COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE   MINUTES  March 17, 2010

 

 

Those present were: Marv Kuntz, Dan Owens, Board Member, Ann Jones, Activity Director, Ron Larson, John Thrash, Board Liaison, Bill Arnst, Harriet Schrader, Denzil Willis, Dan Augustine, Margie Kramer, Joan Bitely and Norm Kolb, Chair.

Regrets: Len Godek

 

Norm Kolb began the meeting with a review of the responses he received to our three basic questions from Verizon FiOS personnel and Mark Moats of Cox Communications.

Verizon would require a 100% connection of all Falls Run homes before they would consider a bulk contract. Although Mark Moats seemed open to a less than 100% connection for a bulk contract and he was willing to discuss a number of options “that meet the needs of FR and make business sense for Cox” he indicated that Cox was  interested in a bulk contract for no less than 3 years (Dan Owens).

 

The Committee discussed the replies of Verizon FiOS and Cox and also the possibility of losing Channel 20 if FR did not sign a bulk contract with Cox.  Some would have liked to keep Channel 20 but were persuaded by other members who detailed a variety of possible alternatives.  After a thorough discussion, a series of recommendations were proposed and approved unanimously to send to the BOD.  These recommendations and their background are found in our “Request for Action” to the FR Board.

 

Norm Kolb, Chair, Communications Committee

 

 

REQUEST FOR ACTION BY FALLS RUN BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 

 

 

March 19, 2010

Communications Committee

Chair: Norm Kolb

 

ISSUE:   Since the Cox Cable Bulk Contract is up for renewal in 2010,  the Board  asked ComCom to conduct a survey of residents and to  make recommendations concerning this contract.

 

Action requested of Board:

 

We recommend that the FR Board of Directors end the Cox Cable Bulk Contract.

This will allow the Board to reduce the monthly dues payable to the Association.

 

We recommend that each resident negotiate Cable TV connections individually as they now do with Internet and Telephone connections.

 

ComCom Minutes, March 17, 2010, page 2

 

If this action is taken we will lose Channel 20, we therefore recommend that the Board consider and encourage a variety of alternatives that can communicate the news and events currently on our community TV channel.

 

We recommend that the Board use every method at its disposal to communicate this decision and its background information to our residents

 

 

Statement supporting this requested action:

 

In the Fall of 2009 the FRCA Board asked the Communication Committee to survey our resident use of Cable TV, Internet and Telephone.  This survey was prepared and distributed in January of 2010. Results were tabulated in early February and presented via email to the Board on February 12th.   These results have been discussed by ComCom via emails and meetings since that time.

 

The Survey results indicate the following:

n  89.5% of residents answered the survey which gives us comprehensive information on resident use of TV, Internet and Telephone.

n  Total FiOS usage is presently at 95 homes with 58 residents saying they are considering a change.  Adding in satellite users there will be, in the very near future, 166 homes (21%) not connected to Cox.

n  We are already paying Cox for more Basic Connections than we are actually using and this will only get worse.

 

 

 

 

Discussion at the March 17th meeting of ComCom which passed the above recommendations took careful consideration of the results of our survey and of the following additional information:

n  Verizon FiOS representatives indicate that a bulk contract with them requires 100% of the community to be connected to Verizon.  We do not see this happening.

n  Cox representative Mark Moats is willing to negotiate a less than 100% bulk contract with Falls Run “that meet the needs of FR and make business sense for Cox.” There are indications that Cox would not settle for less than a 3 year contract.

n  Cox executives are “reluctant to maintain an inhouse channel for a non-bulk community” .  IF this were a possibility, charges for this inhouse channel would be approximately $2500 per year plus cost of repairs.

n  The number of residents who are paying for Cox Basic in their monthly dues and not using it is growing each week as more residents connect to Verizon FiOS.

ComCom Minutes, March 17, 2010, page 3

 

 

q Under the present contract Falls Run is losing money and paying Cox too much for the Basic Service.

 

We are not required to maintain Channel 20 nor would it be worth the cost to keep it.  It is a useful tool to communicate committee meetings and Meet the Candidates but there are alternatives that could be explored.  Possible alternatives suggested: a new separate Yahoo Internet Group;  Facebook for FR, both of which could include a calendar of events;  producing a number of DVDs of Meet the Candidates for loan to residents and use of FR Alert (Armstrong Connect) with telephone calls and emails. It is also possible to expand the bandwidth of the FR Website so that it could handle videos such as Meet the Candidates.