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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005/05/05 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - RegularOFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING OF MAY 5, 2005 SCHOOL BOARD MEETING ROOM C350 MEMBERS PRESENT: Bruce Browning, Rick Dworsky, Dale Hartman, Ken Huiras, Bob Jacobson, Mary Jean Overend MEMBERS ABSENT: Rolf Peterson STAFF PRESENT: Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator; John McHugh, Community TV Coordinator OTHERS PRESENT: Cindy Reichert, City Clerk; Tom Marble, School District #283 Director of Information Services 1. Call to Order Vice Chair Overend called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 2. Roll Call Present at roll call were Commissioners Browning, Hartman, Huiras, Jacobson and Overend 3. Approval of Minutes for February 3, 2005 It was moved by Commissioner Huiras, seconded by Commissioner Hartman, to approve the minutes of February 3, 2005, without changes. The motion passed 5-0. 4. Adoption of Agenda It was moved by Commissioner Jacobson, seconded by Commissioner Huiras, to approve the agenda. The motion passed 5-0. 5. Public Comment - None 6. New Business A. By Laws Amendments Ms. Reichert discussed the changes to the Commission By Laws, as in her report. Commissioner Huiras asked if the section regarding term of office was true of all commissions? Ms. Reichert replied it was what the Telecommunication Commission had set up. Individual committees could determine their own rules. Commissioner Huiras asked if youth members could vote and if that were different by Commission? Ms. Reichert replied the Council made a change in the ordinance which pertains to Commissions to allow youth members to vote with the exception of committees where it involved personal property. Commissioner Huiras asked about section 4.4, special meetings, where it indicated that notice be posted on the City bulletin board? Ms. Reichert responded that the Chair or three other Commissioners could call special meetings and that this was statutory language. Commissioner Huiras asked under the Rules and Procedures section, if anything said a person could be on multiple commissions? Ms. Reichert replied no. The Council had discussed prohibiting people from serving on more than one commission, but it hadn’t been incorporated yet. It was moved by Commissioner Jacobson, seconded by Commissioner Huiras, to accept the By Laws as presented. The motion passed 5-0. B. City Clerk presentation on records retention & open meeting law Ms. Reichert reported on record retention policies and open meeting laws. Commissioner Huiras asked if they received something from staff on their home computers, they were required to retain that record? Ms. Reichert replied yes, however staff would retain correspondence for three years. If Commissioners communicate with each other or with members of the public, it would be their responsibility to maintain the record. Ms. Reichert completed the report. Commissioner Jacobson asked about the City’s policy on social security numbers? Ms. Reichert replied that they were private. Commissioner Jacobson asked why they were requested on some City documents? Ms. Reichert replied they could collect the information, but were not allowed to disseminate the information. Commissioner Jacobson requested clarification regarding the need for social security numbers. Ms. Reichert replied she would research that information and respond back. C. School District funding for 2005 & quarterly report Tom Marble, Director of Information Services for the School District, reported on the funding and quarterly report. Mr. McHugh asked about if the editing system was a replacement unit or if they were moving an existing one to the junior high? Mr. Marble replied they would set one up in the television studio to be accessible for after hours use. There would be the addition of one editing system. Vice Chair Overend asked about if student interest had increased? Mr. Marble responded it had changed and was coming from more traditional classes (social studies, etc.). The Media productions class was eliminated a couple of years ago. Vice Chair Overend asked if students younger than junior high age were using the equipment? Mr. Marble replied yes, some elementary students were also using the equipment because it’s more accessible and the kids were more comfortable with it. Commissioner Jacobson asked if staff had training on the equipment? Mr. Marble replied a leadership group was at a training session focused on how to get staff to use the equipment. They switched to a new student information system and piloting on-line attendance and working with an on-line grading system. It would be “live” next fall. Commissioner Jacobson asked if there were already prepared presentations staff could look at? Mr. Marble replied they have a service called Atomic Learning, an on-line video streaming on how to use specific pieces of software. Commissioner Jacobson asked if there was a need to prepare something for the equipment that the school district used? Mr. Marble replied one of the reasons they went with Atomic Learning was because it covered much of the things that were common to every school and every piece of equipment in the district. Training at the senior high facility would be best done in-person. It was too complex to put into a video. Commissioner Browning asked if schools would eventually be networked with a central storage facility? Mr. Marble replied that the vision was to do that with Hopkins. They presently had a video cooperative where they stored DVD’s and videotapes. The Atomic Learning service allowed them an on-site option with their own servers and the downloaded media to their server, which allowed better performance. They would also have the ability to add their own training videos. Commissioner Browning asked if there would be a laptop initiative? Mr. Marble replied yes, it would require long term planning. The first step would be changing the way that teachers taught. Commissioner Browning asked if they were equipped with WiFi? Mr. Marble replied they had wireless “hot spots” in every school, but were not completely wireless. Teachers at many schools have wireless laptops. Every media center is a wireless hot spot. They were looking at the possibility of participating in the City’s wireless project. Commissioner Dworsky arrived. It was moved by Commissioner Browning, seconded by Commissioner Jacobson, to continue the $35,000 grant for the School District. The motion passed 6-0. Commissioner Browning felt the money was being spent wisely and he liked the direction they were going with the digital equipment. D. Review School District using interns for extra experience & to produce programming Mr. Marble stated that setting up an intern program was difficult because of supervision issues. They were looking at high school students assisting and being resources to help staff and students with general computer problems. E. Using High School Studio for Community TV productions Mr. Marble indicated that the biggest hurdle was getting the procedural pieces into place regarding staffing. Space can be reserved through the community education program. The studio was complicated and required advanced training. Mr. McHugh added that they were looking forward to training on the new equipment. Chair Dworsky asked if they scheduled training for the community? Mr. Marble replied that could be a possibility. Mr. McHugh noted it would probably be a community education class. They would schedule according to need. Chair Dworsky suggested that be developed further. Mr. Marble asked if it had been the experience that one or two people used the facility and become “experts?” Mr. McHugh replied no. One of the proposals was to assure access to the facility, that there be a projected number of hours with compensation that matched the hours for using the studio. That would cover personnel expenses that the district would incur. Commissioner Jacobson asked how much public access time was available? Mr. Marble responded it would likely be available between 4 PM-10 PM. Days would be determined based on the amount of demand. F. Time Warner TV studio use and consider forming a committee for publicizing availability to citizens It was moved by Commissioner Huiras, seconded by Commissioner Browning, to table discussion on this item to a future meeting. Commissioner Jacobson suggested forming the committee and getting a committee report before it was put on the agenda. The following Commissioners expressed interest in being members of the committee: Overend, Jacobson, Browning and Mr. McHugh as staff representative. Commissioner Dworsky called the question. The motion passed 6-0. 7. Old Business A. Renewal update Mr. McHugh indicated that the next meeting with Time Warner would be on May 18th to discuss proposed changes in the franchise ordinance. There had been no movement on the significant issues. A transfer to Comcast would be happening at the same time as the renewal. Commissioner Browning asked how would the fact that Comcast may own the St. Louis Park system play into this? Mr. McHugh replied it would be better to have the renewal completed prior to the transfer because in August when the six-month extension for the franchise runs out, there would not be a valid franchise to transfer because it will have expired. Therefore, Council could not give approval for a system swap to Comcast because there wouldn’t be a valid franchise. This was added incentive to get the job done in the time remaining. Mr. Dunlap added that the City Manger sent a letter to Time Warner asking them what the impact this would have on the continuing renewal negotiations. Commissioner Jacobson asked how the Comcast issue affected connectivity issues that they had been working with and St. Louis Park getting internet for the citizens? Mr. McHugh replied Comcast did not offer that kind of connectivity. They offered premium wire line broadband service, similar to Time Warner. Commissioner Jacobson asked if wireless internet access would be a private contract or how it would be handled? Mr. Dunlap replied that Clint Pires was in the process of hiring a consultant to advise the City and determine what kind of system was feasible. It would also include what kind of business model was feasible for St. Louis Park including partnerships with private companies and other entities such as the school district and other cities. None of that had been determined. A study would occur in the summer. They were tabulating the informal surveys distributed in the Park Perspective and Business Line and the results would be available in the next week. Commissioner Jacobson asked if the City had committed to an investment? Mr. McHugh replied the investment to date was the fiber optic network, which connects existing City sites to the City network. By June, the City will have fiber optics going to the Westwood Nature Center and would not need to spend money for dedicated Qwest telephone lines for high speed internet and network activities. Chair Dworsky asked when Time Warner would respond to the changes? Who would provide notification of when the transition to Comcast would take place? Mr. McHugh stated they were waiting for the official forms from the two parties that officially documented what they proposed to do. They didn’t anticipate significant changes and hoped to accomplish it between nine and twelve months. Time Warner would reply to the proposed changes at the May 18th meeting. He would send an invitation to the Commissioners to attend. B. Emergency Alert System update Mr. Dunlap reported that the analog system was tested and worked, but they were unable to test the digital emergency override. Time Warner was aware that they needed to work on this. They would test it as soon as they could. Commissioner Browning stated that the issue with the Emergency Broadcast system seemed to be going on a long time. Was there a time frame where this had to be working properly? Mr. Dunlap responded that the franchise agreement said the emergency alert system should be available on all channels. They were working with Time Warner on this issue. Commissioner Browning asked if other communities had this same issue or used the same device? Mr. Dunlap replied not all franchises called for an emergency alert system. As part of the negotiations for renewing the franchise, Time Warner did not want to continue an alert system like this because of the complicated way it interfaced with their digital service. He was not sure if other cities had this. It is presently required as part of the franchise. C. Conference policy for Commissioners Mr. Dunlap noted this was inadvertently put on the agenda. There had not been any changes to the policy. The City’s budget process hadn’t started yet. As they amended the budget, staff would budget additional money to allow two commissioners to attend a conference. D. Update on St. Louis Park wireless internet study Mr. McHugh reported there would be a Council study session where they would get the results from the survey. An independent consultant was compiling the results. The Information Services Manager and the City Manager met with the St. Louis Park Business Council to describe what the timeline was for the City evaluating its options for wireless. Telecommunications companies and Time Warner representatives were also there. The biggest point was that in St. Louis Park DSL is not accessible at City Hall (and many other places) and options for broadband are limited. The process will conclude in August. Commissioner Browning asked if this had been discussed in other communities? Mr. McHugh replied that City staff toured the City of Chaska, which has a similar type of service. Commissioner Jacobson asked about the possibilities of getting this installed so they could get the services. Mr. McHugh replied the City could provide it or arrange to have another entity provide it. Minneapolis was proposing to go with the private sector to build the service and guarantee to deliver it at a certain price point. That way the City of Minneapolis would not have the investment expense. The City of St. Louis Park is reviewing all options and getting input. 8. Reports A. Complaints Commissioner Huiras asked about his request for information on voice over internet telephone (VOIP) counts? Mr. Dunlap replied the number of customers that use the Belt Line store is an average of 72 per day. Time Warner did not wish to provide information about VOIP customers. They did not feel the City of St. Louis Park had any regulatory authority over that and they didn’t need to provide it. Commissioner Huiras asked about the status of the first complaint? Mr. Dunlap indicated he would report back to the Commission. Commissioner Huiras indicated Mr. Mattern was supposed to provide information regarding who was dropping service and why. Mr. Dunlap replied that could be discussed at the next meeting. The meeting in August was when they talk about their annual filings, financial information and customer service issues. Commissioner Jacobson believed that Time Warner was doing the same things and thought nothing had changed or improved. On complaint number two and the bill being wrong, he had experienced that and hadn’t gotten a correct bill for over four months. Commissioner Browning asked if there were many service-oriented complaints? Mr. Dunlap responded the complaints in the packet were from February 17th until the date of this meeting. There were only three, which was not very many. 9. Communication from the Chair Commissioner Huiras indicated that Mr. Dunlap sent an Email regarding basic subscribers, what was the percentage? Mr. Dunlap replied the percentage was of the total number of St. Louis Park homes with cable service. Commissioner Huiras stated that the percentage included Road Runner subscribers that may not be cable subscribers. Mr. Dunlap indicated there were 13,000 total households with cable service in St. Louis Park. You don’t have to get cable service to have Roadrunner. He was trying to track cable subscribers. 10. Communications from City Staff Mr. Dunlap indicated on May 6th Time Warner was launching a retail product demonstration cart at Southdale Mall to show HDTV programming, Road Runner high speed internet and the new telephone product. Commissioner Browning asked with regard to telephone service, were they required to provide 911 information? Mr. Dunlap replied yes. They went through the MN State Public Utilities Commission and their official legal position was that they didn’t feel they had to provide this, but they would comply to the point that they could. They were doing that voluntarily. Some operators offering this service were not doing it that way. Commissioner Browning asked if they had back up for the system if there was a power outage so people don’t lose phone service? Mr. Dunlap replied they had back up systems. If they had a wire line telephone, they had battery back ups, even though the power was out. If you have a cordless phone, with at base station plugged into the wall, that phone wouldn’t work. The Time Warner service would be out if you don’t have electrical service because it was not hard wired. They had an interface in each subscriber’s home and he was unsure if there was battery back up. He could check further and send an Email. Commissioner Huiras noted that with Vonage, you have the ability to transfer the call to another number such as a cell phone. Wasn’t it mandatory that they had to be able to do 911 and recognize it? Mr. Dunlap replied that Vonage does not automatically provide a correct address to 911 and does not have the same kind of architecture that the Time Warner system had. Commissioner Huiras noted that Vonage had the ability to track an address. Mr. Dunlap believed when someone logged in they could indicate where they were. Mr. McHugh provided a handout of programs produced by community TV, channels 15 and 96. They would be receiving an FCC Form 320 from Comcast at some point. That would start a 120-day clock for city review. They were not sure when they would receive it. Commissioner Jacobson inquired about the date of the special meeting? Mr. Dunlap replied it was not scheduled. They could discuss it at the August 4th mtg. 11. Adjournment Commissioner Browning made a motion, Commission Huiras seconded to adjourn at 8:35 PM. The motion passed. Respectfully submitted by: Amy L. Stegora-Peterson Recording Secretary