Members Present: Dale Rodell, Rollin Bible, Jerry Brown, David Westbrook, John Magnusson, Scott Hugstad-Vaa

Members Absent:

Others Present: Tom Creighton, Charles Grawe, Dennis LaComb

The minutes of December 18, 1997, January 28, 1998, and February 9, 1998 were approved unanimous. Motion by Mr. Westbrook, second by Mr. Magnusson.

Mr. Creighton presented his memorandum on Options for Community Programming in a Renewed Franchise. He briefly defined the terms and assumptions as used in his memo. He explained that in his proposal, he used the term "staff" loosely to mean paid part-time or full-time City staff or consultants. He explained that the purpose of the memo was to provide the groundwork for the franchise and the operational details could be determined at a later date. He said the funding for the proposal would be derived from an initial $1 per month, per subscriber PEG fee. The PEG fee would increase annually by an inflationary factor. Mr. Bible asked how the City is accountable for the expenditures from the PEG fee. Mr. Creighton explained the PEG fee would be part of the City’s annual audit and that by law, the City must use the PEG fee for PEG purposes. Mr. Creighton said that the Cable Company also has an incentive to monitor the use of the PEG fee to make sure it is used for things which would increase or maintain subscribers. Mr. Creighton explained the PEG fee could be increased annually at the City’s discretion. In the proposal, the fee could be increased by $1 over the 15 year term, but by no more than $.15 annually.

Mr. Creighton briefly explained the capital funding plan for each city. Mr. Bible said he didn’t like placing a dollar figure on the annual capital grant because Rosemount and Farmington are growing rapidly. He suggested using some sort of inflationary factor which would increase with the growth in each city. Mr. Creighton said he would use an inflationary factor based on subscriber increases. Mr. Creighton then explained that each city would contribute to purchase an editing suite and camera for public access. Mr. Bible requested that when a joint powers agreement is drawn up, it allow each community an easy means to leave the agreement. Mr. Creighton agreed and said the agreement would allow easy exit, but no recovery of capital upon exit by any of the cities.

Mr. Creighton then explained the joint operational funding. He noted the proposal was made under the assumption that none of the cities wanted to spend a large amount of resources on public access. He explained the proposal would allow each city to maintain 1/3 of its PEG fee for its own government programming purposes. He explained Apple Valley would contribute $86,666, Farmington $20,000 and Rosemount $20,000 to a joint effort. The total joint budget would be $126,666. Mr. Creighton said he based he proposal on a South Washington County model. He said a staff person would likely be required for basic administration and maintenance of the three cities government access facilities. He said the production of programs could certainly be done by a consultant.

Mr. Bible asked if there is a legal obligation for the City to fund educational access. Mr. Creighton said there is no legal obligation. Mr. Grawe said he spoke with Mr. Taschner of School District 196 about the topic. He said Mr. Taschner had discussed the possibility of making a counter proposal to the City in which the school would provide public access. However, the school would have some discretion over the use of the funds to provide public access. Mr. Bible expressed his concerns over the school receiving PEG fees to provide public access. He noted the school has its own taxing authority and can purchase its own equipment for educational purposes. He further noted that until this time, the school has shown little interest in providing educational access programming. Mr. Creighton added cities face an annual struggle at the Legislature to get funding, while schools continue to get more money. Mr. Bible said it would not be acceptable for the schools to use the PEG fee for additional capital equipment to benefit classrooms but not increase educational programming. He said the school must show a direct impact to the cable subscribers for any money the school would propose the City provide. Mr. Creighton added the City could opt to increase the PEG fee to fund specific school programs if desired.

Mr. Bible said he is interested in Mr. LaComb’s proposal. Mr. LaComb said his company could manage the government access facilities for the cities, but he doesn’t want to manage educational or public access. He said his company could provide the cities with government channel coordination and program production.

Mr. Creighton said the grant money in the proposal for capital equipment is a true grant, not a loan-type funding method proposed by Marcus. There was brief discussion about the appropriate level of funding to upgrade the equipment. Mr. Bible said $15,000 is too low and asked it be raised to $30,000 or more. He also asked an inflationary adjustment be added annually. Mr. Creighton said he would revise the proposal and fax it to Mr. Grawe.

Mr. Creighton said that he would have Mr. Vose from Bernick and Lifson review the document and contact the City if the increase was out of the ordinary.

Mr. Rodell moved, second by Mr. Hugstad-Vaa, to approve the 1997 Annual Cable TV Report with the Marcus Cable section and forward it to the City Council. Motion passed unanimous.

The Committee reviewed the First Quarter Complaint Log.

The Committee reviewed the public access news article.

The Committee received the NLC letter.

The Committee received the Tamkin Fiber letter.

Mr. Brown requested the City salvage any equipment it contributed to the public access facility in Lakeville and give any surplus usable equipment to organizations which may be able to find use for it, such as small schools.

Mr. Rodell moved, seconded by Mr. Westbrook to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried unanimous. The meeting was adjourned at 8:28 P.M..