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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005/10/06 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - RegularOFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING OF OCTOBER 6, 2005 ST. LOUIS PARK COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Bruce Browning, Rick Dworsky, Dale Hartman, Ken Huiras, Bob Jacobson, Mary Jean Overend and Rolf Peterson MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator; John McHugh, Community TV Coordinator OTHERS PRESENT: Arlen Mattern, Time Warner Cable Public Affairs Administrator 1. Call to Order Chair Dworsky called the meeting to order at 7:03 PM. 2. Roll Call Present at roll call were Commissioners Browning, Dworsky, Hartman, Huiras, Jacobson, Overend and Peterson. 3. Approval of Minutes a. Minutes of July 26, 2005 It was moved by Commissioner Huiras, seconded by Commissioner Jacobson, to approve the minutes of July 26, 2005, without changes. The motion passed 6-0-1, with Commissioner Peterson abstaining because he did not attend the July meeting. b. Minutes of August 4, 2005 It was moved by Commissioner Jacobson, seconded by Commissioner Huiras, to approve the minutes of August 4, 2005, without changes. The motion passed 7-0. 4. Adoption of Agenda Commissioner Huiras asked if there would be a wireless update? Mr. Dunlap replied he would include it under staff communications. 5. Public Comment – None 6. New Business - None 7. Old Business A. Franchise Renewal Update Mr. McHugh reported another proposal was received and indicated with two changes they could present it to City Council and suggest approval. The changes were the length of the transition (Time Warner staff continuing to do local origination programming) and PEG fees (Public, Educational and Government access support). This will go to City Council October 10th. Commissioner Huiras asked if the City would take over local origination? Mr. McHugh replied yes. The issue was the transition time. Commissioner Jacobson asked if they would do all local origination? Mr. McHugh replied currently Time Warner does a program called “Time Warner Connections,” about cable services and other general topics, which would not be continued. B. Transfer of cable system from Time Warner to Comcast Mr. Dunlap reported on the transfer and referenced a handout comparing Comcast and Time Warner in multiple cities. The chart showed the number of channels on basic and St. Louis Park had three to six more channels. St. Louis Park residents pay a little more for the standard package than other cities but receives more channels. Mr. Mattern noted that the cheapest Time Warner digital package was actually $49.95, not including the $7.95 fee for the required converter. Mr. Dunlap indicated there was a $3-5 difference in converter boxes. Comcast does not charge as much as Time Warner. Commissioner Browning thought a comparison of broadband services and prices would be useful. Commissioner Huiras asked which channels they wouldn’t get with Comcast? Mr. Dunlap replied with 120 channels it was difficult to determine, but that the similar packages had substantially similar channel lineups. Commissioner Huiras asked the status on studio access with the transfer? Mr. McHugh replied the Time Warner proposal did not address their studio. Time Warner staff would be intact during the transition. If there were a one-year transition, the expectation would be the City would work with a partner to construct a new studio. Commissioner Huiras asked if they could still use the high school studio? Mr. McHugh replied yes, however the time frame was a narrow (between 4-6 PM and not on weekends). Commissioner Overend requested local origination information be put into graph form. Commissioner Huiras asked the status of people with Earthlink, AOL or Roadrunner with a transition period during the transfer? Mr. Dunlap replied they had a draft report with Comcast addressing the change from AT&T email accounts. The transition period would probably be 7-9 months. Commissioner Huiras asked if they would have the option to stay with Earthlink or another provider? Mr. Dunlap didn’t believe so. Commissioner Browning asked how connection speeds compared? Mr. Mattern believed Comcast had upgraded to five megabits per second, the same speed as Time Warner’s service. Commissioner Huiras asked about the cost? Mr. Mattern was unsure, $42 or $44.95, not including the modem. Commissioner Huiras asked if staff had talked with the City of Columbia Heights because their franchise expires in 2006? Mr. Dunlap replied no, but that might be useful. Commissioner Huiras asked if Council needed the Commission to do anything? Mr. Dunlap replied that Council had been working directly on this and did not need a motion on the transfer. Commissioner Jacobson was concerned about the transfer being complete and the due date of October 15th. Mr. Dunlap responded that the transfer was linked with the renewal. Council was aware of what was occurring and if needed, could agree to an extension. Commissioner Jacobson believed Comcast was not very forthcoming with information. Commissioner Huiras asked if it was between the City, Time Warner and Comcast? Mr. Dunlap indicated the transfer was between Comcast and the City. Commissioner Jacobson asked what Time Warner’s function would be after the transfer and if they would have anything to do with St. Louis Park, would they be in the same facilities or moving? Mr. Mattern did not know. They will be at the facilities in Minnetonka until they are officially a Comcast system. They didn’t believe the transfer would occur until the second quarter of 2006. At that point they would know where they would be located. Commissioner Browning indicated once the transfer took place, Time Warner would be out of the picture. Mr. Mattern replied that was correct. They would still be servicing as a Comcast operator in St. Louis Park. Commissioner Overend asked about a comment by Ms. Donnelly-Cohen (Comcast ) in the previous minutes, that they were not allowed to talk about the transfer? Mr. Mattern responded it would violate Federal law because they were not the operator. Emergency Alert System update Mr. Dunlap reported he tested the digital alert system, which took approximately seven minutes. He believed it worked well. Commissioner Browning asked if this was just for the digital tier, not analog? Mr. Dunlap replied yes. Commissioner Huiras asked if there was a delay for analog? Mr. Dunlap replied it was only a few seconds. Commissioner Browning asked why there was a delay for the digital? Mr. Dunlap responded audio and video files needed to be loaded into the system from another computer system. C. Update on Time Warner Cable franchise fee review Mr. Dunlap stated the final version of the report had been received in the last few days and they hadn’t given it to Time Warner yet. They were meeting with attorneys to determine if they should begin negotiating an outcome to the franchise fee review. This review was not as detailed as an audit. The fee on a franchise fee issue was the largest of the possible underpayments. The 5% of the bill that goes to the City is collected from the subscribers, but Time Warner is responsible to pay that. A court case established that 5% of the bill should actually be added to the revenue on Time Warner’s books before they figure out how much is owed as a payment to the City for the use of right of way. The City hadn’t been collecting this amount in the past. For the three year period that they did the franchise fee review, the amount was $60,000. The total amount identified in the franchise fee review that Time Warner could possibly owe was between $60-73,000. The attorney would assist with the next steps to determine how much Time Warner needed to pay. This was linked to the franchise transfer and renewal and would go to City Council in the next few weeks. Commissioner Huiras asked about the letter in the packet from Mr. Mattern regarding a $5 fee for checks. Mr. Mattern replied the fee was for customers calling into a customer service representative who were using an electronic check. There was no fee for sending in a check. It was not for walk-in customers. Commissioner Huiras asked if the fee was applied for using a credit card? Mr. Mattern replied yes, if they used a customer service representative. Credit card payments can be done without using a customer service representative, using the automated telephone tree features. Commissioner Huiras stated if a customer had an issue with their bill and needed to speak with a customer service representative to work it out, would they still need to pay the fee? Mr. Mattern didn’t believe there would be a fee charged when discussing a bill. Mr. McHugh clarified that it would be a one-time charge conducted over the telephone using either a credit card or check. Reading the letter, it appeared if someone walked into the cable store and wanted to write a check, there was a fee. Commissioner Jacobson asked if a handicapped person needed to use a customer service representative to make a payment had been taken into consideration? Mr. Mattern was not sure it had been addressed. They could waive the fee if necessary if a situation like that arose. 8. Reports A. Complaints Commissioner Browning referenced a complaint from August 15th regarding I-Net issues at Westwood Nature Center and asked if it had been resolved? Mr. Dunlap replied he had not gotten an update, but they had a service call set up. Mr. Mattern added it was being addressed and he would follow up. Chair Dworsky asked if they could insert text on the NASA channel to inform viewers when the next broadcast would be? Mr. Dunlap replied the school purchased a digital receiver to put the NASA signal on from the high school and there should not be any more interruptions unless there are technical problems. Commissioner Browning asked if they monitored the channel? Mr. Dunlap replied yes. Commissioner Huiras asked if the same were true for channel 14? Mr. Dunlap responded people should contact School District video staff if there is a problem, because they are not always aware there is an issue. 9. Communication from the Chair A. Summary of NATOA Conference Chair Dworsky reported on the conference. He went to the technical sessions. He viewed the emergency operating center in Arlington, Virginia, which included buildings such as the Pentagon, and said it was very insightful. They had a backup computer system at a separate location. Their I-Net was done by fiber. They were open to hearing from people like the Commission to answer questions about what could be done better at their own center. They dispatched some of their team to New Orleans. There was also a group from Ricochet at the conference who said cities had the ability to use their wireless systems that had been built about 5 years ago, which was something that could be explored. Mr. McHugh asked if they had a reverse 911 capabilities to call homes if there were an emergency? Chair Dworsky replied they didn’t talk about that. They talked about other ways to communicate (by internet, satellite, voice over internet phone, radio and cell phone). They wanted to evolve to GPS by their cell phones to be able to physically locate people. 10. Communications from City Staff Mr. Dunlap indicated Council had directed staff to put together a proposal on what to do next for providing wireless. They could do nothing, do a pilot project for a portion of the city, or do a full citywide wireless project. Commissioner Huiras asked if Ricochet was part of wireless project? Mr. Dunlap replied it was a separate system. The system was installed in St. Louis Park in 2000, but he was not sure if they had any subscribers before the company went bankrupt and discontinued the service. The service cost about $80 for a 128 kilobits per second service. He didn’t believe the Ricochet equipment was any part of the City’s wireless proposal because it was unlikely it could be upgraded to offer faster speeds. Commissioner Huiras asked if they would look into it? Mr. Dunlap was unsure. Mr. McHugh indicated some of the things that might be similar were the source of power and the physical locations of the transmitters. As far as being able to repurpose the older equipment, that was an unknown. Commissioner Huiras asked who owned it? Mr. Dunlap responded the company that installed it went bankrupt and it was purchased by a creditor. They were located on City- owned utility and light poles. Chair Dworsky stated that the frequencies worked in different ways. Commissioner Jacobson reported he did further follow up on WiFi health issues and on his Internet search, most of the hits were legal cases. In most cases they never found anything wrong and no evidence of health issues. Commissioner Browning asked about Minnetonka and Edina, who had decided not to proceed with wireless. Was that because of health related issues or enough other issues that they didn’t proceed? Mr. Dunlap replied Clint Pires followed up and believed they didn’t go forward because of other reasons, not health issues. Mr. Dunlap reported that Jerry Quilling, a previous Commission member, had received an award for his years of service in the Civil Air Patrol. 11. Adjournment Commissioner Browning made a motion, Commission Huiras seconded to adjourn at 8:00. The motion passed. The motion passed 7-0. Respectfully submitted by: Amy L. Stegora-Peterson, Recording Secretary