FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes 11-09-2010MINUTES
FIBERNET MONTICELLO ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
Tuesday, November 09, 2010 — 6 p.m.
Present: Clint Herbst, Glen Posusta, Wayne Mayer, Jeff O'Neill (non- voting), Don Patten
(non- voting)
Absent: Jon Morphew
Guests: Dennis Sullivan, Lynne Dahl- Fleming
1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6 p.m. by Chair Clint Herbst at the FiberNet Business
Offices.
2. Additions to Agenda
• Thaddeus Rousu was introduced by Don Patten. He is the Central Office and Head
end Technician; works directly with install techs; part of on -call rotation.
• Wayne Mayer — installation observation (see end of agenda)
3. Approval of Meeting Minutes — October 12, 2010
GLEN POSUSTA MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MEETING MINUTES OF OCTOBER
12, 2010 AS CORRECTED. WAYNE MAYER SECONDED THE MOTION.
MOTION CARRIED 3 -0.
4. Review of Candidates for Open Position of Board and Consideration of making a
recommendation for appointment to the City Council.
Wayne Mayer asked whether there is a requirement that the appointment needs to be a
city resident. It is not clarified that way in the Governance ordinance but members feel
that priority should be given to city residents. At this point, Don passed out copies of an
application from Dennis Sullivan, who was present for the interview. Members of the
Board asked him several questions about his background.
Clint Herbst explained that an application had also been received from Roxanne Bakula,
who was interested in being considered for the Board again. Her work obligations have
changed some and she would be able to attend the meetings again after tonight.
WAYNE MAYER MOVED TO RECOMMEND APPOINTMENT OF DENNIS
SULLIVAN AS A MEMBER OF THE FIBERNET ADVISORY BOARD FOR THE
OPEN BOARD POSITION. GLEN POSUSTA SECONDED THE MOTION.
MOTION CARRIED 3 -0.
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — November 9, 2010
A request was made from Clint Herbst to send letter to Roxanne explaining decision and
asking her to consider applying again when there might be an opening.
5. Construction Update — Don Patten
Construction appears that it will not quite make completion this Fall due to the large
number of requests for residential drops. Don feels this is due to several reasons
including neighbors speaking to each other, changes in Dish channel offerings that make
FiberNet more attractive, and better awareness of FiberNet Monticello. LCP 11
(downtown) is underway right now.
216 drops for apartments are waiting to be completed. There was some discussion on
placement of equipment at apartment buildings. Clint Herbst suggested that the City
establish guidelines for minimum building requirements, especially with types of cables.
Glen Posusta mentioned that he has heard several complaints from people that the ONT
boxes are not being placed where people want them or contractors are not asking first
where they should be placed. Don explained that he has found several situations where
contractors have not placed boxes correctly. If the contractor moves a box, they have not
charged FiberNet for the move. Board members emphasized the need to leave door
hangers and make every effort to check with the homeowner for placement of the boxes.
Dennis Sullivan asked if it would be possible to have an FNM company person go ahead
of the contractor to make contact with the customer. Perhaps a sticker could be given to
the customer to mark the spot for the box. It appears that it might be best if there is a
contact that actually goes into the house to verify the best location based on location of
equipment and cabling in the house. Jeff O'Neill will attend meeting with Don to discuss
situation with MP Nexlevel.
6. Operations Report — Don Patten
• Installation progress (covered)
• Disaster Response Report
Pedestal destroyed by car accident — Friday November 5th
Don explained that a car accident took place near Martie's Farm Supply and took out
the pedestal serving businesses in that area. FNM had to make a temporary fix to
restore service to customers in that area. The pedestal is being replaced by an in-
ground vault as that is a known problem intersection. Total cost of repairs could run
up to $10,000 and they will be placing an insurance claim for damages. Customers
were contacted within minutes of the accident and service was restored in a short
time.
FNM is willing to look at replacing other pedestals with vaults if there are other
intersections where this might be warranted.
Recent power outages — system back -ups worked.
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — November 9, 2010
Don Patten explained that the system back -ups that are in place at the Head -end
building met requirements during some recent power outages. He noted some issues
that they are correcting:
1. Need correct splicing documentation on hand
2. Will be looking at developing an emergency response protocol with MP
Nexlevel
• Protocol for responding to technical problems of a chronic nature:
Don explained that, due to the nature of telecommunications business, FNM is
organizing a task force to develop protocols and a team to respond to chronic
problems until they are fixed.
Don also discussed a conversation he had with Gary Evans regarding "chronic
complainers" - people that continually complain no matter how often they deal with
them. He asked the Board members to provide some feedback on how they would
like FNM to handle these situations.
• Doug Dawson — Spending a Day in Monticello — November 19:
Purpose of his visit is to review status of build -out and provide feedback an overall
health check of system operations, expenses and revenues relative to the business
plan.
• School District update:
Don reported that FNM met with the School District officials and is working with
them to establish a system that they need to provide redundancy for the entire school
district.
Glen Posusta asked whether FNM is doing anything with the New River Hospital
District. Don said they have provided a drop and will continue to work with the
hospital.
• Refund Policy (for credit balances on final bills):
Don explained the requirements by Federal law that any balances on a phone account
must be repaid. For video or internet, there is no requirement. Consensus of the
Board is to refund any balances remaining on a final account, regardless of the
amount.
7. Report on MACTA Presentation/Roundtable
Jeff attended the annual MACTA conference today (Nov 9) as a speaker on the
Monticello project. The membership of this group includes other entities that are
interested in establishing high -speed broadband systems on a fiber backbone. This group
also assisted with the legislative visit to FNM. There is some discussion of hosting a
national forum to showcase what Minnesota has to offer.
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — November 9, 2010
Wayne Mayer asked if this might be leading to establishing a separate entity for the City
to handle requests for information about the FNM project. Clint Herbst suggested that it
would probably be good to have a group meet and discuss how to handle these requests.
Jeff O'Neill noted that Doug Dawson has been instrumental in establishing associations
that provide similar services and suggested that they could discuss this with him when he
comes on November 19tH
8. Consideration of City Video Content Distribution Schedules via Internet
Jeff O'Neill reviewed a table outlining various types of programming and options for
distribution. This information was requested in conjunction with a discussion at the
meeting last month. The Advisory Board gave the go- ahead for video streaming for city
meetings and public policy programs. If meetings and public forums are taped with
Sherburne Wright Cable Commission (SWCC) equipment, it will continue to play live on
Channel 12 and a link placed on the city's website as soon as possible after the meeting
(but must be after 24 hours per commission agreement). If events are taped with
FiberNet equipment and shown on FiberNet channels, the link for video streaming will be
delayed for 1 week. The Board would also like to see school events available for video
streaming. Jeff O'Neill will report to Council via green sheet update.
9. Review Concepts for use of Prairie Conference upstairs offices
Discuss potential uses and Provide Direction for follow -U
• Teleconference Room/Public Meeting Space
• Studio Space - School District may have studios available for FNM use: at the
High School and at Pinewood
• Call Center facility — technician space
Discussion included using studios at school for local programming. Don Patten has been
discussing some options with Superintendent Jim Johnson. He feels that eventually the
school will be looking for FNM to video a number of school events and show it for
public viewing. Don noted that they will need to purchase cameras in order to provide
those services.
It is recommended to look further into using some of the upstairs space for a video
conferencing center that can be rented or used by local businesses and organizations.
10. Other
Wayne Mayer commented on the transition process when people port their numbers from
TDS to FiberNet. As soon as customers choose to port their numbers, FiberNet should be
informing customers that their TDS email will be cancelled at the same time that their
numbers are ported. Many people are not aware of this and find their email is suddenly
cut off. Wayne Mayer also noted that the call forwarding feature with FNM does not
seem to be working as well as it should. He suggested that this be looked at, which Don
will do.
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — November 9, 2010
Wayne Mayer also expressed a concern when calling Tech Support at FNM. Wayne
Mayer made some recommendations for handling calls while working through this initial
period of time while service techs are still being trained. He also noted a recording is
used to answer phone calls to the technical service center but there can be a long wait.
When the tech person actually picks up the phone, they respond with "HBC." He
recommends that those lines should be answered as "FiberNet," which was the intention
during initial committee work.
Dennis Sullivan asked how a newcomer to Monticello would be introduced to FiberNet.
Jeff O'Neill is going to look into the process that the City uses to inform new residents
about various city utilities to see how FiberNet is being incorporated into that
information.
11. Adjourn
CLINT HERBST MOVED TO ADJOURN AT 8 :01 P.M. GLEN POSUSTA
SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 3 -0.
Recorder: Catherine M. Shuman G°.ptQ%
Approved: December 14, 2010
Attest:
Jeff ffNeill, City Administrator
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — November 9, 2010