I. Call to Order.

The meeting was called to order by the chair, Jackie Hontz, at 7:15 p.m. in the Administrator’s Conference Room, Administration Center, 1300 Courthouse Road.

II. Roll Call.

The following members were present: Jackie Hontz, Alicia Knight, Terry Lottes and Thomas Kimbrell. Also present were Marie Schuler of Comcast Communications, Tami Watkins of Comcast Communications, Matt Drewery with Cox Communications, and Cathy Riddle representing the County.

III. Presentations by the Public.

Mr. Dean Feteroff, 30 Cookson Drive, stated that he wanted to file a formal complaint against Comcast with the Committee. He said that he had lost digital signals on three of the boxes in his home, made numerous calls to Comcast customer service,  was placed on hold for at least 30 minutes each time, and had to miss work to be at home so that technicians could visit his home and attempt to repair the problem.

Mr. Feteroff cited several sections in the Comcast franchise agreement and questioned whether Comcast was abiding by the agreement.

Ms. Schuler said that she had discussed the problems with Mr. Feteroff and told him that she would get back to him the following week.

Ms.  Hontz stated that the customer service statistics that Comcast had provided to the Committee did not reflect the level of difficulty that Mr. Feteroff had experienced.

After further discussion about additional customer service difficulties that Mr. Feteroff had experienced with Comcast, Ms. Hontz requested that Ms. Schuler look into practices at Comcast’s call centers. She also asked Ms. Schuler to keep the Committee informed of how Comcast was going to work with Mr. Feteroff in solving the cable problems and customer service difficulties that he had experienced with Comcast.

Ms. Hontz asked Ms. Schuler if she had Comcast’s monthly customer service statistics. Ms. Schuler replied that she had, but that they did not reflect that there was an issue with customer service.

III. Members’ concerns

Ms. Hontz asked Ms. Schuler if she knew when Russ Moulton would be hooked up to cable and Ms. Schuler replied that she had already talked to Mr. Moulton.

Mr. Kimbrell stated that he had not yet heard back from Ms. Schuler regarding Ms. Brown at 5 April Lane.

Ms. Schuler replied that there is a lot of activity going on in the field and that 30 miles of damaged cable from Adelphia had to be replaced. She said that there would be about two to three weeks left of this work. Comast is also replacing nodes. Adelphia had a standard of 2,000 customers per node. Ms. Schuler said that Comcast is decreasing this to 200 customers per node, which should result in improved reception and service.

Ms. Knight asked Ms. Schuler to call the Thornburgs and discuss their cable issues with them. 

Ms. Riddle said she had been called by Mr. Don Head who had complained that it took several calls and a visit to the Comcast office in Stafford to get a technician to come to his house and investigate his problems. Ms. Schuler said she had talked to Mr. Head and was researching the problems.

Ms. Knight said that it appeared that Ms. Schuler needs to address the call centers and tell them that customers are having to wait too long to get service.

Closed Meeting: At 8:00 p.m., Mr. Kimbrell moved, seconded by Mr. Lottes, to go into a Closed Meeting on the following item:

Legal: To discuss negotiation of the Cavalier Telephone franchise.
Section 2.2-3711 A7
Code of Virginia

The voting tally was:

Yea: (4) Hontz, Knight, Kimbrell, Lottes

Call to Order. At 8:20 p.m., the Chair called the meeting back to order.

Closed Meeting Certification: Mr. Kimbrell moved, seconded by Mr. Lottes, to adopt proposed Resolution CM07-03

The voting tally was:

Yea: (4) Hontz, Lottes, Kimbrell, Knight

Resolution CM07-03 reads as follows:

A RESOLUTION TO CERTIFY THE ACTIONS OF THE STAFFORD COUNTY CABLE TELEVISION ADVISORY COMMITTEE IN A CLOSED MEETING ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2007

WHEREAS, the committee has, on this the 27th day of September, 2007, adjourned into a closed meeting in accordance with a formal vote of the committee and in accordance with provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, as it became effective July 1, 1989, provides for certification that such Closed Meeting was conducted in conformity with law;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Stafford County Cable Television Advisory Committee does hereby certify, on this the 27th day of September, 2007, that to the best of each member’s knowledge: (1) only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under the Virginia Freedom Act were discussed in the Closed Meeting to which this certification applies; and (2) only such public business matters as were identified in the Motion by which the said Closed Meeting was convened were heard, discussed, or considered by the committee. No member dissents from the aforesaid certification.

VI. Approval of Minutes.

The minutes of the July 26, 2007 regular meeting and the September 11, 2007 special meeting were approved unanimously by acclamation.

IV. Agenda Additions.

There were no agenda additions.   

V. New Business.

Mr. Kimbrell passed out a draft of a Telecommunications Charter for committee members to review. He stated that he took samples of what other localities had done and wrote the draft.

Ms. Riddle recommended that the membership section include staff from the Information Technology Department.

Mr. Kimbrell asked Ms. Riddle to assist in clarifying which staff should be included in the Charter.

Ms. Knight asked how long the charter should last.

Mr. Lottes asked what the bounds of the commission were and whether they could draft ordinances.

Ms. Hontz requested that Committee members review the Charter and table the discussion of Comcast’s customer service standards.

Mr. Lottes suggested that the Committee also review reporting requirements of Comcast.

Ms. Knight said that Comcast needs to provide statistical reporting and requested that this be include on the agenda for the next meeting.

VIII. Adjournment.

At 8:45 p.m., Mr. Lottes moved to adjourn the meeting; Ms. Knight seconded; the motion passed unanimously.