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Princeton Broadband Committee
Meeting Minutes January 8, 2014 7:05pm - Town Hall Office, Princeton, MA
Committee Members Present:
Steve Cullen
Bill Dino
Phil O’Brien
Petr Spacek
Stan Moss
Ned Utzig
Rich Wagner
John Kowaleski
Dag Olsen
Five Princeton Residents, Phyllis Booth (Landmark) and Chris Lynch from Matrix Design also attended.
Discussion
- Ned summarized a Point of Order on voting: votes will be taken for both yay and nay and results recorded for the minutes.
- Minutes for 12/18 approved.
- Town report status – Steve Cullen responsible, due in February.
- Stan/BOS update on cable process
- Axia meeting with Fred Feit (Axia Sales) and Phil Roberts (Axia VP of Sales & Services)
- Stan gave a summary on the current Cable licensing process status.
- Stan summarized the current status of the parallel effort to do a town-initiated network design and build.
- Phil R. advocated for the non-cable, open network approach as being superior.
- Discussion on who would do the billing in a municipal network – MLP versus a separate entity. Stan reiterated that the approach of using the light department for billing/customer service is non-viable for our town.
- Steve asked what Axia would propose if they participated in the build effort. Phil R. said their services spanned the gambit of build, operation, maintenance, monitoring, and management, inspections and break fixes etc.
- Steve asked if they would roll trucks, Axia said they outsource that to a third party. Axia would not give specifics of how many people / where they are staffed from but said they would subcontract to meet any need.
- Steve asked about the $40m last-mile MBI money, Axia had no further update.
- Stan asked when our CAI’s would be lit up, if Axia had any further information given that MBI has not responded to our queries. Axia builds their schedule based on when segments are turned over to them.
- Steve asked when/if the Princeton segment has been turned over to Axia, they did not know but would have an update/schedule within a week.
- Steve asked if Axia would respond to our RFI or otherwise provide estimates for service costs when Princeton is ready. Phil R. said they would be happy to respond in any form when we are ready.
- Stan asked Axia if they had any additional sources of cable companies or providers looking to provide services in the area that the BBC should be talking to. Phil mentioned IPTV providers as a possibility, will pass along info.
- Steve provided an overview of our current status and historical information on the BBC decision process to the attending residents. Discussion and debate over the plan to use taxpayer money to fund the network design.
- Stan/BOS update on cable process. BOS voted to initiate process, voted to waiver from 60 days down to 45 days. Board also authorized town admin to hire Bill August – general counsel for CATV for $800 to look over paperwork in the first part of the process.
- BBC/town has 60 days after companies respond to issue a report / RFP.
- Appropriations /budget discussion
- Money for two community-wide postcards, for updates.
- Possible money for improved phone/conference call equipment
- Tentative budget request of $1000 to cover mailings, phone, and contingency in FY15. Unanimously approved.
- Stan talked to four construction firms we have a relationship with. Sent network design files to G4S, Matix, Phoenix Comms, Waveguide. They all accepted, indicated they would look at it and respond.
- Chris Lynch gave initial feedback from Matrix Design:
- three POPs instead of two, doesn’t have clean redundancy.
- tree/branch scheme does not look clean, branches do not get smaller etc. and will add cost.
- Mix of splicing and premade connectors, adds cost, should just have straight splices.
- Instead of Google Earth view, prefer giant map or alt data format.
- Parcels with frontage should all have cable available to them, even if they are not built.
- Stan indicated we have received permission to use Leverett’s specifications and standards for our design. Working with Ben Whittaker to adapt it for our design.
- Stan mentioned that Harvard U. published a case study about Leverett and has determined that the program so far has been very successful and positive for the state. Link is available on the web site.
- Bill contacted Verizon – went over again the formal request for FIOS service, received same reply as summarized in the email Bill sent.
- Unanimous approval to meet in two weeks 1/22.
Action Items
- Work on RFP requirements for cable.
- Phil will send budget proposal letter.
- Steve to do annual report – due end of January.
Upcoming Agenda Items
- Review responses from CATV license applicants
- Work on RFP requirements for Cable licensees (as needed)
- Comcast visit – moved out to Feb 5th.
Meeting adjourned 8:50PM
Respectfully submitted,
Ned Utzig
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