Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007/08/02 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - Regular 1 OFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING OF AUGUST 2, 2007 ST. LOUIS PARK COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Bruce Browning, Rick Dworsky, Dale Hartman, Ken Huiras, Bob Jacobson, Kirk Morrow, Rolf Peterson MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator OTHERS PRESENT: Arlen Mattern, Time Warner Cable Public Affairs Administrator 1. Call to Order Chair Huiras called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 2. Roll Call Present at roll call were Commissioners Browning, Dworsky, Hartman, Huiras, Jacobson, Morrow and Peterson. 3. Approval of Minutes for May 3, 2007 Commissioner Browning noted grammatical changes on pages 11, 12 and 13. It was moved by Commissioner Browning, seconded by Commissioner Jacobson, to approve the minutes of May 3, 2007, as amended. The motion passed 7-0. 4. Adoption of Agenda The agenda was approved as presented. 5. Public Comment – None 6. Unfinished Business A. Park WiFi Update Mr. Dunlap displayed a slide presentation and noted dates for pre registered subscribers in Phase 1 to pick up equipment. Commissioner Browning asked what if residents had not been pre-registered? Mr. Dunlap replied this was focused on those pre-registered, but others could visit, too. The pilot system was continuing to run, but the new WiFi system was operating now as well. 2 It was two to three weeks behind schedule due to engineering issues related to pole positioning. Subscribers won’t be billed until September 1st. Commissioner Browning asked if there were still approximately 3,000 subscribers? Mr. Dunlap replied yes, that was the number of pre-registered subscribers citywide. Commissioner Huiras asked how those who were not pre-registered would be contacted? Mr. Dunlap said post cards would be sent to notify residents. Park WiFi staff is working on getting the pre-registered residents and the network going and then would market to the rest of the area. It would be done the same way for each phase. Chair Huiras asked if those pre-registered in other districts could get the Park WiFi Email addresses ahead of time? Mr. Dunlap replied he did not know the answer, but would follow up. Commissioner Jacobson asked if the solar panels were working and being used? Mr. Dunlap replied yes, the new network was up and running. He was not sure of the number of users at present. Commissioner Jacobson asked if there had been feedback on the solar panels? Mr. Dunlap responded the solar panels worked great. Commissioner Browning requested a map of the locations of transmitters and how they were distributed through the city. Mr. Dunlap indicated he would try to get a map to Commissioners. B. Fiber Optic ordinance update from staff Mr. Dunlap stated he had not completed the research yet. Commissioner Huiras asked if he was aware of Burnsville’s status? Mr. Dunlap said Burnsville had tabled the issue, and Eagan has an ordinance trying to encourage fiber development. The city doing the most related to fiber optics was Monticello, which would have a referendum about offering telephone service on September 16. Monticello will build a fiber optic to the home system and to offer cable TV and high speed internet access, and, if the referendum passes, telephone service. Windom and a half a dozen other cities in Minnesota offer fiber to the home. St. Louis Park is focused on WiFi now, but the goal of the proposed ordinance is to try to encourage fiber development by other parties in our city. Commissioner Morrow asked why fiber was needed if they already had WiFi? Mr. Dunlap responded the backbone of the WiFi system is fiber optics. The reason fiber right to the house would be favorable would be for a much faster service. The highest WiFi speed the City proposes to deliver is 2 ½-3 megabit/second as compared to 100 megabits/second offered by a fiber to the home system. Commissioner Dworsky added it was for capacity and speed. 3 Commissioner Jacobson asked if there was a comparison between dial up for a reference point? Mr. Dunlap replied dial up is 56 kilobits/second and DSL is 256 kilobits/second. Commissioner Browning noted most web sites are designed with high speed in mind. C. Park TV update Mr. Dunlap reported that John McHugh has drafted a flyer to promote the high school studio. New cameras had been installed and the studio has been used a number of times for productions with Scott Smith or John McHugh producing. Contact John McHugh with any suggestions about the flyer. Commissioner Browning suggested the Commission visit the site and see the new equipment. Chair Huiras asked if the studio could accommodate a Commission meeting? Mr. Dunlap replied he was unsure if it could be shown live on the cable system, but he would check to see if the next Commission meeting could be held in the School Board meeting room and arrange to tour the facility. Commissioner Browning suggested producing a program about the studio to put on a web stream for people to see what it is like. Commissioner Morrow also suggested putting information in the Echo. 7. New Business A. Proposed School District franchise fees policy Chair Huiras indicated Mary Jean Overend wrote a draft policy, and asked about the status for a Junior High Video club with an activity fee. Mr. Dunlap said he received a letter from Sue Hodder thanking the Commission and Council for the additional funding for the Junior High Video club. The additional funding provides staff so they wouldn’t have to charge an activity fee. The check has been sent to the School District so a Club should be set up for fall. Chair Huiras felt the Commission needed to get assurance that the School was actually doing things with the funding the Commission approved. Commissioner Browning thought the policy was well written. Chair Huiras suggested it be brought back to the next meeting. B. Review Telecommunications Commission mid year report Chair Huiras noted this is a written report for City Council, not given verbally. 4 Mr. Dunlap was not sure if staff and Commissioners needed to attend but would find out. Commissioners present agreed to submit the mid year report to City Council. C. Web mapping demonstration Mr. Dunlap stated that Jason Huber worked on the Citywide map, which shows important links and information related to the City, like construction projects, buildings and facilities and neighborhoods. Commissioner Browning asked when it would be operational? Mr. Dunlap said it is now, but will be added to the front page of the City web site soon. Commissioner Jacobson asked about the software being used? Mr. Dunlap was unsure, but knew it is built on Google maps. Chair Huiras asked if they would be able to reserve park pavilions? Mr. Dunlap replied he was not sure if they could do that on-line. Chair Huiras suggested polling places be listed. Commissioner Browning suggested a connection to reserve the high school studio and inclusion of restaurants and coffee shops. Commissioner Peterson suggested the map show schools. Mr. Dunlap showed an example of amenities for the parks. There is also a map to plot police incidents, which was shown to the Police Advisory Commission as well. Commissioners were impressed with Mr. Huber’s work on the project. Mr. Dunlap indicated this is located at stlouispark.org/city_map. 8. Reports A. Comcast Complaints Chair Huiras stated he updated the complaints. He asked Mr. Mattern why there are problems with high definition broadcast during stormy weather? Mr. Mattern replied this was the first he heard of weather related problems for HD. Commissioner Browning asked where they were picking the high definition signal? Mr. Mattern was unsure. Chair Huiras described the problem he had been having. Mr. Mattern indicated he would check into it. 5 Chair Huiras described a letter from Comcast’s Engineering Vice President discussing the network operations center and monitoring outages and problems. Chair Huiras said this week he found channel 434 was blank (HD channel 9), so he called Comcast and there was a voice message for customers on hold that there were some problems in the Western suburbs, but the service reps didn’t know anything about channel 434 being out. There needs to be a mechanism for customer service reps to report problems. Mr. Mattern stated if there is only one call, they would attribute it to an individual problem, not an area problem. With more calls, it was easier to locate a problem. Commissioner Hartman asked why Comcast had to supply converters with a CableCard? Mr. Mattern replied the box can be purchased elsewhere. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had required that Comcast include the CableCard, which is needed to receive premium channels. Commissioner Browning indicated someone was told that they didn’t have basic service anymore. Mr. Mattern replied that was not true. It was likely an ill informed customer service representative. Commissioner Browning asked if there was a certain level of Outlook email software needed to be compatible with Comcast broadband service? Mr. Mattern was not aware of that. Commissioner Browning said the complaint log said that technical support recommended switching to Outlook Express and that Comcast didn’t support Office Outlook. He believed Office Outlook worked fine, unless it was configured wrong. Commissioner Jacobson noted older versions of Outlook were quite different from newer versions and could have problems with the current operating systems. Chair Huiras asked about the status on upcoming changes? Mr. Mattern replied he thought they were done for now, although there could always be changes. Chair Huiras asked about the NFL network? Mr. Mattern replied it is available on the Sports Entertainment Package as channel 736, but not on Basic or Standard cable service. Chair Huiras asked about the Big 10 network? Mr. Mattern replied it was the same issue as with Victory Sports—a new expensive sports network that Comcast wants to put on a tier, while the network wants to be on standard cable service. Commissioner Browning asked if there was a way to measure connection bandwidth consistently through the cable modem? Do techs use particular software? Mr. Mattern replied it was a technical issue and he needed to check with the technical department. 9. Communication from the Chair 6 Chair Huiras stated Mary Jean Overend had resigned from the Commission and thanked her for her years of service. 10. Communications from City Staff Mr. Dunlap reported: • The new City School calendar would soon be mailed to residents. • The Park Perspective Newsletter will have a story on Park TV. • There is a Display of Our Town Faces and Places project at Harvest Moon coffee shop. • Most people have heard that over the air free broadcast TV (analog broadcast channels) will go away on February 18, 2009. Many elected officials and consumer groups have been worried that there hasn’t been enough education about this upcoming event. One of the Inside the Park programs will do a feature on this and explain options to customers. There is also information on the City web site and at www.Parktv.org with links to the FCC pages. Every household will receive up to two different vouchers for a digital receiver to receive the digital over the air broadcast channels (2, 4, 5, 9, 11 and 23). People will need to get a digital box to play digital over the air channels on standard TV’s. Commissioner Hartman asked if cable companies would carry analog after that? Mr. Mattern replied everything will be digital. People will need a digital conversion box or can get broadcast channels through a digital TV. Commissioner Dworsky indicated he read that each household would receive two $40 vouchers toward the converters. Mr. Dunlap replied they expected converters to cost about $40, but some elected officials are concerned that would not be enough. The voucher program will not start until January 1, 2008. Congress may appropriate more funds to offer more than that. 11. Adjournment Commissioner Dworsky made a motion, Commission Jacobson seconded to adjourn at 8:00. The motion passed. Respectfully submitted by: Amy L. Stegora-Peterson Recording Secretary