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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTelecommunications Board - Minutes - 03/20/2006TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD MEETING MINUTES March 20,2006 6:00 PM Council Liaison: David Roy Staff Liaison: Liz Stroh, Communications and Technology Services; 221-6522 Board Chair: Curt Cramer Vice Chair: Herb Saperstone Present: Curt Cramer, Robert Reichenberger, Chip Cushman, Herb Saperstone, Ted Funk Absent: Larry Bontempo, David Heiberg Guests: Gerri Becher, Fort Collins Public Access Network (FC-PAN) Stan Reifschneider, Comcast Cable Staff: Eric Dahlgren, Liz Stroh Chair Curt Cramer called the meeting to order at 6: 00 PM. Public Input: None Minutes: Chip Cushman moved to approve minutes of the February Board meeting, seconded by Herb Saperstone. The motion passed unanimously. Comcast Update: Stan complimented City staff and the Board on the Cable Franchise work. The Comcast digital voice product is scheduled to launch in May of this year. As part of this effort, Comcast is building a redundant loop to ensure reliability. The product will be phased in the Northern Colorado Market to ensure a smooth implementation. Robert asked if the voice product supported E-911. Stan explained that the Comcast product worked with the E-911 system, and that Comcast voluntarily contributed to thee-911 fund as well as the Universal Service fund, which is used 1 to bring phone service to rural and underserved areas. The Comcast voice product will have number portability, backup battery power, includes local and long distance calls. The calls from and to customers on the Comcast network will stay on the Comcast backbone, and only transferred to the public switched network if the calls are to non-Comcast customers. The service will be bundled with other products; the price will be approximately $39.99. Ted asked if the voice service is available as a stand along package, Stan responded that it will be, however the cost is less if bundled with other services. Robert asked about whether the service could be "self -installed". Stan explained that the service would be installed by a Comcast technician. Stan provided a copy of the packet of information provided to subscribers. Curt will review the customer privacy policy and report back to the Board at the next meeting. Curt commented to Herb that the PSD students doing research on telecommunications providers in the area might be interested. Herb will pass along the information. Public Access Update: Gerri Becker, Chair of the FC-PAN Board gave a progress report on FC-PAN's activities. She reported that the organization is in the final phase of receiving their non-profit status from the IRS. Members of FC-PAN also met with the public access organization in Longmont, and are getting many helpful suggestions in establishing itself in Fort Collins. Gerri also reported that the organization is looking for office/studio space. The arrangement with Aims Community College is only temporary, as Aims is looking to move their operation to another site, probably out of town. The focus for FC-PAN right now is the transfer of responsibility for Public Access programming from Comcast. The playback equipment will be temporarily housed in the City's cable control room. Equipment from Poudre School District and Aims community College is in place, and Comcast has provided the equipment needed to send both City Channel 14 and Public Access channel 22 programming from the City's control room using separate channels. The City Cable staff has provided training in the use of the equipment, and FC-PAN members are now doing the playback schedule. The deadline to shift responsibility for the Public Access channel from Comcast to FC-PAN is April 17. Chip Cushman asked for more information about Longmont and why FC-PAN choose to work with them. Gerri explained that Longmont, while their operation is quite different, has lots of experience and information to share. FC-PAN is also exploring possibilities of getting programming from surrounding communities, including Wyoming. Election: The Chair asked for nominations for Board Chair. Chip Cushman nominated Curt Cramer, seconded by Herb. The vote was unanimous. For Vice -Chair, Herb was nominated by Chip, seconded by Curt Cramer with another unanimous vote. Other Business: Curt showed the Board members a copy of Pathways, a publication for seniors distributed by the City's Recreation Department. Pathways had an article in the most recent edition about the low cost tier of cable television that was now available to the Fort Collins community. Since this was the top priority for the Board in the recent franchise negotiations, Curt wanted to recognize the Board's efforts in getting this choice of service available to seniors and others in the community. Curt asked that copies of the Franchise be sent to the Board. Because of the length, Liz will print copies and bring them to the next meeting Curt also asked that the next meeting include a discussion of the quarterly reports that are sent to the City by Comcast. Robert also asked for information on complaints. Herb mentioned that he would like to have Qwest visit with the Board at the next meeting. He's interested in information on municipal WiFi, and has several questions related to impacts, phone number publication, etc. Adjourn: Chip moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Robert. Meeting was adjourned at 7 PM. Chair Date Staff Liaison Date