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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-08-18 Transcription#3 Page 1 ITEM NO. 3 A NON-EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISE TO MCLEODUSA TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE, AND MAINTAIN A CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM WITHIN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY. a. Public hearing Lehman/(Reads agenda item #3). This would be a public hearing. P.h. is open. Kubby/Mr. Mayor, at some point, can we take a minute to read the minutes from last night before we move on? Lehman/Is there anyone in the audience that was at the meeting last night? Norton/(Can't understand). Steven HoclV At the Broadband Telecommunications Commission meeting? Norton/Yeah. Kubby/Yeah. Lehman/Well, we haven't read the meeting, is there something in the minutes that we should be reading before tonight's --? HoclV We understood you would be presented with the results of our deliberation. Kubby/Now would be the time. Lehman/Okay. Yes, let's take a minute. (Silence - read minutes) Kubby/Okay, thank you. Lehman/I see a fair amount of this discussion revolves around how the funds paid by McLeod would be spent, which I don't think is relevant to whether or not we're going to put this on the ballot. The one thing, I guess, that I see is whether, is the numbering of the channels. And it appears from the minutes that the Commission is not particularly disturbed, as long as the channel availability is on the screen, designating which channels are public channels. Is there discussion relevant to this? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #3 Page 2 Norton/Well, I don't know how much control we have over that, as a matter of fact. Lehman/I don't either. Norton/I think it would be nice to have the same numbers, but ifthere's an option that at least tells you where to find them, I suppose -- Thornberry/Well, I guess if TCI would like to change, that's their prerogative. Norton/But I don't know whether we can insist on a common channel. I think it's -- Thornberry/No, not when they're -- Kubby/The one thing that's the caveat in here is that any subscriber who has a flee converter box will receive the on-screen channel guide. So I don't know what percentage of cable subscribers will have that converter box that will determine whether that issue is mitigated by the channel box or not. Lehman/Well, if it's free, obviously they can have it. Norton/Maybe Drew can tell us. How many will have a converter box? Drew Shaffer/That's pretty hard to predict at this point in time. At some stage, probably everybody will have a converter box. But initially and in the first few years, it's really hard to tell. I've got a sense that the Commission wasn't concerned about the channel placement. In fact, we can't force them to put the channels in a particular location. As long as they showed up in what was described in an interactive channel guide, basically, that was going to be offered. As long as that occurred, then the Commission seemed to be pretty satisfied and happy with that answer. Norton/You can't force them to have low numbers, either? Shaffer/No, no. We can't force them to do that. Kubby/But I had understood that there was some talk about a side letter of agreement that this issue of having an agreement that there would indeed be this interactive channel guide, instead of just saying well yes, we'll do it, but then there's no recourse for us if that doesn't happen. Just to have a side letter of agreement that that indeed would happen. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #3 Page 3 Shaffer/There was a side letter of agreement discussed with regard to whatever trigger mechanism was going to be put in place for the money that McLeod would pay to the City, just like TCI pays to the City. There is not a trigger mechanism in there right now. Because we wanted to keep the language pretty much the same between both documents. The, there wasn't discussion with regard to the interactive channel guide being in that side letter of agreement. That's something that McLeod could address if they so desired. There is somebody here from McLeod if he so chooses to. Kubby/Because the value here for both, for both McLeod and for us is the same, in that they have their production of printing and advertising and that they want their channels to be similar in different markets that are close geographically in Linn County and here. But we have that same value, in that we have our government channels and all the access channels who do their printing and advertising and have their logos with their channel numbers in it. And now it makes it difficult if they're different. And so if, since we both have the same reasoning, and it's good reasoning on both of our parts, we're both being smart about our advertising dollars, that the way that we, really the only way to mitigate it is to have this channel guide. And so I just want to make sure that we get it. Thornberry/I guess I don't remember. If you've got channel 4 on your TV and you're watching channel 4, for example, does it say on the screen somewhere that you're watching the Govemment Access Channel at all times while you're watching that channel? Shaffer/Not at all times. Thornberry/But people just know that that's the Government Access Channel because they're used to it. Is that the idea? Norton/And our logos and stuff have it, I think. Kubby/It's Channel 4. Thornberry/I don't know, if you've got McLeod as your cable provider, I think you'll rather quickly learn where the channels are, and I don't think it's going to be that big a deal. I mean, you're not going to be going back and forth weekly, and be all confused about what's on what channel. Kubby/Right. But our logos and things can't say Govemment Channel 4. It's going to have to say if you have TCI, it's channel 4, but if you have McLeod, it's channel This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #3 Page 4 23. Thomberry/Well maybe we can change it just to Govemment Channel, go to Government Channel in your subscriber. Lehman/Well, I think the point here really, and Drew, correct me if I'm wrong, the agreement with McLeod has to be essentially the same agreement that we currently have with TCI. And if we require 1, 2, 3, through this, we can also require it in the second one. But numbering of channels does not appear to me to be something that we can require. And legally, we have got to provide these folks with the same contract sort of thing as we've given TCI. So if there are differences between what we're offering McLeod and what TCI's giving us, I would think those are legitimate items to discuss. But if the items are not different, it would appear to me that it's probably not proper. Shaffer/We've made very attempt to keep a level playing field in the documents and our discussions with both companies with regard to the channel placements. I checked with our consultant. We're not in a position to force them in any way to put those channels in the same place, or in a low place on the channel spectrum. With regard to putting it into a side letter agreement, that would be up to negotiations that would happen later on. At the same time that we discussed the trigger mechanism, that was discussed and it's in your minutes from last night. Kubby/I guess I would just suggest that we direct Staff to have that as an item that we can negotiate. Maybe we'll be successful, maybe not. But include a side letter of agreement, because it's an issue of accessibility. Thornberry/I don't think it's necessary. Norton/I'd be interested in encouraging the negotiators to do their best to go with the same numbers or come up with a guide. O'Donnell/What's the big deal? Norton/Everybody needs the guide. Thorn/ I mean what if TCI had said hey, they didn't have 108 channels, you know? They picked a number, you know, we did not tell TCI, we did not tell TCI where to put the Government Channel. Norton/I'm saying if you can get it, why not? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #3 Page 5 Kubby/But, that's not -- Champion/I have another point. Right now, TCI is not bound to keep Channel 4 as the Government Access channel. O'Donnell/No, they switch channels all the time. Champion/They can switch at any time. So I think a letter of agreement is ridiculous. You can't bind them both to stick to a channel. I think that's -- Kubby/I'm sorry, but that's not what I'm requesting that we direct Staff to do. Thornberry/Oh, I'm sorry. Kubby/It's not that we direct Staff to try to get McLeod to have the Government Channel on channel 4 and PATV on channel 2. Thornberry/What is it? Kubby/What I'm requesting is that we put in a side letter of agreement that on the McLeod system, there be a channel guide that you can go to channel 100 or whatever it is, and it says what channels are what and what's on them. Thornberry/Well, does TCI, do we have that requirement with TCI? Kubby/I don't know. I doubt it. Shaffer/We don't. And it has -- Kubby/And I don't have a, I mean it's not a problem if it's a mutually agreed upon thing in a side letter of agreement. Dale Helling/I understand it has to with the package too, and what, this is a customer option to some extent. And we haven't really talked about this, but if people choose not to buy the digital package or whatever with the interactive guide, currently, TCI sends out a channel line-up. I mean, this is marketing. If you're subscribing to their service, they're going to want you to know what's on what channels. Now, it may be a piece of paper that you get in the mail if you have the service that allows for the interactive schedule or the guide, then that's available. But I can't imagine that a company would not want to tell its customers what This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #3 Page 6 channel its services are on in some fashion. And to the extent that we can get it interactive, I think that's great. I also think that we may not be able to get ever to settle on the same access channels on the same channel numbers for both systems. But we may want to talk to all the folks down the line, if we're going to redo our logos, for instance, to try to get them to commit to keeping them where they are. Now, TCI does make changes. But they have not for years changed the access channels, they're left them where they are. And I think that's probably something that might be feasible. That's not necessarily something that goes as part of the franchise agreement, but it's something we can pursue, and we would before we tried to redo our logos and spend the money for stationary and those kinds of things. Shaffer/Two quick things. Lehman/Andy reminded me that McLeod did compromise. Initially they had put some of the channels that are not watched or used as frequently at the lower end of the spectrum. We asked them to change that. They have changed that. And when I was just talking to Mr. Royer he said if people have a box, no problem. They want people to know where channels are. All the channels will be in there. Kubby/They'll probably be having it in the letter of agreement then. Lehman/With the kind of investment that McLeod will be making, should they decide to do this, they're going to be very, very sure that their customers know what's on every single channel. And in some regard, if I were McLeod, I would not want number 4 for my government channel. I would want to say my channel is number 9, we're the clear ones. We have the better -- no, I'm not saying that they're going to be better, or whatever. But this is marketing. And for heaven sakes, if I get my bill from TCI or from McLeod, either one, I'm sure they're going to be blowing their own horn on their channels. And I don't see this as being an issue at all. This is a marketing issue for that. Norton/Have you, can we go on to other aspects? Lehman/Yes. Norton/The provision regarding extension of service to new areas. Now that's identical in this one as in the present one? Shaffer/Yes, sir. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #3 Page 7 Norton/Because I didn't go back and read that one. But that's pretty elaborate provisions for coveting new areas, yeah. Shaffer/It's the same thing, and you're right, and we took a long time to negotiate the first time around. And we used the exact same thing this time. Norton/Have you used it? I mean, has it, have we had occasion to use it? Shaffer/It hasn't come into play, because most people don't want to pay that kind of money. Lehman/Well, what you're saying basically is we have, in your opinion, and I'm sure Legal has looked at this, we have a level playing field. We are offering the same sort of thing to McLeod that TCI offered to us. Is that correct? Sarah Holecek/That's correct. I know that Andy's carefully looked at this and spent from the early stages to the end with it. And that's been the directive, of course by federal law, the whole time. So that's kind of what we're working with here. Lehman/And that really --? Holecek/Those are the limitations. Lehman/But that really is the only thing that we can concern ourselves with, is that we're offering the same thing. Holecek/That's correct. Lehman/Thank you. Is there other discussion? Norton/The technology strikes me that, it's hard for me to believe, that all the technology that's now available was available when we wrote TCI's. Does that mean that in some ways we're getting less than we might because of the level playing field? Thorn/Well again, if-- Norton/I mean, for example the parental blocking devices. Aren't they different than they were? Shaffer/Well, for those people who have converter boxes, it would be built into the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #3 Page 8 converter box that they get. Certainly McLeod is using a little bit different technology, and we don't have all of their plans, so I can't really talk about it specifically, but I do know they're using some different equipment. They've already run basically a lien through town when they worked with ICN, the ICN network that's already in town. So they have a fiber line through town already. Exactly, they don't have to replace any co-ax, because they never built a system initially with co-ax, so they don't need to worry about that. So there will certainly be some things different about it than TCI's system. And in those areas, we certainly allowed them to change those factors that they wanted to with regard to that technology, as long as it was equivalent or better. Norton/Okay, so they can do an equal or better, fight? Shaffer/Right. Norton/It'll be up to TCI to match that, fight? Thornberry/Well then again, this contract, I believe, sets forth the minimum standards, not the maximum standards. Shaffer/Exactly. Norton/Yeah. Thornberry/And when new technology and newer innovations come along, you know, if it works better and they do it as a marketing ploy or whatever, so be it. But this contract actually sets out the minimums. Champion/I think we're worrying about the wrong things here. Because -- O'Donnell/Yeah. Let's vote on it. Champion/Yeah. Lehman/Thank you very much. Shaffer/Thank you. You bet. Lehman/Further discussion for the p.h.? P.h. is closed. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #3 Page 9 b. Consider an Ordinance Thornberry/Move to consider the ordinance. O'Donnell/Second. Lehman/Moved by Thornberry, seconded by O'Donnell. Council? Roll call- (yes). Motion carried. Further discussion from This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #4 Page 10 ITEM NO. 4 CONSIDER A MOTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO SIGN AND CITY CLERK TO ATTEST CONTRACT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE COLLECTOR WELLS LOWER TERMINUS PROJECT. Lehman/(Reads agenda item #4). We received three bids. The engineer's estimate was $1,800,000. The low bid was $1,379,000 from Reynolds, Inc. Kubby/Move adoption of the resolution. Norton/Second. Lehman/Moved by Kubby, seconded by Norton. Discussion? Kubby/I talked to Bob Blattert today, I can't remember what his title is in the company, but he's someone that will be here directing some of the work, talking to him about whether they'll be bringing their own workers in, especially because this is probably going to be specialized skills that they're going to need or whether they're going to be hiring any local folks, and whether or not they were union. And he said they are union, with the Operating Engineers, and that they would mostly bring in their own specialized, specially skilled people, but they might indeed need some local laborers to do some aspects of the work. And we had a really nice conversation, and a good price. Champion/It is a good price. Lehman/And that's good, Karen. But none of that's really relevant. According to the law, we have to take the lowest bid. Kubby/And I'm not disputing that at all. It's just, I think an interesting fact to know, and it raises community awareness. A lot of people think that if it's union, it has to be higher. This proves one example where that's proven wrong. O'Donnell/Well also, Karen, if it's union, it doesn't mean that it's better. I can still read the paper. Kubby/Well, I guess I would dispute that a little bit. Because studies have shown all over the country that unions do provide skills for their workers. And if they're not up to par, there's some recourse for individuals belonging to some of the trade labors. And they offer apprenticeship programs. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #4 Page 11 O'Donnell/Well, I '- Lehman/ I'm sorry I brought this up, or Karen did, because it isn't relevant at all. It shouldn't have been brought up at all. Roll call- (yes). Motion carried. Before we adjoum, we received a note from Steve, and if we can do this tonight, fine. But Steve suggested, and I think it's a good idea, that we perhaps select a date when Council can tour the new City facilities. Are we prepared to select a date? Champion/I want to do that. Norton/Let's do it. Lehman/I mean, I think it's a great idea. Thomberry/How about January 6th? Steve Arkins/Let's try reasonably warm weather. We'll put you outside. Lehman/And Steve, you indicated this would probably be a three or four hour thing at least? Atkins/I'd like that time with you. Lehman/Well, I think we need enough time to not just drive by, but -- Arkins/No, I want you to get out. I want you to get into some of these buildings. Norton/I'll be surprised if you can do it in three hours. Lehman/Well, I don't think you could. But I would think, for example, Chuck would accompany us, and tell us a little about what's happening at the water plant, the sewer plant, and so on. Arkins/We intend to have people stationed at each stop. I will, if you won't mind, I'm going to run a pretty tight ship, because we're going to set people up to get you there - - O'Donnell/I've heard about setting people up. Thornberry/I've heard about tight ships. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #4 Page 12 Norton/What date? Lehman/Let's talk about dates. Champion/Okay. Kubby/Are we talking August or September? Lehman/September-- Atkins/Whatever you want, pick a time. I'm assuming September. Thomberry/All right. We're talking how many hours here, Steve? Lehman/It's going to be an afternoon. Atkins/We're talking (can't hear). Thomberry/Which Sunday would you like? Lehman/I think that I would not object to a Sunday, but we're talking about City personnel who would have to be working on a Sunday and who don't normally work. Kubby/And I have art fairs almost every Sunday. Lehman/I think you'd best do it during the week. Atkins/Just for a heads-up -- Thornberry/ I can't do it during the week. Kubby/Not even at night? Norton/You can't get loose at one? Thornberry/Nah. Norton/How about two? Thomberry/Maybe three. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #4 Page 13 Kubby/What about --? Atkins/Well, late afiemoon is fine. Kubby/What about 5:00? Norton/3:00 to 7:00 then. Lehman/Karen, we can't begin to get through what he's talking about in -- Atkins/Late afternoon would be okay if you're willing to stop and just have a quick sandwich or something and move on. We could start about -- Lehman/ You could do three? O'Donnell/I don't like that. Lehman/Three o'clock? Norton/3:00 to 7:00, how about something like that? Lehman/Okay, 3:00 in the afternoon. What date? Atkins/And also, just kind of a heads up you'll also need to be thinking about, don't do it tonight, CIP day, we'll need a block of time for that. Because you asked to do that earlier. Champion/I can't handle two things in one night. Lehman/We're not going to. Atkins/No, no. Norton/He means two dates. Lehman/All right. Atkins/What I need is a date for the tour. Lehman/Do we have? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #4 Page 14 Champion/How about --? Kubby/The 3rd? Champion/No. Norton/September, what day of the week is that? Kubby/The 14th? Karr/The 3rd is a Thursday. Lehman/First week? Norton/Basically the first, second, third, along in there. What's Wednesday? Kubby/The 2nd. Atkins/Wednesday's the 2nd. Thomberry/How about a Monday? Champion/I can't make it, I'll be at Market. And Thursday the 3rd, my brother is coming to visit me. Thornberry/Well bring him along. Norton/What about the end of the first day of that week? Like Monday that week? Lehman/Monday the 31 st of August? Champion/I'll be out of town. Thomberry/Connie's gone. Champion. The next week, the 10th or 11 th, I could do it. Lehman/Well, the 1 lth, that's fight, either one, I have no problem. Kubby/Well, on the 1 l th, there's the Senior Center Volunteer Appreciation from 3:00 to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #4 Page 15 5:00. Norton/Yeah, on the 1 lth. What about the 10th then? Do we have a meeting that --? Karr/You have a meeting Tuesday the 8th and Wednesday the 9th. Norton/And do it on the 10th? O'Donnell/What do we have on Wednesday? Lehman/It's a holiday. Atkins/The only thing I would mention to you, on the 10th, I have, I'm meeting with the neighborhood council for pre-budget things we're going to try this year with them. Lehman/In other words, the 10th is not a good day. Atkins/It's not a good night for me. Lehman/That's fine. Kubby/What about the 14th? O'Donnell/Why 3:00 in the afternoon? What's wrong with 8:00 in the morning? Champion/Dean. Thornberry/That's all fight, you can do it without me. O'Donnell/You don't get up, huh? Thomberry/I'll be working from 8:00 am. Atkins/Well I'm assuming if we got you at 3:00, we could go from 3:00 to 6:00, take a half-hour break -- Lehman/ From 3:00 to 7:00. Atkins/And go to 7:30 and wrap up. We'll get you home at a decent, I mean it'll be dark by 7:30. And some of the facilities on the tail end of the trip go inside, we can do that after. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #4 Page 16 Norton/What about the end of next week, or later in next week? Lehman/Well, just a minute. Karr/271h or 281h? Norton/We meet Monday and Tuesday next week, don't we? Thornberry/First week of classes. Norton/Yeah. Maybe the 261h or so? Karr/261h is Wednesday. Norton/261h or 271h? Kubby/I could do the 261h or 271h. Lehman/261h or 271h? 3:00 in the aftemoon, we're talking in the afternoon now? Thornberry/We're talking the first week that school's open or what? Karr/Yes. Lehman/The 261h or 271h. That's a Monday or a Tuesday. Atkins/I'd prefer the 271h. O'Donnell/Can you do the 10th like we were talking? Thornberry/Yeah. Champion/September 10th? Lehman/Can everybody do the 10th? Wait a minute, the 10th is a bad day for you. Champion/Oh. Atkins/I could send Don to, I mean, we're trying something different with the neighborhood council this year. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #4 Page 17 O'Donnell/We want Steve to go. Atkins/No, I want to go. Kubby/He's the guide. Lehman/Can you do that like on the 26th or 27th? Thomberry/I can't the first week of school. Lehman/The first week is out for Dean. Thomberry/The first week of school is just heavy. Kubby/All right, how about the 14th of September? Arkins/That's a Monday. Kubby/Or the 15th? Lehman/14th on a Monday? Arkins/And no Council meetings at that point? Karr/16th you have one. Norton/That's, I was going to recruit some of you guys for the United Way Golf Toumament. Lehman/On what day? Norton/14th. Kubby/Well, at some point, some things have to go. Thornberry/That's fight. Is that a command? Norton/Well, that's fight, but it's an important event. Thornberry/I think I've already paid for that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the lowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #4 Page 18 Norton/Big fund-raiser. Champion/How about the 16th? Lehman/We've got a meeting that afternoon with the School Board. Karr/You have the joint meeting -- Norton/ How about right after that? Karr/No, it's 4:00 to 6:00. Norton/What about 15th, Tuesday? Lehman/All fight, Tuesday the 15th? Champion/Okay. That's it. Lehman/Does that fly? O'Donnell/Can you make it, Steve? Lehman/Steve, where do we meet? Atkins/I'll get it set up for you. 3:00, plan on a block of time, a quick break for a sandwich or something, and we'll have an early evening. Lehman/Are we going to be taking like a bus? Atkins/We'll have you on a bus. Lehman/Could we do our neat little box lunch sort of thing? Atkins/We'll take good care of you. Champion/Could we do a SEATS bus? Lehman/Well, what I'm saying is we don't need to go someplace, we can just have a bite This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898 #4 Page 19 Atkins/Wear your casual clothes. 3:00, the 15th. We'll probably depart from here. Thornberry/Yeah, I want to be on the bus with the 12-pack. Holecek/It probably will be subject to an open meeting -- Atkins/Oh, that's fine. Holecek/Yeah, it will be an open meeting, open to the public. Kubby/So we should have a bus in case some public comes. Holecek/In case the public want to join you, that's fight, a bus is good. Champion/Okay, I've got this fight. The 15th at 3:00 p.m. Lehman/15th, 3:00. Information will follow. Kubby/All fight. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of August 18, 1998. F081898