explained that the Warner Group, a
consulting firm, has been hired to assist the City with the planning process. They
have conducted initial interviews and will be providing status reports in the
coming months as they proceed with the development of the plan. The plan will
focus on any structural/organizational changes that might help, as well as
technology use that will improve customer service. Greg asked about mission
statement and vision; Gary explained that that would be developed based on
initial interviews, and would be included in the next phase of plan development.
Gary explained the Information Technology Department is conducting 3 parallel
efforts in 1999: the completion of a strategic plan, benchmarking the City with
peer cities as a measure of success, and a customer service focus for staff. Gary
explained that the interest is to become more proactive in providing services.
Board asked for some interim reports on which they could base further comment
Tom Maher asked which cities were chosen as peer cities, and how they were
identified. Tim Tillson asked about whether or not growth was involved as criteria
for choosing the cities, and expressed interest in getting additional information on
the criteria being used to determine what constitutes a "peer city". Gary will
provide the Board with a list of cities and how they were chosen.
Other business.
Gary mentioned that representatives of the City of Ashland, Oregon would be
visiting with Fort Collins and PRPA representatives to learn more about the fiber
loop project.
Tom asked for information regarding satellite dish services providing local
programming. He asked that this item be added to a future agenda.
Howard moved to adjourn, Larry seconded the motion, which passed
unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM.