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FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes 12-13-2011MINUTES FIBERNET MONTICELLO ADVISORY BOARD MEETING Tuesday, December 13, 2011— 6 p.m. South Bridge Room, Monticello Community Center Present: Clint Herbst, Jon Morphew, Wayne Mayer Not present: Dennis Sullivan, Glen Posusta Others: Jeff O'Neill, Ben Ranft (HBC), Gary Evans & Manuelo D'Angelo - HBC, Paul Ruffin, Brett Demarais, Lynne Dahl - Fleming, (2 unknown visitors) 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Chair Clint Herbst at 6:02 p.m. 2. Additions to Agenda • 2012 rate increase • 1 GB update 3. Consideration of Approval of Meeting Minutes — November 15, 2011 Wayne Mayer had a question on 4A regarding reason for not charging for service calls; Ben noted that he did not make any changes from previous practices. Wayne suggested striking the sentence with Jeff's comment on philosophy. JON MORPHEW MOVE TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES FOR NOVEMBER 15, 2011 AS AMENDED. WAYNE MAYER SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 3 -0. 4. Marketing Report (Ben Ranft, Brett Demarais, Jeff O'Neill) Business Recognition - Cash Mob Concept: Jeff O'Neill explained concept and handed out a flyer with information on the plan. He noted purpose behind concept is to support local business by holding a shopping event at a specified time. Clint Herbst asked what FiberNet uses for getting information out to its customers. Ben explained they mainly use direct mail, email, facebook and twitter. First try at Cash Mob will be held on Friday, December 16 at 4:30 pm at AST Sports. Clint Herbst suggested an incentive drawing of some kind which might entice some new customers. Paul Ruffin said he owns a business but does not have a physical location in Monticello. He was wondering if he would be eligible to hold an event maybe in conjunction with another business. Clint Herbst suggested that this be decided through the marketing committee. Jon Morphew noted that this concept is basically to drive customers to a certain business at a given time; wondered if they should have to give out something in exchange such as a percent off to customers. Paul Ruffin noted that customers choose you to do business because they like you. He likes this concept because it is an easy way for customers to like FiberNet. FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — December 13, 2012 Clint Herbst recommended that someone be there to take pictures and promote the event. This could be put on FiberNet's Channel 5. • Other — suggestion to list all business customers on city website. Marketing meeting held recently. Jeff O'Neill mentioned consideration of sending a letter to FNM customers offering discount to other city services such as Liquor Store and MCC. 5. Operations /Financial Report — General Manager • Residential installations — Ben Ranft updated the numbers. Video on Demand is being promoted to customers. • Apartments — FiberNet received some quotes for wiring several buildings but they were extremely high; they are working with a contractor to revise quote and try to get a better price. • Commercial installations - Internet and Phone a) Sales Manager Report - Brett Demarais reported that is working with some businesses new to town and has a number of businesses that are in the process of getting hooked up to FiberNet. It was noted that TDS gave free 100MB service to the school district. Paul Ruffin remarked that there may be other services that FNM could provide to the school. Brett talked about providing service to some siren towers. Clint Herbst suggested talking to theirs to work out a deal where FNM might be able to use those towers for MonticelloAir. b) TLS Connections — Ben Ranft reported that 6 connections are up and operational out of the Head -end building. It provides a direct connection to a multi -site business using the power of the FNM network. Paul Ruffin asked about bringing a TLS connection to a residential site. Ben Ranft said that would be possible, it would require some setup and they would be charged the same fees as business. • Status Report - Monticello Air: FiberNet has been in touch with a potential business partner and they are willing to work out an agreement to provide installation and support services. Ben Ranft noted that they are having difficulty getting the signal from the water tower to test sites. Discussed some options using different towers and possibility of building a tower on the Monte Club hill at some point in time. 6. Status Report — Charging for services Ben Ranft explained some of the distinctions that they are making on charging customers for service calls. If they need to replace a piece of equipment due to misuse or abuse, the customer will be charged. If it is a case of customer education, there would not be a charge (ex. show how to program a remote). Charges are based on tariffed rates. Wayne FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — December 13, 2012 Mayer asked about trip charges. Ben Ranft explained that there is a trip charge when they need to send someone out on a call — that would be $25 per hour. Clint Herbst commented that it is a difficult decision in some cases because you have to distinguish between good customer service and charging for a call or equipment. Manuelo noted that if FNM wants to distinguish itself from the competition, they should weigh carefully what they charge for. Clint Herbst would like to see FNM review all service calls during the month of January to see how often the truck goes out. Ben Ranft noted that there is a report that can be pulled from Quintrex that shows recurring and non - recurring revenues. This would show what has been collected as billable non - recurring charges. Ben Ranft said there is a fee that the customer can add to their bills to help cover future damages to lines — this is kind of an insurance plan. Jeff O'Neill asked if there was an opportunity to provide videos to customers that would show them how they could be educated on basic repairs. Gary Evans said that HBC has that capability but has not used it much. They could provide videos to customers if they requested. 7. Report on Special City Council Work Session — November 28, 2011 • Jeff O'Neill handed out an outline and summarized the work session that was held with Council to talk about goals and objectives for FNM. They discussed methods and strategies that could be employed to grow the FiberNet business. It is proposed to form a study committee with Springsted, HBC, key city staff and 2 Council members. This group would look at many aspects of the business and identify options to improve the business situation. • Discuss integration of the FiberNet Advisory Board (FAB) into the study effort - Jeff O'Neill noted that Clint Herbst and Lloyd Hilgart from the City Council will be part of the study group. It is important to include the FAB in the process. Jeff O'Neill is trying to figure out how to get the group involved and would like input from FAB members. Jeff O'Neill asked if FAB members might be willing to attend special meetings when there is important information to pass on and receive input. 8. Project Reports • Eligible Telecommunication Carrier Update — FNM is no longer eligible due to FCC rule changes. Jeff O'Neill noted that the FCC issued an order that they would not be funding a duplicate system in an area that is already served by an ETC carrier (such as TDS). The City will not be able to continue with its efforts to secure ETC status. There is a new funding source, but will not be viable for several years most likely. • Wright County Initiative — Jeff O'Neill noted that Wright County might be interested in developing a partnership with the City. • Area Community Initiative — Windom Model — Jeff O'Neill summarized this. • GIG University — Jeff O'Neill noted that there is a movement out there to develop test grounds for applications running on high bandwidth. There might be potential for Monticello to become a test site FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — December 13, 2012 Business Outreach - Jeff O'Neill commented that the City has not acquired any broadband -based businesses yet from outside the community and there hasn't been a lot of information circulated out there about our system. Jon Morphew asked about involvement of the City's economic development staff in promoting FiberNet. Jeff O'Neill commented that the Economic Development Director is very involved in different organizations across the state that can help promote what the City has to offer and has been making connections. Clint Herbst also suggested putting out a business brochure that can be circulated outside of the community. Such a brochure should show factual advantages and benefits realized by customers. 9. Other • 2012 rate increase — Ben Ranft said they will need to raise rates for 2012 based on increases from content providers. Clint Herbst asked Ben Ranft to prepare a listing of proposed rate increases so the FAB can review the proposal. • 1 GB status of system — Dan Pecarina from HBC talked to Doug Dawson, CCG Consulting. Ben Ranft updated the committee on the potential to utilize a 1 GB system. 10. Adjourn JON MORPHEW MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:02 P.M. WAYNE MAYER SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 3 -0. Recorder: Catherine M. Shuman Approved: March 21, 2012 Attest: y inistrator FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — December 13, 2012