FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes 11-15-2011MINUTES
FIBERNET MONTICELLO ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
Tuesday, November 15, 2011— 6 p.m.
FiberNet Customer Service Office
Present: Glen Posusta, Jon Morphew, Wayne Mayer, Dennis Sullivan
Absent: Clint Herbst
Staff. Jeff O'Neill, Ben Ranft (HBC)
Others: Lynne Dahl- Fleming, Jason Kallevig, Paul Ruffin, Brett Desmarais, Tom Kelly,
Bryan Rabe
1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Jon Morphew, Vice Chair.
2. Additions to Agenda
• Potential FNM revenue source (Bryan Rabe)
3. Consideration of Approval of Meeting Minutes — October 11, 2011
DENNIS SULLIVAN MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES FROM THE OCTOBER
11, 2011 ADVISORY BOARD MEETING. GLEN POSUSTA SECONDED THE
MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 4 -0.
4. Marketing Report (Ben Ranft)
Ben Ranft reported that banners are done, billboard is done and up. The open internet
policy goes into effect on November 20, which requires telecommunications companies
to post according to rules set by FCC for more transparency (Ex. provisioned speed,
latency, where to find policies). FiberNet already abides by these rules.
Wayne Mayer asked about billboard and was wondering if the top speed available is
100mbps as he understood the goal was to deliver up to 1 GB. He would like Ben Ranft
to research with HBC whether it would be possible to reach 1 GB for every customer and
what it would take to do it. Ben Ranft will try to have that information for the next
meeting.
Jon Morphew asked about the renewal of the contract buyout promo. Ben Ranft noted
that they have put it in place and have signed a few new customers due to it.
4A. Bryan Rabe, Lead Install Tech for FNM handed out a spreadsheet with a printout
showing his idea for providing an additional revenue source for FiberNet by charging for
service calls. Wayne Mayer expressed some concern that FiberNet has not been charging
for service calls. Jeff O'Neill noted that FiberNet's intent was to provide a service level
that would establish a reputation for service and thus engender customer loyalty. Given
the customer loyalty in the face of predatory pricing, this goal seems to have been
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — November 15, 2011
accomplished; however it makes sense to identify limits as to what FiberNet can provide
at no charge. Jon Morphew commented that he sees there are probably 3 categories of
service calls: FiberNet cause, customer cause, and unsure. Jon Morphew suggested that
a plan be put in place that will go into effect in a few weeks. The plan should include the
rates that would be charged if the customer is at fault.
Paul Ruffin commented that there should be a trip charge for all customer service calls;
that is common practice in the ISP industry. He also suggested considering some kind of
protection plan for customers that would provide insurance in case equipment or lines are
damaged.
Wayne Mayer asked Tom Kelly if he receives monthly financial reports showing
inventory changes. Tom Kelly noted he does not receive that detail. Ben Ranft
explained the process from work order to billing noting that the service techs should be
recording their work and materials on the work order which should be turned in with the
possibility of being billed. Ben Ranft said he would need to look into the process to see
what actually gets billed.
Bryan explained that the field techs are dispatched by HBC as customer service calls.
Paul Ruffin suggested that these calls should have gone through trouble - shooting by HBC
before dispatching and customers alerted that this would be a chargeable call.
Bryan noted that FiberNet is very particular about their process for new installations
which runs wires inside walls and not on the outside of buildings. Paul Ruffin suggested
that this be added to the marketing process.
Jon Morphew asked how we want to put this in place to start charging for customer
service. Wayne Mayer recommended going back to HBC as they would have a system in
place already. Bryan explained that there are already fees in place as listed on top of
spreadsheet.
WAYNE MAYER MOVED THAT FIBERNET SHOULD START BILLING
IMMEDIATELY USING THE EXISTING FEE STRUCTURE AND INSTRUCT
DISPATCHERS TO INFORM CUSTOMERS OF BILLABLE CHARGES. GLEN
POSUSTA SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 4 -0.
5. Operations /Financial Report — General Manager
• Plant Manager Position Update — Dustin Wiebold took over the position this
week. He was introduced to the Advisory Board.
• Residential installations:
a) Charter Promo Review was discussed. Ben Ranft noted, that he received
about 120 phone calls directly since sending out a letter to all FiberNet
customers alerting them to the situation with the Charter marketing.
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — November 15, 2011
b) Install Techs Update — 2 install techs have been hired to replace the M &P
Nexlevel techs that are under contract with the City until Dec 1 st. We will
still use M &P for very large install jobs.
C) Apartments — still working on some ideas to bring wiring to the
apartments that want to connect to FiberNet; currently the buildings are
not wired in a manner to get service to each apartment in the building. J
d) Wayne Mayer asked about testing for MonticelloAir. Ben Ranft explained
that there are a lot of obstructions especially to the north toward Big Lake.
They do have one paying customer who is very satisfied and they will
continue to work on trying to get this system viable. The group discussed
other possible sites that could be served by Monticello Air. Jeff O'Neill
brought up the need for install techs for MonticelloAir. Bryan Rabe
commented on some of the concerns that they might face if FiberNet
install techs were to take on the Monticello Air installs. Jeff O'Neill is
going to look into potential contract services for this.
• Commercial installations - Internet and Phone
a) Sales Manager Report (Brett Desmarais) — Brett reported there a number of
new business installs for internet and quite a few with phone.
b) TLS Connections — Jason Kallevig from Kaltec explained that they provide
IT services for businesses. They are working on designing a network model
in town to link buildings to a server in a protected secure environment.
Jason explained the plan to implement this system between 6 city facilities
(city hall, public works, DMV, Liquor store, fire hall, and Fibernet
buildings).
• Status Report/Discussion - MonticelloAir (see above)
6. Review Agenda for Special City Council Meeting this Wednesday 11/16/2011
(S:OOPM)
Jeff O'Neill handed out a proposed outline for the meeting tomorrow night and explained
that this meeting was called to explain and discuss some of the points brought out by the
article in the Monticello Times. Prior to the Times article, Tom Kelly, Jeff O'Neill and
Clint Herbst had met with bondholders and financial advisors to look at the cash flow
situation and what options could be considered to refinance or reorganize the bonds.
Items to be covered include: history of system, current operations, goals realized
(savings realized in community, good subscription rates), goals to be achieved, obstacles
to business plan, use of liquor funds, how to meet the new realities for the business
climate and technology, bond dollars stranded due to not meeting the start up
requirements within limited time frame.
7. Project Reports
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — November 15, 2011
• Eligible Telecommunication Carrier Update — Amended application (see above)
8. Other
• Jeff O'Neill asked if the Advisory Board would want to make a recommendation
of support to Council. Consensus of Advisory Board members was that they
would like to be involved in the process of working through this.
• Wayne Mayer thanked Bryan for showing up at the meeting and providing input.
9. Adjourn
WAYNE MAYER MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:32 P.M. GLEN
POSUSTA SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 4 -0.
Recorder: Catherine M. Shuman
Approved: December 13, 2011
Attest: ,
CityAdffiinistrator
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — November 15, 2011