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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNovember 16, 2006THE MINUTES OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION FR C}M THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2006 The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Dennis Stroik, Chairperson. ROLL CALL: Members Present: Council Representative: City Representative: Comcast Representative: Legal Counsel: APPROVAL DF MINUTES Dennis Stroik, Brad Peterson, Rueben Ruen, Ken Henke, Bob Buboltz, and Dan Swee Bruce Nawrocki Shelley Idanson Kathi Dormelly Cohen Steve Guzzetta Motion by Ken Henke, second by Brad Peterson, to a~pf°ove tdae ~ninutes,fi°o~n the meeting of July 20, 2006. All a~~es. ®LD BUSINESS A. Chamlel Check Everything checked out fine. It was noted that the Wild Game on FSN channel 27 was blacked out. Kathi stated this is done occasionally as per the agreement with the Wild. B. Correspondence Log and Follow Up on Complaints Dan Swee had video interference on Chamlel 38. He thought it might be due to the sweep generator that has caused problems in the past. However, when Kat1u checked into this, she confirmed the generator had been tul7zed off for months. She recommended setting up a service call. Dan reported that soon after she responded to leis e-mail, the reception cleared up anal there haven't been any problems since. C. Status of Franchise Renewal Kathi Donnelly Cohen stated she had given a draft franchise agreement to Linda in October. Linda is reviewing it and will be meeting with Steve Guzzetta after Thanksgiving, prior to meeting with her. She explained that the cun•ent franchise expired November 9, 2006, but things will continue `as is' since informal discussions to renew the franchise are taking place. Kathi reminded members that our renewal process isn't as complicated as other systems since our system was upgraded prior to the renewal, and other systems had to negotiate the upgrades as part of the renewal process. Nawrocki voiced his concenl that no one has seen a copy of the draft besides staff at this point. He felt the commission should have some input regarding the content of the franchise before an agreement is reached. Guzzetta stated that once t11e details are worked out it would be brought before the Commission so they can make a recommendation to the City Council.. TELECOMMUNICATION COMMISSION MINUTES NOVEMBER 16, 2006 PAC=E 2 n n+i,,,,. n~,a ~,,,,,,,~,,,, L. VLlttrl ll1U 1.1 UJ111t~Jb Peterson suggested that Comcast provide cable service at the Library or Murzyn Hall where people could test view different cable services and use it as a sales center. Kathi responded that due to regulations, if cable is shown in public places, commercial rates must be charged. Nawrocki asked how much the service is at City Hall. She ulfonned him. that Comcast has an obligation to provide an Institutional hookup for City Hall, but because this isn't open for public viewing, the rate requirements are not applicable. NEW BUSINESS A. Franchise Fee for 2nd & 3rd Quarter 2006 We received the 2nd & 3rd Quarter franchise fee payments and copies were enclosed in the agenda packets. B. Notice of Programming Changes Notice was received of changes in programmng. MHD will replace INHD2 on channel 209; VeneMovies will replace Casa Club on chasulel 609, and THE TUBE was added on channel 254. Also added in November were Reelz on channe1260 in Digital Plus, Fox Reality on channel 10$ in Digital Classic, and WFTC HD on chamlel 236 ill Basic HDTV. Kathi said notices will be sent shortly that a few more cham~els, including the Tennis Channel, are being added by January. Nawrocki stated he would like some of the empty chaiulels not being used in the basic tier to have programming. C. Resignation of Dave Mahoney Dave Mahoney submitted his resignation on August 8, 2006, due to work schedule conflicts. The members haped this vacancy would be f lied soon. D. Other New Business Reuben reported he had recently watched the St. Louis Park Council meeting online, and that it had a replay feature also. There was a discussion about the various other cities that have this available via their websites and he feels Columbia Heights should pursue this also. Some of them offer the ability to select any meeting, then select a certain agenda item, and to just view the portion of the meeting you're interested in. He asked that this item be passed on to the IS Dept. for them to research and report back to the commission. Ken Henke brought up the passibility of providing WiFi access in Columbia Heights. He noted several other cities are now providing this service. Reuben stated 11e thinks the City should wait to consider this issue. He said new technology is being developed called WiMax that will have more capabilities and more fiequencies that will enhance services for portable, wireless users. He said it is still in the testing phase, but would be a technological improvement over WiFi. TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING NOVEMBER 16, 2006 PACTF.3 REP012TS A. Report of Coznznissioners Education-The access channel was off-liz2e for abaut a week. Brian I-Iennikins froze the School District called the regular customer service number to request a service call from Comcast. It took a week to get someone out to fix tl~e problem. Kathi Donnelly Cohen stated there is a special phone number for Institutions such as the T ibrary or Schools to contact for service. Kathi will get the number to call to Linda so she can make sure the Library and School District have the correct number to call for future problems. Library-The access channel had terrible reception for several weeks. It was found that water had gotten into the box and caused the problem. Once Dennis e-mailed Linda and she contacted Kauai, tecluzicians were sent out immediately to correct the problem. Again, by calling the special number, service would have been provided much sooner. Public-Nothing to report Government-Nothing to report B. Report of Cozncast- Kathzi reviewed the monthly reports that were enclosed in the agenda packets. There was a discussion regarding the outage reports. Dennis stated he has been having intermittent outages several times during the last couple months that last a day or so. Katl~i said she would get him a special number to call when it happens next, so that a tech. caz~ be dispatched right away to tzy and determine what the problem is. C. Report of Cable Atton~ey * * Steve stated that with the recent election results changing the makeup of the Federal House and Sezaate, he doesn't expect any major reform will take place during the lazzle duck session. He said pants of the bills that were drafted may be taken further, but no major changes are expected. He felt the bigger risk is at the State level. Qwest has been successful in making changes in several states, and they will continue to pursue in other states now that it will be more difficult to do so at the Federal level. The argument they seem to be using is that it is too difficult, time consuming and expensive to obtain a franchise and to get use of the Right of Ways. They want to streamline the process and not have to abide by the current requirements of proving they have the legal, tecln7ical, azld financial means to provide the service. They argue that these requirements are excessive and are meant to deliberately keep them out as a potential provider. He said that cities may want to tzy and eliminate steps, but at the same time, cities must protect their interest for future requests. Guzzetta explained that the proposed federal legislation required only a form to be filed with the FCC to obtain a franchise. The companies would no longer go to the Cities for approval and would not have to prove they are capable of running a system. Henke aslfed if the process should be streamlined now for the franchise renewal process. Guzzetta said it wouldn't affect the renewal with Comcast. It would only be an issue with new companies. TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES MEETING OF NOVEMBER I6, 2006 P A CTR 4 Swee asked what rights Cities have if a company came in and only wanted to provide service to a portion of the city. Guzzetta said it puts cities in a difficult situation and that it creates a gray area regarding level playing fields and the requirement of providing identical service. However, there is nothing stopping a company from providing service to the city in phases. But negotiating the details and timelines for the implementation throughout the city would have to be worked out and agreed to by both parties. * * Guzzetta reported that the FCC has issued an order regarding the High Speed over Power-line issue. They have determined because it is an information service, it is not subject to certain obligations that had been argued. Although they are still working through some of the issues, tl~e FCC didn't preempt city's rights. Motion by Ken Henke, seconded by Bob Buboltz, to adjourn the tweeting at 8: 08 pm. All ayes. rZespectfully submitted, Shelley Hanson Secretary