HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/08/2003 � �
Telecommunications Advisory Committee
City of Apple Valley
September 8, 2003
7:00 P.M. Municipal Center
Minutes
1. Call to Order
Chair Rollin Bible called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m.
Members Present: Rollin Bible, Dale Rodell, John Magnusson, David Westbrook
Jerry Brown, Scott Hugstad-Vaa
Members Absent: None
Others Present: Mark Moore, Elizabeth Engel, and Denis LaComb
2. A�proval of A eg nda
Mr. Bible asked for changes to the agenda and there were none offered. No motion was
made, or vote taken, to approve the agenda.
3. A�proval Minutes of June 2, 2003
MOTION: Mr. Magunsson moved, second by Mr. Westbrook, to approve the minutes of
June 2, 2003. Motion passed unanimously.
4. E-Commerce and Business Development Issues
Mr. Moore informed the Committee that Charles Grawe was to have made the
presentation on this item, but was absent from the meeting due to the birth of his new
baby. Mr. Bible suggested that this item be tabled until the next quarterly meeting. The
Committee members also congratulated Mr. Grawe on the new addition to his family.
MOTION: Mr. Westbrook moved, second by Mr. Brown to table the E-Commerce and
Business Development Issues presentation to the next quarterly meeting of the
Committee. Motion passed unanimously.
5. 3rd Quarter Complaint Log
Mr. Moore pointed out that there had been a sizable percentage increase in the number of
complaints in two areas, unfinished drop burials and customer service/call center
dissatisfaction. He stated that in the previous three weeks the numbers of complaints in
those areas were four times greater than had been received for the entire year, up to that
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point. Chair Bible said that he was disconcerted by the increased numbers and asked Ms.
Engle to address the issue.
Ms. Engle stated that most of the increase in drop burial complaints was due to changes
in Charter Communications management, that resulted in reporting and follow-up lapses.
She also said that issues that had to be resolved with their new burial sub-contractor also
caused some of the problems. Ms. Engle stated that most of the customer serviced/call
center complaints occurred during two periods when callers whose computers were
infected by internet/e-mail viruses inundated their phones lines. Chair Bible asked why
there were so many unfinished drop burials beyond the franchise-mandated completion
date of June 30"'. Ms. Engle said that was the result of improper recording of drop burial
information by the crews or company staff. Chair Bible also asked if there was local
supervision of the sub-contractors. Ms. Engle replied that there are three local technical
supervisors, and one is specifically responsible for over-seeing the subcontractors.
However, she said that they are still warking to eliminate the improper recording of drop
burial information by the crews or company staff.
Mr. Westbrook mentioned that he was one of those listed in the complaint log because of
problems with his Internet and cable TV service. He is concerned about the length of
time that the service is down, in his case up to a week, and was wondering why there
couldn't be a twenty-four hour standard in place. Ms. Engle replied that twenty-four
hours is their standard, and without knowing the particulars of his case, doesn't lrnow
why that wasn't adhered to. Mr. Westbrook also asked why he has had so much trouble
getting through to customer service when he was having service problems. Ms. Engle
replied that, again without la�owing the particulars of his case, it was probably
attributable to the phone lines being overwhelmed by the computer virus issue that she
had previously referred to. Ms. Engle reiterated that the company is very focused on
solving these issues. Chair Bible stated that the Committee would continue to monitor
this situation for
6. Coordinator's Report
Mr. Moore briefly reviewed the items listed in his report that was included with the
packet that was distributed to the committee.
7. Other
Ms. Engle reported that Charter was changing the walk-in hours at the local office from
Saturday to Wednesday evening. She also stated that they had reached carry agreements
with KMSP-TV and KARE-TV, and were still working on some technical issues. They
are shooting for an October launch of the new High Definition cable TV service, but
can't provide a definite date yet.
8 . Adj ourn
MOTION: Mr. Rodell moved, second by Mr. Brown to adjourn the meeting. Motion
passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m.