HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015/05/13 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - RegularOFFICIAL MINUTES
ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
MEETING OF MAY 13, 2015
ST. LOUIS PARK COUNCIL CHAMBERS
MEMBERS PRESENT: Maren Anderson, Bruce Browning, Dale Hartman, Cindy
Hoffman, and Toby Keeler
MEMBERS ABSENT: Rolf Peterson and Andrew Reinhardt
STAFF PRESENT: Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator; Jacque Larson,
Communications and Marketing Manager; Jason Huber, IT
Manager
OTHERS PRESENT: Patrick Haggerty, CenturyLink and Karly Werner, Comcast Cable
1. Call to Order
Chair Browning called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM.
2. Roll Call
Present at roll call were Commissioners Anderson, Browning, Hartman, Hoffman and
Keeler.
3. Approval of Minutes for February 15, 2015
It was moved by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Keeler, to approve
the minutes of February 15, 2015, without changes.
The motion passed 5-0.
4. Adoption of Agenda
Mr. Dunlap added item 6f, Comcast Price Adjustments.
It was moved by Commissioner Keeler, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to approve
the agenda as amended.
The motion passed 5-0.
5. Public Comment
Guests in attendance introduced themselves.
6. New Business
A. Update about Public Stuff and City apps
Mr. Dunlap introduced Jason Huber, IT Manager.
Mr. Huber discussed mys tlouispark.org and Public Stuff was the name of the vendor. A
video was shown from the vendor introducing mystlouispark. This is used by city
residents to report problems to city staff and is a customer response management system.
Citizens receive email/phone call updates and can track the request through the entire
process. This helps close the communication loop. There are four phases to every
request: 1) Citizen submits complaint and there is customer confirmation and Email
tracking; 2) The complaint is received, Email is sent and staff will review the request, ask
questions, and get feedback; 3) In progress. Email notification that staff is working to
solve issues, there can be comments and progress added throughout process and answer
questions and concerns; 4) Completion. Email sent notifying the citizen.
There are privacy settings and only the requester and city staff can see the information.
There is a sensitive setting for police issues and other city staff cannot see the
information. The requester can chose to make it private or can also be anonymous.
Requests come in many ways, but mainly built around the mobile app available for either
Apple or Android operating systems. There are other features to the App including:
nearby requests, elected Officials contact information, staff director, construction
updates, Hydrant Hero and links to Facebook, Twitter, job openings and more. Requests
can also be submitted through the mystlouispark.org city website, via phone call or email
(info@stlouispark.org), walk in and social media (Facebook and Twitter). The city can
also push out alerts to residents, for example if there is a snow emergency.
The soft launch was July 2014, where the software was running and mobile app available,
but not advertised. In August 2014, National Night Out was the first push and they
handed out information, then social media, Park Perspective and post cards. To date,
1020 requests have come in, and the the last two months averaged 120. They received a
bit over 2000 comments working through the requests. Public Works and Streets had the
highest amount of requests followed by the Park Board. The majority of requests are
done through the web site because that’s how staff enters phone calls or walk ins. They
have had about 220 requests through the mobile app.
Chair Browning asked how many people have signed up for this? Mr. Huber replied
about 400. They are handing information out about Mystlouispark at neighborhood
meetings.
Commissioner Keeler verified that this worked because he used it a few weeks ago to
notify utilities department of excessive running water in a storm drain and it turned out to
be a broken water main. The workers said he should have called that one in because we
probably lost 200,000 gallons of water overnight.
B. Review City web site for “next generation” changes
Chair Browning noted that he liked the web page and thought it was easy to use
Mr. Huber stated they have continued to improve the search functions.
C. Comcast franchise transfer request withdrawn
Mr. Dunlap noted nothing would be changing and Comcast will continue operating the
cable system here and Greatland Connections has not been created. A positive outcome
of the transfer was that the city hired outside expertise to review the transfer and do a
franchise fee audit. Both of those were settled and Comcast has already paid the money
to reimburse the City.
D. CenturyLink intent to franchise
Mr. Dunlap indicated that notice was published in the Sun Sailor on May 14th and the
next will be May 21st. CenturyLink has 240,000 customers nationally and seeks a
franchise to offer video services in the Twin Cities. The City of Minneapolis is leading
the way and on May 15th will consider a CenturyLink franchise. State law requires a
city-wide roll out within five years, and that’s something CenturyLink won’t agree to do.
CenturyLink believes FCC rules preempt MN statute, and litigation is expected to decide
this. Staff has been directed by City Council to move ahead with franchise negotiations.
He has a time line laid out of the deadlines to note.
He requested volunteers to join a sub committee to make a recommendation to City Council.
He saw the presentation at the City of Minneapolis and it was very informative.
CenturyLink will make a presentation to the City Council at a public hearing on July 6, to
explain their application and answer questions. In August or September the Council will
decide whether or not to accept the proposed franchise. Minneapolis is the first community
that will vote on the franchise and that outcome may impact what happened here.
Chair Browning asked if there was litigation regarding the FCC statute versus the
Minnesota statute, were they responsible for the costs involved? Mr. Dunlap replied if
none of the other cities became involved and St. Louis Park takes action and comes up
with a franchise signed with CenturyLink in August as proposed, then it’s possible we’d
be involved in litigation. The strategy was not to be the first community involved. One
third of the local franchise authorities are pretty deep into this and St. Louis Park was
moving more slowly. Other communities were not involved at all.
Patrick Haggerty, Centurylink, stated that two-thirds of communities are working on this,
and they have attended 42 public hearings so far. They anticipate if the outcome in
Minneapolis is positive, then more will happen quickly. He clarified that they fully intend
to offer full indemnification in the process if there was litigation. They are confident in
their belief that the FCC order preempted the MN Statute about level playing field and
build out mandates.
Chair Browning asked if they have to have a minimum 25 megabit/second service to get
Prism TV, that the phone lines may need to be groomed to reach that speed, and one of
the partial roll outs is for gigabit service--can they deliver 1 gig service on telephone
lines? Mr. Haggerty replied their initial announcement was to bring a significant
investment to deploy gig networks and that was the catalyst to bring forward the Prism
product, which wasn’t new to CenturyLink, it’s offered in 14 markets across the country.
They deploy Prism across two different types of network architectures; the first is the
one gig fiber to the home. They have to build fiber to the home in a shorter period than
the old copper system was built, so adding the video product to the bundle allows them to
capitalize on that build. This will be the stair step that gets fiber to the home. We use an
oversimplification to talk about the Prism product over the existing copper lines, that if a
resident receives at least 25-megabit download speeds today, that would translate to
being qualified for the Prism product. The copper needs to be groomed to be pristine to
support the video content—it works fine for voice and data.
Commissioner Keeler asked if they come to a franchise agreement in September, when
would service be available to residents? Mr. Haggerty responded as soon as the
ordinance was codified, they could begin offering service to enable homes. Based on the
25 megabit download speeds, there are homes that qualify for it.
Commissioner Keeler asked if they know the particular areas? Mr. Dunlap replied
Centurylink has a map of the areas first served by the one gig service and could receive it
quickly. The map is considered proprietary. But a part of the application process will be
for Commissioners and the City Council to review the maps.
Mr. Haggerty described the contradiction with State Statute. When the FCC investigated
competition in the cable market, one of the things they recognized was the impediment of
the unreasonable requirements of local franchise authorities to build out. That was where
the MN state law enacted in 1970 ran into a conflict with the 2007 FCC order that these
build out requirements are a barrier to entry for a second entrant into the cable market.
CenturyLink proposes to come in with an initial threshold build and allow them to
determine if they can be successful in the market and if they achieve that, they then are
under obligation to build out another percentage. With zero customers, it gives them the
idea to find out if they can compete because it is a significant investment and there are
risks. They do have maps and want to be transparent and share information. Where they
run into the challenge is that the map is very specific and advantageous for the competitor
to have. They have no problem doing it outside of a public forum, but don’t want to
share it publicly.
Chair Browning said that with Comcast’s architecture, if more people use a node, there is
an impact on speeds. Is that the case with CenturyLink’s system? Mr. Haggerty replied
that their DSL service provides individual circuits and are not shared bandwidth. Prism
uses that same infrastructure and it is your own circuit.
Mr. Dunlap asked what other cities were close to negotiating a franchise with
CenturyLink? Mr. Haggerty replied four cable commissions are ready to go and are
waiting to see what happens in Minneapolis. He believed they would be prepared to act
after that point. Some of those commissions can approve the franchise and it doesn’t
need to go to their city council for approval.
Mr. Dunlap asked if they were expecting customers on June 1st.
Mr. Haggerty responded this is a significant undertaking and investment. They have the
head end in place in Golden Valley and are bringing in content from the super head end in
Columbia, Missourri. They have a number of employees currently receiving the service in
their home. As soon as they can offer it, they will be acquiring customers.
E. Complaints
Chair Browning stated some were handled satisfactorily, which is great, but he was
curious about a couple of instances where they had trouble communicating with the
customer service representatives. He had to contact customer service and the person was
in the Philippines and couldn’t diagnose the issue and suggested a service call. In the
process they tried to up-sell during the call multiple times. He also did a chat and the
same thing happened. He found it a little aggressive. It turned out to not be a Comcast
problem, which he later found out when he reset everything. He asked if they were still
working on having separate entities for separate problem areas?
Ms. Werner stated that customer service has been front and center and they know they
need to look at it. Many customers do have great experiences. They are putting a
significant amount of investment into customer service. They will be hiring 5,000 new
customer service agents in the U.S. There will be three new call centers built in the next
couple of years. They take it very seriously.
Chair Browning asked how much capability do they have to trouble shoot when it is
answered over seas? Mr. Werner replied they can trouble shoot some problems, but
transfer to other groups who have the tools to that handle problem. They have moved to
a COE model several years ago, where one group has experts in billing problems and
another in repairs, because the questions can get very detailed, instead of generalist.
We’re still settling into that but we believe that’s the way to go.
Chair Browning in multiple dwelling unit, if someone loses a phone line, if they contact
customer service to set up a call and if the problem is in the person’s apartment or condo,
there is a charge involved. If there is a central point that distributes cable to the multiple
units in the complex, and the problem lies in that area, would the customer be expected to
pay something for that call? Ms. Werner replied if there were an issue going into the
MDU, no, she would not expect a charge to the customer if it is outside of their unit.
They are able to walk many customers through fixing the problem on their own for the
most part and that saves a truck roll and the cost associated with that.
Chair Browning said that he attended the opening of the Xfinity store on Excelsior
Boulevard, that it’s a very nice store and hopes it can help with these things. Ms. Werner
noted they were excited about the store and the team is great.
Ms. Werner thanked Mayor Jacobs and Councilmember Mavity who were part of
Comcast Cares day at Perspectives a few weeks ago. There were over 2,000 volunteers
out that day. She noted that they would have some great announcements coming soon
about speed roll outs.
F. Comcast Price Adjustments
Mr. Dunlap showed a slide with the new fees that hadn’t been charged in the past that
some people might not be aware of. June 1st there will be a broadcast TV fee for
$1.50/month for basic subscribers and above, which means everybody who receives cable
TV. There is a new regional sports fee of $1/month for people with digital starter and
above. There is also an increase on the digital adapter outlet service, which is $1 more
per month. HD DVR service that will go up $2/month. One of the packages for basic
TV and performance internet will go up $3/month. Customers could see increase of
$5.50-6.25 per month, depending on how many of these services you have. These prices
won’t apply to those locked in on promotional agreements or contracts. This information
is available on the city web site at parktv.org. These are all deregulated services.
Chair Browning thought the timing seemed weird because it is usually done at the end of
the year.
Ms. Werner said they are the last market to do the broadcast TV fee and regional sports
fee increases. They do tend to have increases on an annual basis. Their programming
costs are the biggest cost to their business. The retransmission and programming fees
have been going up at a rapid pace and have doubled in the last few years. Typically
those increases would be wrapped into the basic service and they hadn’t done an increase
on January 1st. This is trying to be more transparent to reflect the rapidly increasing costs
of carrying that programming.
Chair Browning asked if the regional sports fee was being applied to people who have
basic service? Ms. Werner replied no, that fee is for digital starter and above because
that’s where those channels were carried.
Commissioner Hoffman asked how much the installation fee had gone up and if that was
due to costs? Mr. Dunlap replied some of the charges have gone down as well and some
of the installation fees have decreased, which was good news.
7. Communications from the Chair, Commissioners and City staff
Chair Browning said it would be an interesting few months, and he could join the sub
committee for the Centurylink franchise discussion.
Commissioner Keeler reminded commissioners of the MACTA annual meeting, which will
be June 16th at the U of M Agricultural campus. He also volunteered for the sub committee.
Mr. Dunlap mentioned he hadn’t had a chance to edit, but eventually the cable audience
can see a tour of the new facility.
8. Adjournment
Commissioner Keeler made a motion, Commission Hartman seconded to adjourn at 7:57.
The motion passed.
Respectfully submitted by:
Amy L. Stegora-Peterson
Recording Secretary