Minutes for August 15, 2017

Attendance

Present: Steve McMahon, Jim Frame, Mike Adams, William Wagman, Robert Nickerson, Shiela Evans

Absent: Anne Hance, Janet Meizel, Matthews Williams, Tsui Chang (On Leave)

Call to Order

MA called us to order at 5:12 pm.

Agenda Approval

Agenda moved by WW, seconded by JF, approved unanimously.

Public Comment

No members of the public were in attendance.

Approve Minutes from June 20th

Made some requested changes to remove specific names and replace them with titles, upon completion Moved by JF and seconded by SM. Passed unanimously.

Financial Report

Computer issues (MS Office) prevented the normal excel spreadsheet financial report, SE says its Excel is not populating. RN mentions Omsoft/DMA trade. MA brought out Google Sheets , SE says on current spread sheet, but she cant copy and paste b/c of formulas but enters by hand. dcn, 12k; davisgig 21k. Recently received DavisGIG donations and the Davis Bike Club, and Yolo County check. MA asked about BigDog and what the split was between DCN/DavisGIG. JF mentions admin fee, SE says that she is counting all BigDOG as DavisGIG. MA thanks everyone about getting out of the office. SE said all the furniture is gone, the PGE is canceled, and JF mentioned he's using the old Cisco 7507 Chassis as a materials cart.

Feasibility Study Kickoff discussion

MA lead discussion in regards to the City of Davis BATF "kick off meeting" with the President of CCG Communications, which took place on Friday July 28th at the Bicycle Hall of Fame. He assumes will get real numbers about cost and viability. MA says its a tri-ring architecture and internal ONT's; robust/expandable/whole city. MA says no poles. Poles only a small subset, in bad shape and difficult to access. Soil quality is good. SM brings up upkeep costs for poles. JF asked about other arrangements for the architecture. No costs yet. SM says its about roughing out costs. SM says no one had problems with the choices that were made. MA says they would use decommissioned pump stations. and that is the base of the topology.

One of the big unknown areas in the study is the estimated take rate at MDUs. SM says that CCG communications said it was not worthwhile to contact owners, b/c the apartment owners aren't always aware of contract details that have been agreed to. MA repeats the CCG assertion to get useful information, says it would be beyond the scope and not part of the available given the hours. SM says its 57% or 52% rentals versus homeowners. SM says that 6 and lower unit MDUs will get the single family take rate numbers, versus larger considered true MDUs will have a lower rate. SM says its a weakness, and additional study money might be needed. SM says its GRIM because mentioned it so often as a liability.

SM says that due to very low vacancy rates, MDUs are in a good position economically, and might not invest. SM believes the twisted pair in walls belongs to ATT. RN disagreed with SM, based upon 17 years of experience working in MDUs. MA says with low vacancy rates would they invest in the upgrade? JF says can you make a case so it doesnt cost them? MA says its complex at least, the strategic planning and incentives needed. How to examine assumptions about the landlord's Internet status, and current arrangements. Is an issue. SM says CCG will assume a smaller take rate for large MDUs.

SM says maybe we should pay for more analysis, to focus on MDUs, maybe if City doesn't, DCN could.

MA asked, does the city have any requirements for MDUs and letting in multiple ISPs? SM says City Council might be able to use its cooperative agreement with landlords and set standards, SM suggested that City Council possibly it could change the market. SM extols excellent service, could give us leverage. JF says press them with the economic development argument. MA says Tandem Properties are a leading property management group and could help set the standard.

MA says we need to mention it at BATF and among others to make sure the MDU concerns are addressed. MA says we need to have a better plan for MDU. WW asks about complaints of costs of providing infrastructure for the university. JF says the City can press the Lincoln 40 and Families First to build-in accommodation for the DavisGIG network, and SE says they would want to. JF says lets find out what the city apartment policy is, and list of complexes. SM and MA agree more study of MDUs as part of CCGs efforts, or done by DCN, and lets push it at BATF. MA says we could get more info from the city, about number and regulation of MDU.

SM says the report might suggest taking a partial payment through parcel and property tax. Also work on discounts for student lunch households. Our best chance of getting ubiquity, involves a public good portion of funding a network, lets benefit the whole community. Pay for part of it, not the variable cost, should we partially subsidize? SM says if we have pay for 100% of project thru revenue, then we have to high prices, if the city subsidizes like 25%, we have market competitive costs. Its a perfect case for a public good, should be. MA says demand price elastic, says we have to segment with different levels of service, have an acheivable take rate. JF talks about high end General Public services received versus bottom tier, marginal cost between tiers, is minimal versus the cost to lay down the fiber. Only so much demand at high end. MA asks do we have a relation with UC to do a public good analysis ? SM says you need the right person to pecieve it as a public good.

Folks are pleased that the new chamber rep seems more engaged and curious about the effort

SM says took informal notes of the BATF kick off Meeting, and if anyone needs it he can make them available.

Committee reports

Public Outreach

MA says we are getting more response and connections on Facebook - will revisit newsletter - decide on other things. MA says we should keep using FB. It's valuable to the effort, and hopefully can keep it going. JF says when big things happen people look on Facebook and MA says we need to tie it in to the DCN webpage somehow.

DavisGIG

RN brought up recent contacts with sonic.net /SiFi networks. Asks what are we spending DavisGIG money on? RN also mentioned Yolo County has an official RFP for the NDM HSIP.

Next meeting location/announcements

Next meeting 8.15 - JF to be gone. No announcements.

Adjournment

MA adjourned the meeting at 6:10 pm