TC 12-06-00 elecommunications Commission
Regular Meeting
December 6, 2000
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Cba_ir L. T. Guttadauro at 7:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Commissioners present: L.T. Guttadauro, Ernest Tsui, Reginald Dub6
Commissioners absent: Sal Algeri, David Eggleston
Staff: Donna Krey, L'mda Lagergren
AT&T: Eddie Gm'cia, Chris Geraci
De AnTa: Bob Haber
Guests: Linda Grodt, Marjorie Zellner (Meyerholz School),
Robert Peck (Homestead High School), Kate Brag/on
APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER 1, 2000 MINUTES
· ~. Tsui made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, Duhe seconded the motion. All in
favor. Motion passed.
COMMUNICATIONS
Oral: Linda Grodt said an article will be in an upcoming edition of thc Courier about the
Silicon Kids wivning a WAVE award. Guttadanro mentioned he presented the COPA award to Andrew
Willyoung at the Producer's meeting and awards ceremony.
Written: Krey sa/d the written communication included a letter to AT&T from the city
regarding the low level of tolephone service, mb/ch v/olates the customer sere/ce standard in the city's
franchiso agreciiient. It also included a response from Eddie Garcia outl/ning AT&T's plan to hnpwve
that situation.
Commission took the educational grant requests out of order.
NEW BUSINESS
Review of educational grant applications - Marjorie Zellner, principal of Meycrholz School,
said they have a commitment to encourage school-wide literacy. The grant would enable the school to
purchase sets of picture books.
Guttadauro reviewed the grant guidelines and stated the request didn't quite fit /nto the
guidelines. Tsui asked if the school could incorporate a video component into the request. Krey
suggested the city could put a hold on the application wh/le Meyerholz re-worked the appl/cafion.
Zellner said it was a possibility.
Robert Peck, a teacher at Homestead H/gh School, described his request, which included
purchasing six iMacs for students to use for video editing. Total amount was approximately $9,500.
Former Homestead video student Kate Bratton spoke about the need for equipment at the school and
gave a testhnony about how the video class helped her decide on a career in that field.
Guttadauro said the request from Homestead High School fits the criteria in the grant
guidelines.
Zellner said when she was asked by the district to submit the request, she did not realize her
application d/d not meet the criteria. She suggested she hold off until next year and re-submit at that
t/me.
After a brief discussion regarding the budget submitted by Homestead High School, Guttadauro
made a motion to accept the application in concept and requested an amended budget total/ng the entLre
grant amount. Duhe seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion carried.
Krey said this item would go before the city council on the consent calendar at the San. 16
meeting. After approval, the paperwork w/ll be submitted and a check will be mailed within two
weeks.
OLD BUSINESS
Activities Calendar. Commission reviewed the 2000 activities calendar and the upcoming
2001 calendar. No changes were made to the 2000 calendar and a commissioner was assigned to the
first five months of Mayor's Breakfast meetings on the 2001 calendar.
NEW BUSINESS
Presentation from AT&T Call Center representative - Eddie Garcia introduced Chris
Geraci fi. om the AT&T Call Center. Geraci took questions from the comm/ssion and said dramatic
changes were occurring regarding telephone customer service. The new goal of the call centers will be
to consolidate and specialize. The Call Center in San Jose previously handled billing, sales and repair.
Ctu~¢sitly, the center is specializing in new business and sales. The Santa Clara office handles only
local telephony. The Live, uore office handles all the repair calls and the Utah office takes all the calls
regarding billing. Geraci said operators will have specific knowledge of the calls they answer and
customers will be better served.
Tsui requested a tour of the telephony center in Santa Clam. Garcia said he could arrange that
tour. Garcia also suggested the commission tour the Call Center on Old Oakland Road in San Jose.
Tsui said possibly the commission could hold a short business meeting and then tour the Call Center.
Commission reviewed AT&T's Customer Service report. Guttadauro mentioned that AT&T's
service was up to 82%. Garcia said outages were at a great improvement. Since the upgrade, technical
calls have dropped off.
A concern was raised by the commission regarding some residents still being told by AT&T
that ~-Iome is not available in their area. Garcia said when this occurs, customers should call Susan
Nichol's at, 918-3200 ext. 3336, and Quality Assurance will be able to help them. Garcia mentioned it
is still taking AT&T 23 to 24 days to get (~-Iome installed.
Garcia commented that it has been a real pleasure working with Donna Krey over the years. He
said she could be tough, but was very fair. Krey said it was great having the stability of working with
the same govenunental affairs person for such a long period of time. Tsui also commented that Garcia
is very responsive.
Discussion o! HI)TV - Krey distributed an article on HDTV. Guttadauro said he feels the next
big boom will place the focus on HDTV. He feels the conununity needs to be updated on this issue. He
stated instead of having the Spring forum on antenna issues, he felt people will want more
on HDTV. Krey suggested at the January meeting to discuss the work plan and the topics for the
Spring forum, Guttadauro said discussion on antennas is good, but TV is even better. He would like to
see a continuing focus on television.
Reports from:
City of Cupertino: Krey distributed an article on DBS. K~y also mentioned that although she
would be retiring as the end of Decernber, she would be coming back two days per week in January to
work on the Scene and other projects. Krey mentioned the city extended the application deadline for
the PIO position to the end of the month w/th interviews being conducted in the m/ddle of January.
Kr~ distributed a letter from Klm Smith regarding reports from all the commissions to council.
The mayor wants to continue the reports once per year, although the clerk has requested the
comm/ssion let her know when they want to present their report. The commission agreed they would
like March to be the month they report to council. A v/deo foi~liat of their annual report was the agreed
upon fofihat to use. As the 2000 chair, Gutt~d~_uro will do the presentation.
Krey reported she received a call from another pwvider, WIN, Western Integrated Networks,
request/rig to offer their cable serv/ces/n Cuperl/no. WIN is a direct competitor with AT&T and RCN.
WIN & RCN use the same underground track in Portland. It was suggested these cable pwviders could
be a subject for the forum in the spring.
Krey said the commissioner's dinner would be held on the 9° of Februsry.
De Anza College: Haber said this year's producer meeting/holiday party went very well. At
the start of the meeting Guttadauro presented the COPA award to Andrew Willyoung. Haber
distributed to the comm/ssion the Fall 2000 q-_~rterly newsletter. Cbkrmel 15 continues to redesign the
web site. Haber said former commissioner Bill Msnnlon produced a pilot show for possible pwduction
during the Winter 2000 quarter. Th/s pwgram features a local clergyman and was crewed by several
members from the access program, "The Better Part." A one-hour special featur/ng students of Dina
Miraskaya, a Cupertino voice and piano teacher, will air on Sunday at 7 p.m.
Election of 2001 officers - Chair & Vice Chair - Guttadauro made a motion to postpone the
election of officers until the January meeting when at least four comm/ssioners will be present. Duhe
seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion carried.
ADJOURNMENT
Guttaduaro made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:15 p.m.; Tsui seconded and the motion
passed ~mzniraously.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
City Clerk Cha/rperson