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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006/05/04 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - Regular OFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING OF MAY 4, 2006 ST. LOUIS PARK COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Bruce Browning, Rick Dworsky, Dale Hartman, Ken Huiras, Bob Jacobson and Rolf Peterson MEMBERS ABSENT: Mary Jean Overend STAFF PRESENT: Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator; John McHugh, Community TV Coordinator OTHERS PRESENT: Tom Marble, Director of Information Services for the School District 1. Call to Order Chair Dworsky called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 2. Roll Call Present at roll call were Commissioners Browning, Dworsky, Hartman, Huiras, Jacobson and Peterson. 3. Approval of Minutes for February 9, 2006 It was moved by Commissioner Browning, seconded by Commissioner Huiras, to approve the minutes of February 9, 2006, as presented. The motion passed 5-0-1, Commissioner Peterson abstained. 4. Adoption of Agenda Commissioner Huiras requested to add: 7e. Franchise transfer update and 7f. Vision Survey and the effect on cable. It was moved by Commissioner Huiras, seconded by Commissioner Peterson, to approve the agenda as amended. The motion passed 6-0. 5. Public Comment - None 6. New Business A. School District funding for 2006 and B. School District quarterly report Tom Marble, Director of Information Services for the School District, reported on the School District 2006 funding. They will be focusing on alternatives for video delivery and replacing the Institutional Network (I-Net), which is currently provided through Time Warner Cable infrastructure. They are looking at many vendors and considering a digital IP, which would be less costly. Because the Pavek Museum is not going to build a studio, the School District is considering community access possibilities at the senior high studio. With the equipment grant received in 2005, they planned to complete the high school studio and replace cameras. They need to work through the logistics of staffing, hours for community access and associated costs. They were also considering video streaming of School Board meetings. He displayed a spreadsheet showing how previous funding had been used. Commissioner Browning asked if they had high definition capability? Mr. Marble replied through the editing process they did, but not through cablecasting. Commissioner Jacobson asked how much they were doing on DVD? Mr. Marble replied the majority of the playback was on DVD, some was directly off the hard drive. Mr. McHugh stated when they do their proposal for the school network, they should be sure to include funding to recoup the expense for getting NASA reception. Mr. Marble was aware of that. Commissioner Huiras made a motion, Commissioner Browning seconded to continue the $35,000 grant for the School District. The motion passed 6-0. C. Review: School District using interns for extra experience and to produce programming Mr. Dunlap indicated this was an item on the Commissions work plan. Mr. Marble reported there had been elimination of the media production program in the high school because of budget reductions. They were seeing more programming from other schools in the district. Commissioner Jacobson asked if a learning activity packet could be developed for students to learn on their own? Mr. Marble replied there was opportunity for an independent study course if a student were interested. Commissioner Huiras suggested the studio fee go for the production program and also suggested considering an increase in the school operations grant. Mr. Marble noted it was a challenge to replace the teachers for the media program. Commissioner Huiras requested the funding issue be discussed at a future meeting. There will be local origination funds and an increase in franchise fees. Other commissioners agreed and felt it was a benefit to the school and the community. Chair Dworsky asked when they could get more information about reinstating the media program? Mr. Marble replied he could come to the next meeting with more information. D. Using High School studio for Community TV productions Chair Dworsky asked about the hours, training, staffing and funding? Mr. McHugh reported on the change of studio plans and the request for interim use of the high school studio and renewal of the proposal they made a year ago for funding to compensate for studio use. They anticipated no more than 12 hours per month and would pay in advance or six months at a time to cover District expenses. Commissioner Jacobson asked if studio usage could be staggered with some times in the afternoon and some in the evening? Mr. McHugh replied they needed to work with the district, but generally the studio was available from 4 PM – 9 PM. Mr. Marble noted any use of facilities after 4 PM was permitted through the community education department, with their requirements. Mr. McHugh added there was very little studio use on the weekends. A studio is appropriate for some things, but requires a number of people for use. Chair Dworsky asked how an interested person would find out about studio access procedures, times, staffing, etc? Mr. McHugh replied the City has a cable television topic on the web site where people interested in utilizing the studio can find more information. They can promote the studio with community announcements, once it has been upgraded. Commissioner Jacobson expressed a concern about public access. Mr. Marble felt they needed to move into it gradually and work out how access to the facility might be able to be opened up and more flexible. There would be a concern about security of a school building. Commissioner Peterson indicated people schedule things through community education all the time. Once they get a product or space, they can determine procedures. Commissioner Huiras suggested a class be scheduled through community education. Mr. Marble replied if the facility is available and not being used by students, they can determine what can be accommodated. 7. Old Business A. Fiber Optic ordinance background from developers Mr. Dunlap reported on a memo provided and discussed the background. Issues to consider include whether the City should have an ordinance requiring fiber in new construction when a wireless option was being tested by the City that may be approved city-wide; and whether it is a realistic possibility that a provider will ever offer services via fiber to each household. Verizon offers this service in some states, fiber to the home (FTTH), but doesn’t operate in Minnesota. Qwest has limited video services in some areas, but hasn’t revealed any plans for Minnesota. Another issue is if a FTTH ordinance in new construction would chill developer’s interest in St. Louis Park. Two developers he asked believed it would complicate things and were concerned about costs. There was also a concern about changing technologies, with such an interest in wireless, why encourage fiber? One developer installed conduit in their building for future runs of fiber, but nobody has requested using it. Providing empty conduit may be a good idea for commercial or multiple dwelling units so fiber could be run later. A network manager said it was not only about the speed, it was about the convenience and the current trend was having wireless access for convenience. Commissioner Jacobson indicated he read in Computer Retailing News a concern from businesses about losing sales due to the City’s Wi-Fi plans. Commissioner Browning believed that merited a closer look, but even with Wi-Fi, competition and access from multiple companies was good. Chair Dworsky stated there were instances when fiber would work and wireless would not, they both deliver access, but in different ways. Commissioner Browning referenced the information from the City of Burnsville and was surprised they indicate that the majority of residents connect to the Internet using dial up modem. He read that wasn’t the case and the penetration for broadband had become more substantial over the past year. Commissioners agreed further research and information was needed. Commissioner Hartman also felt conduit would be a good idea. Jim Erickson, Fiber First, discussed the use of the fiber optics and felt it was appropriate for government agencies to encourage or require fiber. He noted some wiring goes to every room with a triple faceplate, so voice, video and data are accessible. It is a greater convenience and in Loma Linda, California, raised the value of new homes by thousands of dollars. More information on community fiber optics is available at http://fiberfirstmn.org & http://baller.com. A free daily broadband news headlines email can be requested in an email sent to info@baller.com. Chair Dworsky asked the feasibility of the phone company installing fiber to the home versus twisted pair? Mr. Erickson replied that was the issue before them. In many cases the phone or cable company use fiber as their backbone, but it is the “last mile” that was the issue and who would own the pipe. Commissioner Browning made a motion, Commissioner Huiras seconded to identify additional areas of staff research and directed staff to prepare a report for discussion at the next Commission meeting August 3, 2006, which will be after the Council has decided whether or not to go city-wide with the wireless project. The motion passed. B. St. Louis Park Wi-Fi pilot project update Mr. McHugh indicated a postcard would be sent to remaining phase I subscribers that indicated interest, but had not gotten equipment, and discussed the phases of the pilot. Phase I is nearly complete and there are 165 active users. They had received good feedback. Equipment pick up dates are good days for Commissioners to view the equipment at City Hall. City Council may decide in July if they will go citywide with wireless. A small amount of people in the pilot had difficulty with their equipment, but there was a low failure rate for the bridges. He discussed the three levels of service (speed and cost) and what was offered with each. C. Studio at Pavek update Mr. McHugh indicated the Board of Directors declined to have the studio at Pavek because of the remodeling expense. They will partner in the interim with the school district, which had space and availability similar to what was currently available at the Time Warner studio. They were pursuing other options and he requested any ideas be shared with him. Commissioner Browning asked if the community centers or Lenox would be able to accommodate a studio. Mr. McHugh said there were a couple of possibilities, including the little theater at Lenox. They needed to do more research. Commissioner Huiras asked if funds were allocated as part of the franchise agreement? Mr. McHugh replied at the end of June and noted it would be used for equipping a studio. The owners of the Pavek building would have been responsible for most of the cost to remodel their existing space. D. Local Origination programming transition update Mr. McHugh indicated Time Warner would continue local origination (LO) until the end of the year. City staff was being trained on the LO van equipment and working on the transition. Mr. McHugh has been researching options for a new van and working with Human Resources staff to determine approved job descriptions and staffing requirements. Commissioner Jacobson suggested advertising for available space to put the studio. Mr. McHugh stated the City soliciting for space might not be advisable. Commissioner Browning suggested utilizing the basement of Knollwood Mall. E. Franchise Transfer Update Mr. Dunlap stated that Mr. Mattern said the transfer should happen before the end of July. A representative from Comcast will be invited to the next meeting. Commissioner Huiras asked if they had gotten further information regarding the change over? Mr. Dunlap said no, but staff would provide information when they received it. F. Visioning Survey Mr. Dunlap stated a communication company had been hired to study the City’s communication plan (i.e. Park Perspective, the web site, etc.). The survey mentioned cable television was not a primary tool for information but was listed as a valuable secondary source that was underused. The Commission discussed use of cable and the website. Mr. Dunlap suggested a crawl could be done at the bottom of the screen on the cable channels for publicity. 8. Reports A. Complaints Commissioner Browning inquired about the complaint regarding someone’s ailing parents and the suggestion of a form to verify that the customer understood what they were ordering? Mr. Dunlap said that he hadn’t heard from the person who offered to send a sample of such a form. Commissioner Browning believed that would be worthwhile to have. Chair Dworsky noted he could provide a financial industry form to staff as an example. 9. Communication from the Chair Chair Dworsky thanked staff for the information for their discussion. 10. Communications from City Staff Mr. McHugh handed out a list of the original programs produced by community television. They had gotten the latest upgrade for the automatic playback system, which included a reporting capability. Commissioner Huiras asked if meetings were available on demand? Mr. Dunlap said yes, there would be a web version and a Time Warner version. Mr. Dunlap indicated there were no Time Warner cable reports in the packet because with the new franchise agreement, they didn’t believe they needed to make the monthly reports. Staff would work on a solution that was less burdensome to Time Warner, but provides information to the Commission. Also, the Mayor sent a letter to Representative Martin Sabo asking him not support the Joseph Barton COPE Bill, a federal law that would allow telephone providers to provide television service without a franchise like Time Warner. The City was against it and wanted them to have a franchise. 11. Adjournment Commissioner Huiras made a motion, Commission Jacobson seconded to adjourn at 9:06. The motion passed. Respectfully submitted by: Amy L. Stegora-Peterson Recording Secretary