HomeMy WebLinkAboutTelecommunications Board - Minutes - 01/04/2000TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
MEETING MINUTES
**** January 4, 2000 ****
*** 6:00 PM ***
Council Liaison: Kurt Kastein Staff Liaison: Liz Stroh
Members Present: Greg Smith, Bill Murray, Howard Lowell, Braun Mincher, Larry
Bontempo
Members Absent: Tom Maher, Tim Tillson
City Staff Present: Gary Gordier, Eric Dahlgren, Liz Stroh
Guests: Kathy Stewart, TCI Area Manager
The meeting was called to order at 6:05 PM
Approval of Minutes
Howard Lowell moved to approve the minutes as amended; Bill Murray
seconded the motion; passed unanimously.
Annual Report
Liz Stroh presented the Board with a draft of the annual report for the
telecommunications Board. Howard moved to accept the report as written,
seconded by Braun Mincher. Approval of the motion was unanimous. The
report will be sent on to the City Clerk's office for inclusion in the Boards and
Commissions packet sent to City Council.
Meeting with Council Liaison
The Board members are anxious to meet with Councilmember Kurt Kastein to
discuss the Board's role, work plan and other related items. Liz will try to
schedule the meeting for January 13. If Mr. Kastein is unavailable, the second
choice is February 3`d at 6 PM.
Proposed agenda items would include those generated by the Board as well as
any Council member Kastein might add. The proposed agenda would
incorporate some or all of the following.
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➢ What does City Council want/need from the Board?
➢ What projects or efforts does City Council want the Board to be involved in,
and in what way? Examples include 800 MHz for public safety, how
new/alternate local phone providers will provide 911, 411 services to
customers.
➢ . If the Board were involved in these types of activities, how would Council
like information to go to the public? Would the Board be involved in that in
some way?
➢ Is Council interested in learning more about legislative issues related to
Telecommunications?
➢ Should the Board be involved in a review of how occupation taxes are applied
to the new/alternative phone providers? Right now, US West is the only
vendor that pays occupation taxes
Seren Innovations:
Gary reported that he had met with 2 vendors who would be seeking franchises
from the City, Wide Open West and Seren Innovations. Kathy Stewart asked if
Utility conduit space was available to other vendors. Eric Dahlgren reported that
if L&P conduit is available, it could be leased out.
Howard mentioned the concern about street cuts with all the telecommunications
providers coming to the area. There is potential loss of service for those utilities
and companies already in the rights of way. Kathy mentioned that their fiber has
been cut twice. It will be an issue for everyone in the easements.
TCI Update:
Kathy Stewart also reported that AT&T had purchased LinkStar, a satellite dish
company.
Kathy thinks there will be about 5000 @home customers by the end of the year.
Some discussion followed this announcement related to the difference between
franchise fees, and the City's occupation tax that is charged to phone companies
using the rights of way (a per line charge is currently assessed to US West)
Larry Bontempo pointed out that if the franchise fee assessed to some
companies for this service is more than the occupation tax, there might be issues
of equity and neutral competitive advantage. Should other vendors begin
providing just phone service, it would be inequitable to continue to charge US
West the occupation tax without charging the new companies..
AT&T Cable Services has completed the system upgrade to 550 MHz, 53 analog
channels included in basic tier, 1 Pay per View analog channel, 5 premium
channels. Three additional channels will be added in February. The upgrade
was completed December 17, 2000 and certifications were being concluded. Liz
Stroh mentioned that the City had hired a cable engineer to verify the terms of
the franchise were met with the upgrade.
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Kathy shared a copy of a letter that will be sent to homeowners if they have
problems. As @Home nodes are activated, AT&T crews will need to be in back
yard easements. May is the target for completing the node activation efforts.
Kathy mentioned that about 18-20 nodes are scheduled to be activated in
January and February, 2000, with the remaining done at a rate of about 2 per
week with a target completion of June, 2000 for the whole city.
Board members asked about the cost of the @Home service. Kathy mentioned
that there were rumors that the Internet access would be offered at less than
originally planned. She reported the plans are to waive the installation charge for
subscribers.
Other Business
Larry mentioned problems with ICG dropping modem connections when a lower
speed modem is being used.
Members discussed a variety of problems with US west, ICG and other services
related to dial up modem systems, which may present problems in the future.
Larry suggested alerting Kurt Kastein to these potential problems that might
impact the public when alternate telecommunications carriers begin providing
service.
Greg asked if Larry is suggesting that performance guarantees be required of
providers. Other members of the Board indicated their belief that the Public
Utilities Commission would be taking care of phone and non -cable related
telecommunications services.
Howard Lowell moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Larry Bontempo.
The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 7:05 PM.
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