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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/03/2002 • � Telecommunications Advisory Committee City of Apple Valley June 3, 2002 7:00 P.M. Municipal Center Minutes 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by David Westbrook. Members Present: Jerry Brown, Scott Hugstad-Vaa, John Magnusson, Dale Rodell, David Westbrook Members Absent: Rollin Bible Others Present: Charles Grawe, Mark Moore, Ellen Martin, Patty Kankovsky, Duane Paetznick, Denis LaComb 2. Approval of A eg nda Mr. Westbrook asked for changes to the agenda. Mr. Grawe asked to add the recognition of Mr. Hugstad-Vaa far ten years of service on the Committee. Mr. Rodell moved, second by Mr. Brown to approve the agenda as revised. T'he agenda was approved as revised. 3. A�proval Minutes of March 4, 2002 Mr. Rodell moved, second by Mr. Brown, to approve the minutes of March 4, 2002. Motion passed unanimously. 4. Reco�nition of Mr. Hugstad-Vaa for Years of Service Mr. Grawe presented Mr. Hugstad-Vaa with an apple clock in recognition of his ten years of service on the Committee. 5. Continuation of Task Force Report and Public Input on Public Access Television Mr. Westbrook asked for introductions of those present to speak. Pastor Duane Paetznick of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church was present. A letter from Pastor Paetznick was also included in the packet. Mr. Magnusson briefly summarized the public access concerns addressed by the Task Force and the proposal presented at the last meeting. Mr. Moare clarified that the � • . proposal only encompasses playback of prerecorded material and does not include any production equipment, production staff, or production studios. Mr. Moore also said there might also be an opportunity to work with other local communities to provide public access programming on Channel6 if that signal is not recovered from Minneapolis. Pastor Paetznick said his church has experienced difficulty in having reliable and consistent playbacks from the public access service provided by Charter Communications. He would prefer the ability for the church to have playbacks on a consistent schedule with regular days and time slots. His church is currently using the production facilities in Burnsville/ Eagan and only requires playback facilities from Apple Valley. Pastor Paetznick asked how the public access programs would be scheduled under the proposal. Mr. Moore said that the traditional public access program scheduling has been first-come, first-serve. However, he said that philosophy has evolved over time to allow regular contributors to have regularly scheduled dates and times. He said he believes that regular scheduling could be accommodated in Apple ' Valley. Pastor Paetznick asked what cities would see the public access programming. ' Mr. Moore said that the current public access Channel 12 would be seen in Apple Valley, Farmington, and Rosemount. The programming could also be shown on Channel 6 for at least the short-term and would then be viewed in Lakeville. Pastor Paetznick asked how the public access service would be staffed in the proposal. Mr. Grawe explained that staffing could be from either Mr. Moore or from a part-time position. He explained that the cable staff is technically employed by the joint powers commission and the staffing proposal would need to be approved by the Commission. He explained the Apple Valley Council would need to approve the proposal for the purchase of the equipment and use of the Apple Valley facilities. ' Mr. Grawe said the Committee might wish to consider Item 7 prior to making a motion on this item. The discussion continued under Item 7. Mr. Westbrook moved, second by Mr. Magnusson, to table the discussion of the public access proposal until the City Council had provided its direction on the use of a scientific resident phone survey. Motion passed unanimously. , j 6. Discuss Future of Re�ional Channel6 I Mr. Moore explained that Regional Channel6 is now off the air because of problems with the transmission. Mr. Moore said it appears that work will be done to reestablish the transmission link. He said this project might not be completed for six to twelve months and the channel would be available for other public access purposes in the short- term. He suggested that public access playback could be demonstrated on Channel6 during the interim. 7. City Phone Survey Mr. Grawe said the City Council approved the additional episodes of Apple Valley Today as recommended by the Committee for 2002. He said the Council also directed staff to get a cost estimate to conduct a scientific survey of the City to determine levels , • • of viewership for government access. There was a brief discussion about the differences between a scientific random sample survey and a selected sample survey. Mr. Grawe said he is awaiting a cost proposal from Mr. Bill Morris of Decision Resources. He suggested that the survey would probably cost a certain amount regardless of the questions because of the extensive initial setup costs. He suggested that additional questions could probably be added for a small fee. Mr. Grawe suggested that the Committee might wish to consider adding a few questions relating to public access. Mr. Magnusson moved, second by Mr. Hugstad-Vaa, that the Committee recommend the undertaking of such a survey and the addition of a few questions pertaining to public access in addition to those questions pertaining to government access. As it was not clear if the Council would choose to undertake such a survey, the members agreed that they would be willing to hold a special meeting to help create the questions if the Council chose to move forward. 8. 2nd Ouarter Complaint Lo� Mr. Moore distributed the 2nd Quarter Complaint Log. 9. Coardinator's Revort Mr. Moore briefly went over a few items listed in the report. 10. Other Mr. Brown thanked Ms. Kankovsky for the Telecommunications Seminar sponsored by Frontier Communications. Ms. Kankovsky said 95 percent of Apple Valley is now able to receive DSL service. Frontier is also expanding its Burnsville call center. Mr. Grawe briefly explained the recent FCC ruling exempting cable modem service from franchise fees. He said the City estimates that franchise fee revenues will be about $45,000 less per year for Apple Valley due to the ruling. He said the National League of Cities (NLC) and other organizations are considering an appeal of the decision. At this point in time, the NLC has not indicated how much money would be requested from individual cities for the appeal effort. Mr. Brown moved, second by Mr. Hugstad-Vaa, to express interest in participating in an appeals effort, but to not make any monetary commitment until more information is available. Motion passed unanimously. 11. Adj ourn Mr. Rodell moved, second by Mr. Brown to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.