FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes 03-13-2012MINUTES
FIBERNET MONTICELLO ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
2"d Tuesday, March 13, 2012 — 6 p.m.
Floor Conference Room, Prairie Center Building
Present: Clint Herbst, Jon Morphew, Dennis Sullivan
Absent: Glen Posusta, Wayne Mayer
Others: Jeff O'Neill, Ben Ranft (HBC), Brett DeMarais, Lynne Dahl - Fleming, Paul
Ruffin
1. Call to Order
2.
3.
Chair Clint Herbst called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m.
Additions to Agenda
None
Consideration of Approval of Meeting Minutes — February 21, 2012
DENNIS SULLIVAN MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING
FROM FEBRUARY 21, 2012 AS CORRECTED. JON MORPHEW SECONDED THE
MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 3 -0.
Marketing Report (Ben Ranft, Brett Demarais, Jeff O'Neill)
• Cash Mob — working with Culver's to host a "cash mob" on March 27th from 5 to
8 p.m.; existing FiberNet Monticello customers attending are eligible for a
drawing for free month's service. Marketing the event on electronic message
center board, website, mailing, Facebook and at Culver's. Clint Herbst suggested
to budget for banner or sandwich sign that could be set up for cash mob at
Culver's that day.
• Thank You Letter — letter to be mailed on Friday to thank current customers with
coupon for Monticello Community Center, Liquor store, and Culver's cash mob
promo. Clint Herbst would like to see phone calls made for follow up
immediately. For those that take extra service, staff should check with them at the
end of their "free" service. Ben Ranft pointed out that the logistics of following
up could be complicated because each will differ depending on the service that is
chosen.
• Cross Promotional Team Report (handout) — Cathy Shuman reviewed the list of
suggestions that are in process and anticipated. Dennis Sullivan suggested adding
a display board to advertise new services by FiberNet Monticello. Ben Ranft
asked if the City could look at a moveable electronic message board; maybe look
at renting a better portable sign instead of the yellow one.
y FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — March 13, 2012
• Bill as a Coupon — Jeff O'Neill reported that Hi Way Liquors is interested in
putting coupon in FiberNet Monticello bill. Ben Ranft knows that some of other
FiberNet customers (businesses) would also be interested.
5. Operations /Financial Report — General Manager
• Residential installations — updated counts for February.
• Apartments — Worked on setting up some wireless networks with 3 nodes as a
test; when they went live they immediately had a customer sign up. System is
secure for each customer and does not allow sharing outside customer's account.
Install team is handling these networks.
• Digitizing (Packet loss) — Clint Herbst asked about problems reported recently for
video customers. Ben Ranft reported that an upgrade would be completed on
Wednesday that will improve the service. Ben also reminded the Board that sun
spots may still cause some short blackouts at this time of the year.
• Commercial installations - Internet and Phone
a) Sales Manager Report (Brett D) — working with a number of business
customers that are interested in service.
b) Meeting with Culvers — Ben Ranft passed around thank you letter and
promo coupon
• Channel Offerings — not much available for church channels; also discussed
issues with adding "E" as a channel offering.
6. State Legislation Report (Jeff O'Neill)
• Wright County Broadband Initiative — committee met and are considering
forming a task force for Wright County to look into better broadband services; a
lot of interest from various areas of the county including townships.
• State Legislature — HF 2695 bill introduced in House (Kiffineyer) to prevent all
municipal broadband implementations; there is no companion bill in the Senate.
Jeff O'Neill offered to put together more information and report back.
• Miscellaneous - Chris Mitchell has been publishing information about
Monticello's system. MPR will be visiting Monticello tomorrow to tour the
Head -end Building. (see Arstechnica.com for more information)
• Sprin stg ed update — small group will be meeting soon
7. Other
• Jeff O'Neill reported on a contact made from someone in another state that is
planning to move to Monticello for the broadband speed.
• Paul Ruffin asked if FiberNet can do real -time broadcast on the local channel;
Ben Ranft pointed out the Swan Cam and Council meetings as examples. He
asked if there are cameras available to produce public videos and about
advertising on local channels and pricing. Ben is still investigating options.
FiberNet Advisor Board
Advisory Minutes —March 13, 2012
• Swan Cam — discussed possible places that this camera or other cameras could be
located to stream views on FiberNet Monticello or through the internet. Possible
sites: river view, freeway traffic view, on top of water tower.
• Chamber Golf Tournament - FiberNet Monticello would like to participate in this
tournament and sponsor a hole at cost of $650.
JON MORPHEW MOVED TO AUTHORIZE FIBERNET MONTICELLO TO
PARTICIPATE IN THE 2012 CHAMBER GOLF TOURNAMENT AND
SPONSOR A HOLE AT A COST OF $650. DENNIS SULLIVAN SECONDED
THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 3 -0.
8. Adjourn
JON MORPHEW MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 7:28 P.M. DENNIS
SULLIVAN SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 3 -0.
Recorder: Catherine M. Shuman OOV.11
Approved: April 10, 2012
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Attest:
CiV1 inistrator
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — March 13, 2012