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TC 07-01-98 Telecommunications Commission Regular Meeting July 1, 1998 ~N~ES CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bill Mannion at 7:02 p.m. ROLL CALL Commissioners present: Bill Manniun, Sal Algeri, Ernest Tsui, Mike Wincn L.T. Guttadauro, Staff: Donna Krey, Linda Lagergren De Anza College: Bob Haber TCI: Eddie Garcia Guests: Linda Grodt, Fariba Nejat APPROVAL OF June 3, 1998 MINUTES Algeri made a motion to approve the minutes as written; Tsui seconded and the motion passed. COMMUNICATIONS Oral: Crrodt congratulated Haber on a great producers meeting. The next producers meeting will be held in September. Tsui congratulated Krey on her appointment to the CAPIO state board. -- Written: There were several written communications in the commissioners' packets regarding the TCI and AT&T merger and Krey also distributed several more articles on the same subject at the meeting. Earlier that same day, Krey received a press release from Dave Walton about the acquisition that she shared with the commission. Chair agreed to take a New Business item out of order. NEW BUSINESS Consideration of grant application from Fariba Nejat -- Fariba Nejat said the show (Payvand TV) is a way for the Iranian children to learn more about their culture. It is a weekly show with the focus tailored toward children and the programming in English and Farsi. After a brief discussion by commission, G-uttadauro made a motion to approve the grant proposal as submitted. WinCh seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried. Krey said the grant will go before the city council and if approved a check will be cut in two weeks. OLD BUSINESS Project timeline: Wincn said the timeline was revised and then asked for any updates. Mannion said the airing of the Monta Vista student video will be on July 9 at 6 p.m. TCI Rebuild Update - Garcia reported to Tsui and the rest of the commission that Walton went home sick that day and was not able to get the testing procedure information to him. Garcia said he would have the information at the next commission meeting or ask Walton to put the infomiation in _ writing. Gareia said that since there was not going to be an August commission meeting, he would e- mail the information to Krey and she could forward it on to the commission. Krey said even though there would not be results, the commission needs to know what the process is for testing the system. Garcia reported on the status of the rebuild. Eighty-three miles of the system upgrade design is complete with an additional 24 miles near completion. The design of the fiber overlay is complete and all 14 nodes have been selected and mapped. Two and four-tenths miles of existing conduit have been proofed (evaluated for quality and usefulness). One thousand feet of damaged conduit has been identified and 800 feet of conduit has been repaired. The remaining 200 feet will be repaired by July 13. An additional 1.1-mile of existing conduit will be proofed by July 13. The process for the construction of the fiber overlay has begun. TCI is working with the Public Works department to secure the necessary encroachment permits. Pacific Bell pole applications have been submitted for the entire fiber overlay and for the new construction of nodes 1 and 2. The first group of pedestal notifications has been prepared and will be sent on July 2. TCI provided information to the City for the July Scene and the city's website. The first bi-weekly cable upgrade notice in the Cupertino Courier appeared in the June 24 edition of the newspaper. Garcia reported Tiffany Jacobs is moving on as a project manager on another project and he will find out tomorrow who will be her replacement. He reported the weather channel has been restored. Mannion confaiiied with Garcia that TCI is set for the presentation at the Rotary meeting on September 23. Production of videotapes - cultural diversity video: Mannion reported that in the cultural diversity video Fariba Nejat will co-host with Joyce Davis. The 5Cs subcommittee on the video will meet again on July 9 at city hall to prepare for the July 15 taping of the show. The script is 99% complete, the logo is near completion and the music is in the process of being composed. Krey asked if the 5Cs would videotape the daytime events at the 4~ of July celebration. Maunion reported they would be taping. The first show will be shown in the evening at the Quip_lan Center before it airs on cable. Reports from: TCI: Commission reviewed the monthly written report from TCI. Garcia said TCI did a good job of meeting the 90% calls-answered goal. This represents a 1% drop, but TCI is not happy with it, and is trying to improve that percentage. They are trying to track down signal quality problems and are excited the upgrade is moving along as scheduled, because they think this will take care of a lot of the signal problems. Krey asked if residents are experiencing some of these signal problems because maintenance is not getting done on the old system because the upgrade is coming. Garcia said the maintenance schedule is going on as usual. TCI is doing the upgrade with a contractor, so they are not using their own resources. Ongoing maintenance is uninterrupted, he said. Tsul asked in the new system if there would be status monitoring. Krey said it was understood that it is a requirement of the franchise agreement for status monitoring. Algeri requested the new report include status monitoring. Algeri proposed the commission see an agenda for the Sept. 23 TCI presentation at the Rotary meeting. Krey asked if TCI could present an agenda or an outline of their proposed presentation at the first commission meeting in September. Garcia agreed to that. Oareia said there is not much more he could tell the commission about the acquisition of TCI by AT&T. It will take six to nine months to go through the approval process. It has to be approved by both shareholders and the FCC. The early indications are that FCC is very positive about it. It is a merger that creates competition and not hinders it, said Garcia. TCI will become AT&T Consumer Services. Garcia said he didn't see any impacts in Cupertino. City of Cupertino: Krey said she spoke with Karen Burnett (FUHSD). Burnett would like to come to the September meeting and give a report. She is planning a meeting with the technology groups from the different high schools on Aug. 4. Krey will get an agenda prior to the meeting, where a drai~ of their technology plan would be available. Krey mentioned it would be great to have a commissioner at that meeting. The two grants were approved at the last council meeting and the cheeks were cut. Krey requested a budget accounting from De AnTa. She said an application from RCN was included in the commission packet. City received notice from FCC saying authorization has been approved for RCN to operate an OVS. They are applying for ability to install OVS, however, as an OVS, they are not required to sign a franchise agreement with cities. The FCC bag said we can require them to pay a gross revenue fee of no more than 5% and they are also required to match whatever we have for PEG. Krey mentioned we don't have a telecom ordinance because the courts have not clarified certain legal questions regarding fights-of-way issues. Contra Costa County is trying to adopt one, however, and we have already requested copies. Krey reported council's reaction to De ~,nTa acquiring the extra access channel. Council asked staff and commission to get together with De Anza College to discuss the issue in more detail. The meeting is set for next week. Guttadauro made a motion to authorize the two commissioners who will be attending the meeting with De Anza to make a recommendation on behalf of the commission. Motion was not seconded and died. Winen made a motion for commission to convene on July 29 at 7 p.m. to discuss the recommendation that will go forward to city council on the access channel. Guttadauro seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion carried. De Anza College: Haber said they held a producer meeting on Monday, June 29. Guttadauro and Mannion attended along with 17 producers. Haber said De Anm shut down this week but will be back up next week. ADJOURNMENT Wincn made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:55 p.m.; Tsui seconded and the motion passed unanimously. ATTEST: APPRO~J~D :. Chairperson