Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016/12/14 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - RegularOFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING OF DECEMBER 14, 2016 ST. LOUIS PARK COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Maren Anderson, Bruce Browning, Cindy Hoffman, Abe Levine and Rolf Peterson present at Roll Call. MEMBERS ABSENT: David Dyer STAFF PRESENT: Brian Hoffman, Director of Inspections, Jacqueline Larson, Communications and Marketing Manager, Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator and John McHugh, Community TV Coordinator OTHERS PRESENT: None 1. Call to Order Chair Peterson called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM. 2. Roll Call Present at roll call were Commissioners Anderson, Browning, Hoffman, Levine and Peterson. 3. Approval of Minutes for October 26, 2016 It was moved by Commissioner Levine, seconded by Commissioner Browning, to approve the minutes. The motion passed 5-0. 4. Adoption of Agenda Mr. Dunlap asked to add item 6. F., Complaint log review. It was moved by Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Commissioner Levine, to approve the agenda as presented. The motion passed 5-0. 5. Public Comment – None 6. Reports & Discussion A. Council Chambers remodeling City of St. Louis Park Director of Inspections Brian Hoffman gave a presentation of the initial plan to remodel the Council Chambers. This gathering space is used by City staff and members of the public about fifteen hours per week on average, in addition to Council meetings. City Hall was built in the 1960’s and has been remodeled many times over the years. It’s a solid building with a long life ahead of it so Council decided a few years ago to do a full remodel, starting with the first floor, and the Reception area and the Community Room have received many complements. The architect firm was Krech, Obrien and Associates. Last year the second and third floor and lobby were completed, so the Chambers and the rest rooms need to be remodeled in 2017. City staff is working with the same architects and asked, how can we make this a more inviting room with a better layout? Mr. Hoffman showed slides with overhead scale drawings and views from various parts of the room. The room will be reoriented to put the Council dais on the stage, and remove the wall behind the current dais and put in a glass wall similar to the Community Room. This allows people seated at the dais to see when people walk through the entrance. For safety reasons, the dais will be reinforced to provide duck and cover, just in case. The room will have an increased floor space, by several hundred square feet, by removing the wooden riser where the dais is now, and there will be a new presentation area. The ceiling will be removed, and there will be large TV monitors to show presentations. All the blonde oak wood will be removed, and glass, metal and cherry wood that matches the rest of the building will be installed. The ceiling will have drop panels and LED lighting appropriate for TV coverage. There are ten narrow windows in the room that face west. Council has approved a plan to cut out the west wall and install two seventeen foot tinted glass windows that will either darken electronically or have double roller blinds like in the Community Room. City staff will do a lot of the work including demolition, and some licensed contractors like electricians will also be involved. It’s a big investment, $970,000, including $100,000 for technology like new HD cameras. The work begins in June and will take three solid months. Council will use the Community Room for televised meetings during that time, and the new Chambers will be ready in the Fall. Commissioner Browning asked if there were expected to be acoustic issues, with all the new glass, or will the ceiling compensate for that with acoustic panels? Mr. Hoffman said yes, and that the wood would also be acoustically dampening, like the material in the stairway. Commissioner Hoffman asked if the glass would be ballistic or bullet-proof in the hall and in the west wall? Mr. Hoffman said that in consultation with the Police, the dais would be reinforced but the glass would not be ballistic. Chair Peterson asked about the Westwood Room. Mr. Hoffman said that the ceiling tile would be replaced and also in the third floor lobby. Chair Peterson asked if the Chambers would still be a flexible meeting space that can be used in a variety of layouts? Mr. Hoffman said yes, and that there would be new tables and chairs. Commissioner Peterson said he would like to see another presentation later when the details are available, and asked if there would be a large drop down screen? Mr. Hoffman said right now the plan is to move away from screen and projector technology. Mr. McHugh asked if the entrance doors would be power assisted? Mr. Hoffman said that interior doors can be made assisted but it’s not required, and it’s something that hasn’t been discussed yet. Commissioner Browning asked if anyone had discussed a video wall? Mr. Hoffman said that the wall of Mayors and the glass art wall would be integrated somewhere. Chair Peterson thanked Mr. Hoffman and complimented him on the plans. 6. B. Consider franchise fee review for Comcast: 2014-2016 Chair Peterson said that this was discussed at the last meeting with some directions provided to the staff. Mr. Dunlap said he was directed to find out if there were any partners for a franchise fee review, and he did not find any. Mr. Dunlap found a relevant recommendation in the minutes of the August 28, 2013 Telecommunications Advisory Commission while preparing a draft report to Council. “The consensus policy was to conduct two audits of three years each in the remaining eight years of the franchise. That means there would be an unaudited period from 2008 to 2010, and another two year gap before the franchise ends in 2021.” The earlier Commission was wrestling with the same issues about whether an audit was cost effective, and performing due diligence. Therefore staff recommends that the Commission not do a franchise fee audit for 2014, and revisit this next year. Chair Peterson asked when the franchise renewal process begins, for the franchise that ends in 2021? Mr. Dunlap said it will begin in 2018. Chair Peterson said that it made sense to audit the last three years. Commissioner Browning said he agreed with the staff recommendation, because it’s expensive to audit. Chair Peterson agreed as well, but said he also liked Commissioner Levine’s suggestion to negotiate with Comcast for a payment instead of an audit. Mr. Dunlap said he discussed that proposal with the City Attorney, who suggested a private meeting with Comcast and it was helpful. Chair Peterson called for a motion. It was moved by Commissioner Anderson, and seconded by Commissioner Browning to waive the audit for 2014 and to consider an audit again next year as part of the work plan. The motion passed 5-0. 6. C. Draft Annual Report for 2016 Mr. Dunlap said the basis for the report will be the detailed work plan in the information packet, that there would be a verbal report to the City Council on February 27, and that later he would send a draft in the correct format for Commission review. 6. D. Draft Work Plan for 2017 & set meeting schedule for 2017 Commissioner Levine suggested invited someone from Verizon or A.T.& T. to talk about wireless and the way 5G might affect the city in terms of cable TV, and offered to get somebody for that. He suggested the July meeting, when 5G thinking would be more mature. He said that 5G might be a big issue about the time the City is negotiating a new franchise with Comcast. Commissioner Browning suggested a rep from U.S. Internet to talk about their plans for St. Louis Park. Mr. Dunlap said that would work well for the February meeting when CIO Clint Pires would attend. Commissioner Browning said he still likes the idea of a resident survey and that we should look at that. He also brought up the DOCSIS 3.1 standard that allows one-gig speeds and asked if it's officially rolled out anywhere. Mr. Dunlap said that Comcast is conducting trials in some cities, so that could be a topic for them to address. Commissioner Levine said that the CIO is the chief science or technology officer so he’d like to invite him to address the Commission twice per year, February and October, since there are probably plenty of topics for him to share with the Commission. He asked about nondisclosure agreements with CenturyLink and Comcast, and how they might provide information on their future plans. The concept is for advance notice on their plans rather than after the fact. Mr. Dunlap said that Commission meetings are all public, and that they don’t typically meet with Comcast about their plans. Usually Comcast sends letters to provide notice. However, he likes the idea because the formal, quarterly meetings with CenturyLink have been very productive and could be a model for meetings with Comcast. The Commission decided to continue to meet on Wednesday nights, and set the 2017 meetings for February 8, May 10, July 26, October 25 and December 13. 6. E. Elect Chair & Vice Chair, effective next meeting Maren Anderson was elected Chair, and Abe Levine was elected to be Vice Chair for 2017. 6. F. Complaint Log Review Chair Peterson said the complaint log was shorter than usual. Commissioner Levine said he never had any trouble getting through to Comcast so he’s surprised to see that listed. He said the complaint related to calling the 800 number, while he always calls the 612- 522-2000 number, which goes back to the old Time Warner days. Commissioner Browning said that that the local number may have better results than the 800 number. Mr. McHugh said that having a local telephone number could be part of a customer service ordinance recommended to the City Council. Commissioner Levine said that is a good idea, and asked how the Commission would do that? Mr. Dunlap said that the Council reads all the meeting minutes. A formal motion was made at the last meeting to direct staff to research if any other neighboring communities had customer service ordinances that are more stringent than FCC standards. Unfortunately, he has received no responses. Mr. Dunlap said he would prefer to start from a model in another community rather than to brainstorm the ordinance. He also said that when complainants say they have a hard time reaching Comcast, they usually have been calling the 800 number, so he refers them to the 651-222-3333 number, which is printed on bills and other customer service information. Commissioner Levine said maybe we can find out what really happens when you call those phone numbers, are they all just aliases that forward to an 800 number or does it actually have a pathway through to a local office? Mr. Dunlap said that he suspects the 612 and 651 numbers go to the St. Paul customer service center but the 800 number goes to another area in the region like Denver. Chair Peterson said his Comcast internet had an outage over the weekend, and using the online help with his telephone did not fix the problem. He fixed it with a quick trip to the hardware store and a $1.23 grounding block that he installed in his garage where all utilities come in and then go underground to his home. Commissioner Browning said he helped a client in Edina recently, and went to the Comcast service center on Excelsior Boulevard. The staff was knowledgeable and did a good job. 7. Communications from the Chair, Commissioners and City staff Chair Peterson said it’s been a pleasure to serve as Chair and complemented staff for their assistance. Mr. Dunlap said that Comcast has committed to providing one HD channel within ninety days notice, which was part of the transfer agreement conditions to GreatLand. This is great news, since the City has upgraded to HD production in the Chambers and that you can see the difference on You Tube. He said CenturyLink has completed installing Prism TV in Fire Station 1, the Police EOC and City Hall in the last few days, so staff can now see how ParkTV looks on their system. The mosaic channel 22 is not working properly, which is where all ParkTV channels are supposed to be available, so that will need to be fixed. Mr. McHugh said that Community TV channel 15 will reach 106 premiers for the year, a similar number to last year. Chair Peterson said he saw ParkTV producer Scott Smith at the Holiday Train event, which was a great event, and he looked cold so he gave him some hand warmers. 8. Adjournment Commissioner Browning made a motion, Commission Levine seconded to adjourn at 8:06 p.m. The motion passed 5-0. Respectfully submitted by: Reg Dunlap Civic TV Coordinator