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Princeton Broadband Committee
Meeting Minutes July 17, 2013 7:00pm Town Hall Office
Meeting called to order at 7:03 PM. Committee Members Present:
Steve Cullen
Bill Dino
Dag Olsen
Ned Utzig
John Kowaleski
Petr Spacek
Stan Moss
Phil O’Brien
Bill Lawson and Gloria Utzig from the Support Princeton Broadband were also in attendance.
Discussion:
- Steve sent Middletown, RI our Drop box info. Stan sent
- Phil sent a sample press release to Support PBB for publication
- Stan clarified rules on committee participation in a Ballot Initiative Committee. Talked to Mike Joyce at Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) in regards to municipal ballot committees. Support Princeton Broadband has reviewed web site rules, have filed form CPFM101BQ, have a tax ID and a bank account. For a special town meeting, no special ballot initiative group is needed but for debt exclusion vote we do need one, so it is best to keep the committee. Appointed BBC members are unpaid public employees, and thus have restrictions in participation in a Ballot initiative:
- While we are engaged in official duties we are public employees, we cannot ask for money, tell people how to vote, etc. But we can do it as private citizens.
- Exceptions to this: BBC members cannot introduce themselves as such and then engage in political activity, including advocating for a certain vote outcome or participation in the town meeting, unless directed by a higher-level official town representative. Summary: Stan or another Selectman can authorize BBC members to advocate for the above on their own time.
- Support Princeton Broadband public announcement has been released, the BBC can link this announcement to the web site.
- John K. attended USDA seminar in Greenfield. No grant opportunity but lots of loan money available for bonding at 3.5%, could save the town some money. Application turnaround in 45 days.
- MBI progress on lighting the fiber backbone is delayed; most towns will not see their fiber lit up in time for the start of the coming school year.
- Committee members reviewed the ISP RFI. Some comments outstanding.
- Discussion on putting out RFI for network build.
- Chris from Matrix Solutions – IPTV could be about ½ Million to add. Could package in local channels, provide a basic service for seniors with TV/phone, have triple-play value package., etc.
- GPON vs. Active Ethernet – Chris feels GPON is the way to go. Limiting factor is not the internal network speed, but the backhaul. GPON speed is going to grow faster than your ability to add bandwidth to the backhaul. Discussion on reliability of GPON vs. Active Ethernet
- Steve – we should look at internal town-run ISP to contain costs if we do IPTV, may make sense.
Action Items:
- Talk to Cell tower customers & tower providers (Brian Allen) about connecting to fiber / getting an ONT, could be a source of revenue. (Stan)
- Mike to talk with G4S about feasibility of splitting feed to town to East Princeton FD ?
- Stan to send John list of Power Pole survey volunteers.
- John to talk to Westfield about depreciation.
Upcoming Agenda for 7/24:
GPON vs. Active Ethernet
Possible Huawei and/or Galaxy discussion on GPON
Stan out next week
Meeting adjourned 8:41pm
Respectfully submitted,
Ned Utzig
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