FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes 03-15-2011MINUTES
FIBERNET MONTICELLO ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
Tuesday, March 15, 2011— 6 p.m.
FiberNet Customer Service Office
Present: Clint Herbst, Jon Morphew, Dennis Sullivan, Jeff O'Neill (non-voting), Jerry
Olson -HBC (non-voting)
Absent: Glen Posusta, Wayne Mayer
Others: Brett Demarais, Matt Henning, Bryan Rabe, Brandon Smith, Jason Kallevig (from
Kaltec), George Wallin (Big Lake -formerly with Connections), Michele Hertwig
(Marketing Consultant)
1. Call to Order
Clint Herbst called the meeting to order at 6 p.m.
2. Additions to Agenda
• Demonstration of Roku box for Internet TV (Dennis Sullivan)
3. Consideration of Approval of Meeting Minutes — February 15, 2011
JON MORPHEW MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 15, 2011
AS PRESENTED, DENNIS SULLIVAN SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION
CARRIED 3-0.
4. Introduction of General Manager — Jerry Olson
Clint Herbst welcomed Jerry Olson to FiberNet. Jerry handed out a resume and noted
that he is currently serving as Chief Operating Officer of HBC. He is glad to be here as
Interim General Manager for FiberNet. He is helping reorganize operations and will
assist with the transition to a new general manager.
5. Operations/Financing Report — General Manager
• Financial report: Jerry Olson stated that they do not have a report this evening,
but the HBC Accounting Team is working with City Finance Director Tom Kelly
to prepare the financials in a consolidated business format for the next meeting.
• Installation goals and objectives: CCG and Doug Dawson put together the
original business plan for FiberNet and that is the base that is used for FiberNet.
Jerry displayed some projections prepared by CCG and compared those original
projections to FNM currently. When taking the year's delay (due to lawsuit) into
account, the FNM numbers jump above or similar to CCG's projections. Jerry
pointed out that the trend line requires continued efforts to add customers. Goal
to add 200 subscriptions per month, which was exceeded in January but below in
February. Currently 2600 drops in place and a little over 1200 subscribers.
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — March 15, 2011
Jeff O'Neill asked about the differential between number of drops (2600) and
people requesting service (1200+). Jerry suggested that it might be due to people
in contracts that are waiting for those to end or it could be the need to increase
marketing to reach' people. Bryan Rabe also noted that TDS and Charter were
offering deals to people that might have extended or added new contracts. It was
noted that there are an additional 1400 requests that are waiting for drops. Jerry
noted that there area number of businesses also waiting for installs. Brett noted
they are making plans to contact those 1400 people.
• Marketing report: Michele Hertwig provided a marketing update and noted the
efforts that are being made to reach out to the community, including Refer -A -
Friend program, sponsorships, direct mailing, ads, website updating, newsletter
inserts, billboards, and promotions. The marketing message will have emphasis
on residents that already have drops to sign up for services. There are
concentrated efforts underway to reach businesses through the Chamber and Brett
(direct contact).
Discussed proposed schedule for billboard for various city uses and recommended
that FiberNet be allowed use of the east facing billboard for first 6 months starting
4/1/11.
Discussion was held about a possible promotion giving a Bluestone Grill gift card
for customers that take 3 services for 3 months. Jon Morphew questioned why we
are doing promotions as he thought that was going to be avoided; he also noted
that no contracts were to be included in this business model. Clint Herbst said
that he would rather not have a requirement for the three months. Jeff O'Neill
suggested that FiberNet provide stickers or something to post for businesses that
partner with FiberNet for services. Michele noted that she will be developing a
2011 marketing campaign, but the immediate focus is to get some materials out to
the community first. She will also be tracking each campaign to measure the
results and plans to survey current customers to get their feedback.
Brett Demarais talked about businesses that he is working with. Approximately
80 businesses are up and running at this time. He is working with Michele for
marketing to businesses including those that are under contract with another
provider. Brett noted some of the larger businesses he is working with now. He
also noted that most of the churches have signed up with FiberNet.
Jeff O'Neill noted that a differentiator for FiberNet will probably be local
origination programming. He is hoping we will be able to add that to marketing
efforts. The FiberNet staff is working on some programming on our own
channels but it is in early stages yet.
• Staffing alignment/work plan: Jerry commented on this as it will be a concern as
to when they should ramp up to meet the goals for the business plan. Matt
Henning explained that he has been working on a staffing plan that would utilize
FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — March 15, 2011
current staff, contract staff and an assistant technician to help Thaddaeus Rousu in
the Head -end building. Thaddaeus manages the phone switch.
• Training �plan: (not addressed at this time)
6. Strategy and Policy Discussion Addressing Past Due Accounts
Jerry Olson addressed past due accounts that are on the books as of the end of February.
There is a policy drafted for past due accounts but no action has been taken to process
delinquent accounts such as disconnecting customers or sending to collections. He thinks
there could be some publicity created when they start this process. He is negotiating with
Bullseye Collections to establish a contract to handle collections. Jerry explained that
they are willing to work with customers that haven't paid due to problems they have had
problems with their service. Those accounts would not be part of the collections process
at this time. Jerry is looking for an okay from the Advisory Board to start the process of
collecting on delinquent accounts. Customers that are delinquent would be called and
given five days to pay the past due accounts. If they don't meet the deadline, their
service would be cut off. They would have to pay past due amounts and costs to reinstate
service.
DENNIS SULLIVAN MOVED TO DEVELOP A DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS
PROCESS AND PUT IN PLACE STARTING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. JON
MORPHEW SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 3-0.
Clint Herbst commented that he would prefer that FiberNet work on negotiating a
contract with Bullseye Collections before they actually start using their services.
7. Customer Feedback Report
• Web service desk report: Jeff O'Neill noted that there have not been many
comments submitted through the website. Comments have been addressed
quickly.
8. Outreach
• Municipal User Group Meeting - Report on Muni Group Conference Calls and
Next Steams: Jeff O'Neill reported that Doug Dawson has taken the lead on
organizing a Municipal User Group across the nation. The first teleconference
was held and there is a definite interest in developing a formal group. There is a
person from Bristol, VA that will be taking a leadership role. Jeff O'Neill
mentioned that the group may at some time in the future meet in Monticello.
• MPR — meeting with Jennifer Vogel: Jeff O'Neill summarized the meeting held
with MPR recently which included City staff, FiberNet staff and some citizens.
They talked about the FiberNet project and toured the Head -end building. Ms.
Vogel is also doing research on other Minnesota cities and incumbents. She did
not give a date as to when this program might be aired.
31 FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — March 15, 2011
9. Discuss Process for Filling General Manger Position
Proposal is to set up a small group for defining pros/cons relating to various options
available for filling the position of general manager.
Jerry explained that HBC has been working on rewriting a job description for the position
and would like to have the City involved in the process. Jeff O'Neill noted that the
discussion will include hiring a manager as an employee of the city versus an employee
of HBC. This will be brought up again at the next FiberNet Advisory Board meeting.
Clint Herbst commented how helpful it is to have HBC as a partner, as was obvious with
the smooth transition between Don Patten and Jerry Olson.
10. Report on Meeting with Stonebridge Financial Group (MajorBond Holder)
Jerry explained that Stonebridge holds $10 million of our FiberNet bonds. They were
concerned about some negative activity that they had noticed on the market, so they
contacted the City with some questions. Three of their company representatives came out
and visited with Jerry Olson and Jeff O'Neill and had a tour of the head -end building to
see where their money is invested. FNM administration will keep in touch with them and
keep them informed periodically as they request.
11. Community Based Programming Update
• Community Group / Church Program: (keep on next agenda)
12. Future Items
•
City phone upgrade to FNM: Brett Demarais noted that City and FiberNet staff
are starting the process for selecting a phone system for the City departments.
• Bylaws for FNM Advisory Board: (future)
• Website Review: (put this under Marketing)
13. Added Items:
• Clint Herbst briefly summarized the lawsuit with TDS regarding the surety bond
and noted that the City is trying to reach a settlement without going to court.
• Dennis Sullivan talked about the use of high -def TV and connecting to the
internet for programs. He demonstrated a ROKU box that connects to his TV and
allows him to retrieve programming from the internet. Some of the channels are
free and some are pay per view type of programs. Major channels on TV can be
streamed from the internet at any time of the day. Displayed Rocksbox which
interfaces with his home network and allows him to show photos stored in his
computer. Dennis explained that the reason for the demo was to show the power
of fiber internet to make this work; it does not work on DSL basic as the speed is
too slow. This would be a good marketing tool for FNM to show the value of
fiber speed.
47 FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — March 15, 2011
14. Adjourn
JON MORPHEW MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 7:55 P.M. DENNIS
SULLIVAN SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 3-0.
Recorder: Catherine M. Shuman �.
Approved: April 12, 2011
Attest:
e44440ministrator
51 FiberNet Advisory Board Minutes — March 15, 2011