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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010/02/11 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - RegularOFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING OF FEBRUARY 11, 2010 ST. LOUIS PARK COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Bruce Browning, Rick Dworsky, Dale Hartman, Mike Mulligan and Rolf Peterson MEMBERS ABSENT: David Dyer, Toby Keeler STAFF PRESENT: Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator; John McHugh, Community TV Coordinator; Clint Pires, Chief Information Officer; Jamie Zwilling, Communications Coordinator OTHERS PRESENT: Arlen Mattern, Comcast Cable Public Affairs Administrator 1. Call to Order Chair Browning called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 2. Roll Call Present at roll call were Commissioners Browning, Dworsky, Hartman, and Peterson. Commissioner Mulligan arrived at 7:05. 3. Approval of Minutes for December 10, 2009 It was moved by Commissioner Dworsky, seconded by Commissioner Hartman, to approve the minutes of December 10, 2009, without changes. The motion passed 5-0. 4. Adoption of Agenda Chair Browning requested 6C, Google Broadband Initiative, be added. It was moved by Commissioner Peterson, seconded by Commissioner Dworsky, to approve the agenda as amended. The motion passed 5-0. 5. Public Comment - None 6. New Business A. Federal Law updates including the CAP Act Mr. Dunlap updated the Commission on a bill introduced last fall and supported by MACTA and NATOA. Keith Ellison was a co-sponsor of the bill, but there had been no recent action. The bill was to clean up problems for local programming entities that have happened in other parts of the country. B. Review School District programming reports Mr. Dunlap indicated there was no report, but they were transitioning to have the programming run by the City, expected to be completed by July 1st. C. Google Broadband Initiative Chair Browning referred to an article in the paper that Google is considering building out a gigabyte Broadband network in select communities throughout the country. Broadband bandwidth is falling behind in the United States, and Google is trying to shake the industry up and get people connected to faster networks at reasonable prices. Mr. Pires reported that the community was encouraging the City to look at this initiative and he was researching it. Google allows people to nominate their community. The application will require many hours of staff work to complete and it needs to go before the City Manager and City Council. Applications need to be submitted by March 26, 2010. Google’s project would be an experiment to see if there are quicker ways to deploy broadband. Google is interested in communities that allow aerial construction of fiber. St. Louis Park has 27 miles of existing fiber infrastructure that is underground because the City has been encouraging underground utilities for years, so it would complement what Google would want to build. It would be helpful to get comments from the Commission to pass on to the City Council. Commissioner Dworsky believed the opportunity was timely and that the City is well positioned. There was no down side to proceeding. Chair Browning agreed. Mr. Pires noted that a community member had nominated St. Louis Park, and referenced the past efforts of the City trying to deploy alternative broadband technologies. He said many people believed they should do this. Commissioner Peterson would like it studied further. Chair Browning suggested Commissioners look at the article and Email comments to Mr. Pires. The Commission could help work on the Community Benefit section. Commissioner Mulligan asked which would be a better opportunity? Mr. Pires replied the other opportunity was BTOP (Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program), part of ARRA (American Recovery and Reconstruction), which was looking to expand the fiber infrastructure. He said the chances were probably better with Google for several reasons. It would take a lot of effort for the Google application, but BTOP had Federal requirements that were even more intense. There are no matching fund requirements with Google, while BTOP had a minimum of 20% matching requirements. The application for BTOP was due before the Google application. He was still learning about the Google possibility. 7. Unfinished Business A. LocaLoop update Mr. Pires noted that the multi-page agreement is unique in a couple of ways. This is one of the first situations where a community went this far in leasing a portion of its fiber to private entities. The City has successfully leased space for years on water towers for wireless carriers. The LocaLoop agreement is similar because there is limited capacity and strands of fiber. It would be “first come, first served.” Unlike water tower agreements, LocaLoop was proposing to build just under a mile of fiber to connect to the water tower and turn over ownership of that fiber to the City, a $60,000 value. It would extend the City fiber network to nearly 28 miles and give non-exclusive access to the water towers. LocaLoop wants to build the fiber extensions so they can get to the water towers, connect to their radios and to transmit their wireless signal for fast internet bandwidth. The City will provide credits toward LocaLoop leases based on value of the fiber that was being built and ownership being conveyed to the City. There is agreement at the City staff level, including the City Attorney, that the City’s interests were protected. Mr. Pires felt there was enough capacity for the School use, City use and future use. City staff also wanted to maintain a level playing field for other providers. LocaLoop has a parallel process going on for leasing the water tower space and they need to do more on that. The target date was March 1st for approval of both the fiber lease and the water tower agreements at City Council, and deployment in the spring. Clear Wire was on the same path for approval of water tower leases for Wi Max, but they have not expressed interest in fiber. There is space for both companies on the water tower. Vice Chair Browning noted the many antennas the City had for Wi-Fi, and the poles and solar panels that some people had a problem with, disappear for a Wi Max system, which is not a blight on city streets. B. Long term fiber infrastructure planning update Mr. Pires stated staff was working on the above issues, and expects that there will be progress by the Commission’s May meeting. C Proposed Park TV & School District #283 agreement Mr. Zwilling stated staff at the City and School District have reached an agreement in principal including: : • Have City staff access to studio and develop a process during the school day • Hope to see more use of the studio, with the District getting first choice and the City getting more time than before • One issue is that they had hoped school classes would work with them, which didn’t work out. But City staff is open to training students and school staff to use equipment. • Several physical challenges need to be worked out, like a cable pass through a gym door and a gate by the football field. • Working to finalize and go through School Board action, have Telecommunication Commission make a recommendation on agreement, then bring to City Council. • Working in studio every week • Covering School Board meetings and providing Video On Demand for Board meetings. Commissioner Peterson noted there were many positive comments about the Video On Demand for Board meetings. The productions done by Leslie Ferrell were absolutely great and this was a fantastic and dependable asset. It’s great to have the staff using the studio and covering Board meetings and there is synergy there. Mr. Zwilling said VOD is the way things are going, and the City has 3,000 fans on Facebook. Chair Browning asked how the van was coming along? Mr. Zwilling said the van was close to completion. The production equipment was installed and there would be training in the next few weeks. Chair Browning said it would be a great idea to have a way for the community to see the new van. Mr. McHugh said that he was planning an open house event to do that and would explain further later in communications. D. Comcast audit update, including proper notice for future audits to cover 7/1/08 and onward Mr. Dunlap received a reply about a week ago from Comcast about the report. Scott Lewis & Associates had issued a detailed report and found a difference of $6,181. There were two areas of dispute, $549 over tower fees and $3,200 in launch fees and marketing revenue. Regarding tower fees, Mr. Lewis has no way of knowing where the towers are in this area, and Robbin Pepper of Comcast says their engineers report that there are no towers in St. Louis Park. The gist of the launch fees and marketing discrepancy is that the way Comcast uses generally accepted accounting principals, they don’t report this as revenue. Many auditors nation-wide look for areas that cities can push for to add revenue for the city, and this is one of those areas. Mr. Dunlap reported the way the last 2 audits concluded, and that the Commission has the option to continue the audit or bring it to a conclusion. Ms. Pepper’s letter said they would pay $1,279 and $441 interest at the end of February. Mr. Peterson ask if, based on the letter, we’re $4,500 apart? Mr. Dunlap replied that it was $3,263, that interest would be recalculated, because the tower rental fees don’t apply. Chair Browning asked if their launch fee policy was uniform across the nation, and Mr. Dunlap replied yes, that Comcast had in fact gone to court with Sacramento, California over this issue and settled out of court. The North Suburbs have been pushing to collect launch fees for the last several years because they had strong franchise language pertaining to audits, but they have recently settled the matter along with other issues. Commissioner Mulligan said that given the amount of time that would need to be spent on the issue, and the relatively low dollar amount, that our resources would be better used somewhere else. Chair Browning agreed. It was moved by Commissioner Mulligan, seconded by Commissioner Hartman, to accept the audit conclusion as proposed by Comcast ($1,620). Mr. Pires suggested the Commissioners consider directing staff to work with the City Attorney to see if there was a way to protect rights in the future, if the same issue comes up again. Mr. Dunlap suggested they could reserve the right to collect launch fee revenue in future years. After discussion, Commissioner Mulligan added a friendly amendment to include pending legal verbiage, that gives the City the right to dispute these fees in the future, and Commissioner Hartman seconded. The motion passed as amended 5-0. 8. Reports A. Complaints Vice Chair Browning asked about the problem the DVR and no record of the customer contacting them? Mr. Mattern responded either the problem was resolved or there was nothing to go by. Chair Browning said he’d assisted two different customers and each time the box had to be replaced and he asked how reliable they are. Mr. Mattern said it was rare to have a problem with the cable boxes, in his experience. Occasionally there is a problem, but the DVR’s are pretty reliable. 9. Communication from the Chair - None 10. Communications from City Staff Mr. McHugh distributed a draft version of publicity material for Community TV-Park TV networking night to recognize Community TV producers for 2009. The event will happen on April 1st and this will be the first opportunity to allow tours of the new production van. Vice Chair Browning asked if LocaLoop would do a pilot project? Mr. Pires responded yes, and that they would look for residents and community volunteers to do that as quickly as possible. Mr. Pires also mentioned the possibility of a Wi-Fi hotspot at Lenox, that the equipment is ready to go, but staff was waiting to hear the future of Lenox, since the School Board is about announce their decision on facilities. City staff is using social media like Facebook and Twitter, and it’s reaching the point where they would like Commissioner input after a staff presentation. Mr. Pires said the City is considering purchasing a reverse 911 system, much like the School District has had for several years now. Reverse 911 allows targeting neighborhoods for announcements, or notifying residents city-wide if there are major emergencies. Mr. Pires also said guitarist Sharon Isbin from St. Louis Park has recently won her second Grammy award. 11. Adjournment Commissioner Dworsky made a motion, Commission Peterson seconded to adjourn at 8:10. The motion passed. Respectfully submitted by: Amy L. Stegora-Peterson Recording Secretary