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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-03-29 Min - Board SPECIAL MEETING March 29, 2006 In accordance with District Code Section 2.08.010, the TDPUD minutes are action only minutes. All Board meetings are recorded on audio tapes which are preserved perpetually and made available for listening to any interested party upon their request. The special meeting of the Board of Directors of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District was called to order at 7:00 PM in the TDPUD Board room by President Hemig. ROLL CALL: Directors Joe Aguera, Ron Hemig, Patricia Sutton, Tim Taylor and Bill Thomason were present. EMPLOYEES PRESENT: Mary Chapman, Jim Wilson, Nancy Waters, Kim Szczurek, Steve Hollabaugh, Peter Holzmeister, Joe Horvath, Ian Fitzgerald and Barbara Cahill CONSULTANTS PRESENT: Steve Gross, Rick Kaufmann, Laurence Lewis, Calvin Williams and Jack Bryan OTHERS PRESENT: Pat Waite, Frank and Juanita Schneider, Pettit Gilwee, Christine Stanley, Pete Abel, Lin Zucconi, Julius Simon, Michelle Simon, John Eaton, Ellen Hyatt, Don Hyatt, Mary Ann Ballon, Ann Penfield, Fred Penfield, Lon Zerelli, Jody Zerelli, Dave Klabunde, Joel Erickson, Dan Dickerman, Kathy Berryman, Elizabeth Creger, Jim Maass, Norm Nichols, Rolf Godon, Sean Trovensec and 5 other members of the public. PUBLIC INPUT There was no public input. WORKSHOP DISCUSS BROADBAND BUSINESS PLANNING PROCESS Peter Holzmeister gave a brief history of broadband and said the Board took action confirming the District's commitment toward the project and directing staff to pursue financing, with the understand- ing that matters may develop that would require the course to change. During the budget process, the Board recognized the broadband efforts and requested a workshop to review the planning process. This workshop will revisit the issues and decide if the Board wants to proceed and how. Cebridge Connections has filed an appeal to the judge's decision regarding the Broadband Business plan submitted and passed by LAFCo. The TDPUD must deal with the appeal and in turn, this action could block financing. The appeal has also changed the format of the workshop. Counsel Steve Gross said the trial court decided LAFCo acted properly and the District has the legal authority to provide Broadband. The Cebridge appeal does not undue the judge's decision. There is no legal impediment for the District to move forward. Pete Abel of Cebridge Connections commented that his company continues to feel there are serious legal issues, but that litigation is not the ideal way to resolve this. His company would be willing to enter into a collaborative effort with the TDPUD. 1 Minutes: March 29, 2006 The meeting continued with a presentation by Kim Kersey of Jackson Energy Authority's (JEA) Fiber to the Home Project. Mr. Holzmeister went on to say that the TDPUD needs communication to run the electric and water SCADA monitoring which is now on a separate system. A FTTH system could manage the SCADA and save dollars. Other public agencies could also benefit from a FTTH system. FTTH incumbents are interested in larger urban areas and do not see the benefits of a small town. Truckee could become a "smart community' by plugging into the information economy. Board discussion followed: • Need new estimates of construction and implementation costs • Need new assumptions • Build a system in phases/scaled down: phase 1 to cover essential public sector uses • Indemnification insurance - policy to indemnify investor against adverse appeal • Financing with revenue bonds • Recap of dollars invested in Broadband to date • FTTH would provide the highway and providers would offer the services. • Water and electric SCADA alternative costs • Appears public wants to move forward- survey overall community • Investment in infrastructure for community could be an economic benefit • Sell land and use the dollars as a revolving account to fund broadband costs—easy to identify The board decided to hold another workshop to supply more information, alternatives, up to date Broadband financials and action items. President Hemig opened the meeting for public input. Lin Zurconi is tired of waiting and wants the PUD to start building a FTTH system. James Maass (former PUD director) feels the Cebridge appeal is just another delay and the Truckee community deserves better. There is already an indemnification of the electric and water in the Broadband business plan. He implores the board to continue with the FTTH project. Mr. Maass reminded the public that the PUD was formed in 1927 when electric providers could not provide service and then in the 1930's, the PUD water service was added for the same reason. Broadband could provide the service the community needs and deserves. Juanita Schneider said she remembers Pete Abel saying there would be no more lawsuits after the judge made his ruling. Joe Erickson asked the board not to drag their feet, don't sit and wait. Broadband would be an economic boon for Truckee. Ann Penfield said the broadband plan looks negative and the rate payers are subsidizing. She wants the PUD to look at other cheaper options. She has read articles where other high speed internet providers have had to be subsidized. John Eaton wants the best person to win and have some competition. Ernest Stambock is involved with the wi-fi industry and says this technology is problematic for this area with such a diverse terrain. He is in favor of FTTH. 2 Minutes: March 29, 2006 Norm Nichols (real estate agent) was in favor of the FTTH concept when it first came up. His clients are now saying that DSL service is "good enough". He feels a survey may be a good idea. He is not in favor of FTTH now. Dan Dickerman feels there needs to be a better service available than Cebridge. He wants the PUD to move forward, do a survey and do whatever it takes to get FTTH. He says Truckee deserves better. Sean Trovense, resident of Donner Lake and line worker, has concerns about the cost to switch to FTTH and what if it does fail. He feels the District is a protected entity as a Public Utility, making it unfair to the cable TV company and a bit capitalistic. Rolf Godon is concerned about the survey- would all rate payers be polled, or would it be a small group. CLOSED SESSION CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL-EXISTING LITIGATION: GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54956.9 (A): CEBRIDGE CONNECTIONS VS NEVADA COUNTY LAFCO. The closed session item was removed from the agenda. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 10:06 PM. TRUCKEE D NER PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT n Hemig, Lident Prepared by . ( � Barbara Cahill, Deputy District Clerk bhc 3 Minutes: March 29, 2006 Alan Harry From: MRC -James A. Sanwick [fames@stmgllc.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 9:14 AM To: Alan Harry Subject: TDPUD support Alan, I will be unable to attend this meeting as I will be out of town, however, I do want to stress my support for this initiative and the need for competitive services in Truckee. As I have told Katrina in the past, I had my house wired with fiber when it was built and would be happy to be a beta test site when you are ready to go. James James A.Sanwick, President Sierra Tahoe Management Group, LLC 264 Village Road, Suite 201 Incline Village, NV 89451 Phone: 775-772-4898 Fax: 775-832-5810 Email: James@STMGLLC.com 1 Page 1 of 1 Alan Harry From: Sahra H [sahra@lightspeed.net] Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 10:17 PM To: Alan Harry Subject: broadband Am on the email list. Won't be attending the meeting next week, but we are still in favor of broadband moving forward. Any idea as to cost estimate? Thank you. Sahra A. Gregory Smith 3/24/2006 Page 1 of 1 Alan Harry From: Vrover@aol.com Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 2:44 PM To: Alan Harry Subject: Re: Support TDPUD Broadband at March 29 Meeting Hi, I can't make this meeting, but please add my name to support list for broadband services. We have a place in TD on Viking way. Victor Gold Berkeley 3/24/2006 JU1.JJCl:I.: r"r : .7, UPPULL 'VeUU nLUdUUdIlU dL 1`7dLl:I1 L7 VI( eL-1ng From: "Dave Whetstone" <dgwhetstone@yahoo.com> Date: Thu, March 23, 2006 5:30 am To: " 'Katrina Paz'" <katrina@gilweepr.com> - ----------------------------------------------------- - -- Unfortunately I cannot attend this meeting, but please note that there are many of us who Support your initiative. One other thought. You've seen recently that Tahoe Donner is considering burying the utility poles. I wonder if there is a way to combine the efforts and save some money. Dave Whetstone -----Oriainal McRRaaP----- From: "John Shaw" <John@shaweng.com> Date: March 22, 2006 3:39:08 AM PST To: "'Katrina Paz"' <katrina@gilweepr.com> Subject: RE: Support TDPUD Broadband at March 29 Meeting Reply-To: <John@shaweng.com> Katrina You can tell your Board that I have moved on. Waiting the past couple of years for the PUD to get their#*&%$ together was no longer bearable. I have since installed a dedicated T-1 line to my home and constructed a wireless wide area network(WWAN) so that all of my neighbors can use it as well. This was a costly venture both in capital as well as ongoing, but you left me little choice. I paid several thousand dollars in capital and in addition receive a$450/mo bill for the T-1. That said, at least Uwe have broad band service rather than an empty promise. In my opinion, the PUD has lost an opportunity to provide a needed service to its community. Too many promises, too little progress. In short too little too late. John Shaw, P.E. John Shaw Consulting, LLC PO Box 4259 Truckee, CA 96160 Phone: (530) 550-1576 Fax: (530) 579-3388 www.shaweng.com From: "Don Smith" <smithdsl@pacbell.net> Date: March 22, 2006 7:41:55 AM PST To: "'Katrina Paz,"<katrina@gilweepr.com> Subject: RE: Support TDPUD Broadband at March 29 Meeting Alan, I will not be able to attend. But I fully support the project and only wish I had the service today. Thanks -Don Smith MAR-23-2006 05:20P FROM: TO:15305875056 P:1/2 i i i Fax Cover Sheet EUI N HYATT 11330 SKYUNE CT. TRUCKEE,CALIF.96161 530-587-6694 Phone number 530%W-0107k c number ru�a7oG v s .-'v !p tJ .D 1 as-4 ryw as -t CIL t Attention: Date- Of i Tice location: Office location: Fax number. Phone number: I I Ur'9eW i D Reply ASAP C I Please commentj Please re,rtew For your lrrormasen i Total pages,km*x*lg cover: i Comm =: 1` ,�� `-L �1 c� l \\7 i i i MAR-23-2006 05:20P FROM: TO:15305875056 P:2/2 BROADBAND ISSUE? MARCH 23,2006 WE, AS RATE PAYERS WOULD LIKE ASSURANCE THAT WE WILL NOT I3L RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEBT INCURRED AS A RESULT OF STUDIES, LAWSUITS AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BROADBAND. WHY DO WE NEED BROADBAND? IT COULD BE SOON OBSOLETE? WE ALREADY HAVE SBC AND CEBRIDGE FOR HIGH SPEED INTERNET AND IN TALKING TO MANY SECOND HOME OWNERS;T14hY FEEL THAT THEY WILL PROBABLY USE: SBC. THE CHARGES KEEP GOING DOWN DUE TO COMPETITION SO WIIERE DOTS THAT LEAVE THE PUD? HOW MUCH DEBT HAVE YOU INCURRED TO DATE PERTAINING TO THE STUDIES,THE LAWSUIT AND OTHER EXPENSES FOR BROADBAND? WHAT TYPE OF SURVEY WAS GIVEN TO TIIE RATEPAYERS and HOW WERE THE PARTICIPANTS CHOSEN? I READ THAT ONLY APPROXIMATELY 100 INDIVIDUALS WERE GIVEN THE SURVEY .'PHIS ACCOUNTS FOR APPROXIMATELY 1/2 Ol PERCENT OF OUR POPULATION. IN ADDITION, Wl•IAT TYPE.OF PLAN 1S SET UP AT PRESENT TO PROVE THAT THE COSTS CAN AND WILL BE RECOVERED BY USERS? , WHAT WILL BE THE EXPECTEI)CHARGES FOR THE USE OF BROADBAND AND HOW MANY PEOPLE; DO YOU PROJECT TO SIGN UP FOR THE PUD BROADBAND?MOST PEOPLE A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO WERE LOOKING FOR HIGH SPEED INTERNET BUT TfIAT HAS COME TO TRUCKEE AND MOST APPEAR TO BE HAPPY WITH THEIR SERVICE PROVIDER.IF YOU THINK 'CHAT 40% WILL CHANGE TO A MORE EXPENSIVE SERVICE, I TIIJNK THAT YOU ARE GRAVELY MISTAKEN. TIIE PRICES THAT I NOTED ON THE NET ARE VERY HIGH COMPARED TO WHAT WE ARE PAYING AT PRESENT. WHY WOULD WE CHANGE TO A HIGHER PRICED SERVICE? YOU IIAVE A FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY TO THE RATEPAYERS TO NOT INCUR DEBT AND HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN FOR FUTURE ELECTRIC AND WATER CHARGES. 't'1IESE ARE UTILITIES NEEDhD BY TIlE RATEPAYERS! 1 AM TOTALLY OPPOSED TO MORE RATE INCREASES AND WILL FEEL THIS WAY UNTIL YOU CAN ASSURE ME THAT WE WILL NOT BE ASSUMING THE EXTRA BURDEN OF BROADBAND SERVICES. THE PROJECTIONS THAT I FOUND ON THE NET WERE DONE A WHILE AGO. TIMES IIAVE CHANGED! FOR YEARS, OU R NEIGI-IBORHOOD HAS BEEN REQUESTING RvIPROV EMENTS TO'f H F, WATER TANK ON THE TOP OF I IILLTOP SO THAT WHEN WE LOOSE POWER, WE STILL HAVE WATER AVAILABLE TE: TO FIGHT A FIRE. WE NEED A GENERATOR FOR A BACK.-UP. MAR-23-2006 05:21P FROM: TO:15305875056 P:1/1 OUR TANKS, PIPES, ETC_ ARE AGING IN OUR TOWN AND THESE ARE THE ITEMS THAT NEED TO BE BROUGIIT UP TO DATE AND FIXED WITH TJ-JE RATE CHARGES. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR COVERING THESE ISSUES. ELLIE HYATI' 11330 SKYLINE CT. TRUCKEE,CALIF.96161 Mar, 17. 2006 9: 05AM Western Money Syst. 775-331-2639 No, 7560 P. 1/2 [Click here and type add a] To: Pat Sutton Fax 587-4182 From: Ann Penfield Date: 3/17/2006 Re: PUD Broadband Project Pages: 2 CC: Jim Taylor 591-3162,Bill Thomason _ 582-9993,Joe Agues 587-3887 UP s Y 7_S'QS 6 O Urgent 0 For Review ❑ Please Comment ❑Pbm Reply► ❑Plem Reqcle attached letter of concern for your review Mar. 17. 2006 9: 06AM Western Money Syst, 775-331-2639 No. 7560 P. 2/2 March 15,2006 TDPUD To the TDPUD Board I have recently read.the TDPUD Fiber to the User FTTU Business Plan dated 7/30/2004. As a twenty plus year resident and controller for a business in Nevada for the last 15 years I bave found that the data in the report does not provide me with evidence to support the plan. The wealmesses are many and the benefits are few. Truckee currently ; has both DSL and Cable available at reasonable prices which have dropped an avg.of at least 10•/6 per year if not 200/c. We currently pay about$70 per month or$840 for combined cable TV and DSL and a Phone line. Your proposed rate requires a S370 hook up and wiring fee plus S125 install fee. The monthly fee is not even suggested anywhere in the report so I have tried to calculate it based on the cash flow projections in the plan In year 4 the report is suggesting 7.5 million in revenues on maybe 5,000 possible customers which would be$125 per month per customer or$55 more than what I pay today for DSL. If there were 7,000 subscribers the cost would be$90 per month. At that rate who would want to subscribe? I would like to see an updated report show how many subscribers they expect and what they estimate the monthly rate will be per subscriber Since the plans were originally proposed,I would guess that the current installation costs have gone up considerably while the competition has been able to lower their rates each year. This makes it important to revisit the entire concept of the PUD Fiber plan In a paper by Thomas Lenard of The Progress_$Freedom Foundation Feb 2004 he states that in the three case studies done one in Kutztown,Penmsylvania they found the following: `None of the municipally owned entrants is able to cover costs without being subsidized. The subsidies are conservatively estimated to range from$350 per customer to over$1.000 per customer,excluding any capital costa" These subsidies appear to be covered primarily by the surpluses of the municipally owned electric(and other)utilities. In the absence of these subsidies,electric rates could be lower,or the utility could contribute to the operating costs of the municipality,which would lower taxes." "There seems to be very 4ttle prospect of any of the muniripalities paying off its initial investment. Indeed,in all the cases,it looks as K the telecommunications venture will be an indefinite drain on the city's tupayers." Since we already have similar services the paper points out that"It also makes it exceedingly difficult for the municipalities to attain the combination of market penetration and price level necessary to make their investments pay." °`Moreover,since all the municipal telecom providers require a subsidy to be viable,whatever might be ! gained in"lower"telecom prices is offset by higher prices for other services,such as = electricity,or higher taxes." In light of the above evidence,I do not support the TDPUD in their current Business Plan for Broadband in Truckee. I love the internet and spend many hours on it,but I find my current DSL choice adequate and my utility rates are already increasing each year without the additional burden of the Broadband. Sincerely, Ann 8t Fred Penfield 269 Skyline Ct.Truckee Ca 96161 — ffred@pacbell.net t