Cable Franchise Amend - I-Net
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MEMORANDUM
May 11 , 2006
TO:
The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM:
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Amending the Cable Franchise Agreement
On June 5, 2005, a 15-year Cable Franchise Agreement went into effect between the
City of Dubuque and Mediacom. As a part of that Franchise, Mediacom agreed to
construct a dark fiber optic institutional network, or I-Net, connecting 77 governmental,
educational, and non-profit sites around the city. The I-Net design calls for twelve
strands of fiber optic cable to connect a core ring of 12 sites; 65 spur sites each connect
back to the core ring via six strands of fiber optic cable. According to terms in the
Franchise, construction of the I-Net is to be completed by December 5, 2006.
After reviewing the Mediacom plans for constructing the I-Net and visiting some of the
sites, Cable Television Coordinator Craig Nowack is recommending some changes to
the franchise related to the I-Net that would benefit the City and Mediacom.
Key changes include:
1. The Water Pollution Control Plant and the University of Dubuque Flight School
are being added to the I-Net and the Housing Services facility, which will be
vacated soon, and the City's Greenhouses are being deleted.
2. The amount of fiber going to the Firehouses is being increased from six to
twelve.
3. Several key traffic signals will be connected to the City's network by fiber optic
cable.
4. Some modifications have been made to the reporting and approval timeframes
related to installation of the I-Net.
5. Mediacom will not receive multiple fines for not meeting the required customer
response times during the beginning of the franchise from July 1, 2005 to
December 31,2005.
The total cost of these improvements to the I-Net is estimated at $109,417.67, which
should be the responsibility of the City. Mediacom has agreed to pay 50% of the costs.
Since the City will not now have to run some of these fiber optic lines that were in the
City budget, the City will save $454,620. The wide cost difference is because the City
was going to install underground fiber and Mediacom is installing overhead fiber.
The City will also seek proposals to have a firm specializing in the design and
implementation of Wide Area Networks to oversee management of the I-Net.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
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Mic~ael C. Van Milligen
MCVM/jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Craig Nowack, Cable Television Coordinator
Randy Gehl, Public Information Officer
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MEMORANDUM
TO:
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM:
Craig Nowack, Cable Television Coordinator
DATE:
May 8, 2006
RE:
Amending the Cable Franchise Agreement
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memorandum is to outline some proposed changes to the Cable
Franchise Agreement with regards to the portions of that agreement dealing with the I-Net.
BACKGROUND
On June 5, 2005, a 15-year Cable Franchise Agreement went into effect between the City of
Dubuque and Mediacom. As a part of that Franchise, Mediacom agreed to construct a dark
fiber optic institutional network, or I-Net, connecting 77 governmental, educational, and non-
profit sites around the city. The I-Net design calls for twelve strands of fiber optic cable to
connect a core ring of 12 sites; 65 spur sites each connect back to the core ring via six
strands of fiber optic cable. According to terms in the Franchise, construction of the I-Net is
to be completed by December 5, 2006.
In February 2006 City staff, including the Public Information Officer and representatives from
the Cable TV Division, Information Services Department, Engineering Department, and
Public Works Department met with Mediacom at its studio where we saw for the first time
Mediacom's plans for constructing the I-Net. Subsequently, as dictated by the Franchise,
City staff and Mediacom began making visits to the various I-Net sites to determine the exact
demarcation points and methods for terminating the fiber optic cable. In the course of making
these site visits and meeting with actual I-Net users, it became apparent that making some
modifications to the Franchise and the Right-Of-Way Ordinance would result in a more useful
I-Net that would better serve the City of Dubuque and its citizens.
While the accompanying documents detail the exact changes to the Franchise and Right-Of-
Way Ordinance that we're proposing, here is a summary of those modifications:
· Adding/Removing Sites. Some sites, like the City's Housing Services facility, slated
to move to the Federal Building, and the City's Greenhouse, don't need to be
connected to the I-Net. Others, like the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the
University of Dubuque Flight School, should be.
. Additional Fiber. In order to provide more functionality, the City would like an
additional six fibers, for a total of 12 fibers, to go to each firehouse and the Fire
Training Facility.
· Fiber to Traffic Intersections. In the course of constructing the I-Net, Mediacom will
be running fiber optic cable near some key traffic intersections that it would otherwise
be too costly for the City's Engineering Department to do on its own. Extending the
fiber optic cable as part of the I-Net build-out is much more cost effective.
To get this added functionality, the City agrees to the following concessions in the Franchise:
· The City agrees to reduce the plan review time from 45 days to 15 days and allow
Mediacom to submit alii-Net construction information in a single permit application.
· The City agrees to only three business days' notice prior to the start of testing at each
site. Test results shall be submitted electronically following each test. When I-Net
construction is completed, one single, bound, paper copy containing all test results
shall be submitted.
· The City agrees to a single deadline of December 5, 2006, for completion construction,
installation, and testing of the entire I-Net rather than separate deadlines for core and
secondary sites.
· In its 2005 Annual Report, MCC Iowa LLC (Mediacom) reported that it did not meet all
areas of the customer service requirements for the third and fourth quarters. The
areas of non-compliance in the third quarter were telephone answering at least 90% of
the time within 30 seconds and customers receiving a busy signal less than 3% of the
time. Mediacom's data indicates calls were received within 30 seconds 74.8% of the
time and customers received a busy signal 3.2% of the time. The area of non-
compliance in the fourth quarter was again telephone answering time. Mediacom's
data indicates calls were answered within 30 seconds 76.6% of the time. Mediacom
states in the report that these instances of non-compliance were identified in the
annual report composition process and a remedial plan using telephone switch and
routing capabilities to correctly send calls to the appropriate personnel in the virtual
phone center in the correct order has been established. Mediacom reports these
correction methods have been previously successful in similar situations.
The City will consider the aggregate total of these customer-response time violations
during the period of July 1, 2005 to December 31 , 2005, as a single violation.
Because the City will consider it an initial violation, the City agrees to seek no
monetary remedy. This concession in no way sets a precedent for future enforcement
of any provision of either the Cable Franchise Agreement or the Right-Of-Way
Ordinance. The City reserves all rights of enforcement and remedy throughout the life
of both the Franchise and the Ordinance.
· With regards to construction reports, the City agrees to waive the requirement for
monthly reports on right-of-way construction as called for in the Right-Of-Way
Ordinance and instead require one annual construction report.
I n exchange for these concessions, Mediacom agrees to share the costs of the City's
additional requests evenly with the City. Mediacom has determined the total cost of our
requests for be $109,417.67 as illustrated in the table below, of which the City will pay half.
The City hired Dick Nielsen of CBG Communications, Inc. to review Mediacom's pricing for
each of our requests and he agrees that this is a reasonable figure.
SITES COST
University of Dubuque Flight School (6 fibers) $30,253.90.
Wastewater Treatment Plant (6 fibers) $31,612.29
Fire Training Facility (additional 6 fibers) $4,905.65
Firehouse 2 (additional 6 fibers) $2,963.26
Firehouse 3 (additional 6 fibers) $1,787.62
Firehouse 4 (additional 6 fibers) $1,568.21
Firehouse 5 (additional 6 fibers) $2,598.30
Firehouse 6 (additional 6 fibers) $1,887.47
Firehouse 7 (additional 6 fibers) $4,495.13
Intersection of 151 & Grandview (6 fibers) $4,638.02
Intersection of Rockdale & Maquoketa (6 fibers) $6,363.58
Intersection of Twin Valiey & Tower (6 fibers) $5,999.98
Intersection of JFK & Pennsylvania (12 fibers) $10,344.28
TOTAL $109,411.69
. Mediacom and the University of Dubuque are responsible for this cost.
Information Services Manager Chris Kohlmann estimates our savings in this endeavor as
$109,500 for FY 2006-2007 and $345,120 for FY 2007-2008 from a portion of the CIP to
install fiber optic cable and network electronics to the fire stations. Although Dave Ness in
Engineering has no figures on the cost savings in getting fiber to the noted intersections, he
said the south end intersections were simply too far away to have any cost justification. In
addition, Chris Kohlmann recommends that the City make use of a firm specializing in the
design and implementation of Wide Area Networks to oversee management of the I-Net. She
notes that potential users of the I-Net need to work with a designer to articulate their needs in
order to design a system that creates a robust, secure, and reliable network using the fiber
that has been provided.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
I respectfully request that the modifications to the Cable Franchise Agreement and Right-Of-
Way Ordinance summarized in this memorandum and detailed in the accompanying
documents be forwarded to the City Council to receive, file, and approve.
CN
Attachments
FIRST AMENDMENT
TO CABLE FRANCHISE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE CITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA
AND
MCC IOWA, LLC
This First Amendment to Cable Franchise Agreement dated for reference
purposes the 15th day of May , 2006, is made and entered into by and
between the City of Dubuque, Iowa and MCC Iowa, LLC.
1. The Cable Franchise Agreement is amended as follows:
(a) Section 6(h)(2)(G) is amended to read as follows:
(G) Single-mode fibers will be built to each I-Net site as
designated in Exhibit B. At each I-Net site, at the City's
option, either (i) fibers shall be terminated using industry
standard connectors at a demarcation point to be agreed
upon by the Grantee and the User up to fifteen feet inside
the building entry wall and consistent with the Grantee's
direction of approach to the building, consistent with the
FCC's rules as amended from time to time (the "Demarcation
Point"), or (ii) the Grantee shall provide a coil of fiber-optic
cable, without termination or connector, of a length
reasonably requested by the User to permit the User or the
facility owner to bring the connection further inside the
building beyond that Demarcation Point in accordance with
normal industry practice. Any I-Net fiber starting at the
Demarcation Point and extending outward from the building
shall be deemed to be on the Grantee's side of the
Demarcation Point, and any I-Net fiber starting at the
Demarcation Point and extending further inside the building
shall be deemed to be on the user's side of the Demarcation
Point. The City and Grantee shall work together to
determine demarcation points for individual I-Net sites.
(b) Section 6(h)(2)(K) is amended to read as follows:
(K) The Grantee shall begin construction of the I-Net within three
months after the Effective Date. Grantee shall complete
construction of the I-Net plant by the end of eighteen (18)
months after the Effective Date.
(c) Section 6(h)(2)(L) is amended to read as follows:
(L) The following sites have opted not to be included on the 1-
Net:
. Army/Navy Reserve, 10763 Airport Road;
· Army Corps of Engineers, Lock and Dam #11, Eagle
Point Drive;
. National Guard, 195 Radford Road; and
. U.S. Coast Guard, 60 East First Street.
(d) Section 6(h)(3)(B) is amended to read as follows:
(B) The Grantee shall submit detailed site plans for design and
construction of the I-Net at least fifteen days prior to the
anticipated start of construction. The City shall review and
approve such detailed site plans at least five business days
before the anticipated start of construction, and before the
Grantee begins actual construction of the segment. Such
approval shall not be unreasonably withheld. The Grantee
may submit all I-Net construction information in a single
permit application. The City agrees to process the permit
application within five business days.
(e) Section 6(h)(4) is amended to read as follows:
(4) Acceptance. Construction standards shall be as specified in
the Ordinance. The acceptance procedure for each I-Net
site is as follows: three (3) business days in advance of
testing, the Grantee shall inform the I-Net Coordinator of any
continuity test. The City shall have the option to be present
at the test. The Grantee shall perform the test after
terminating the fibers on both ends and will conduct the test
from the connector output at both 1310 nm and 1550 nm
using an optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) from
both ends of the fiber (at the user site and at the headend or
aggregation site). The Grantee shall submit the continuity
test results to the City in electronic format and optionally in
paper format; the City may require re-testing of the segment
if it is not satisfied with the results of the Grantee's tests.
The results shall be deemed accepted if the City does not
object to such results within ten (10) business days. When 1-
Net construction is completed, one bound, paper copy
containing all test results shall be submitted to the City.
2. Exhibit B, I-Net Site List, is amended as follows:
(a) The following sites shall be removed from inclusion on the I-Net:
. Housing Services, 1805 Central Avenue; and
. City Green House (co-located with Ham House Museum).
(b) The following sites shall be added to the I-Net:
. Wastewater Treatment Plant, Julien Dubuque Drive (six strands
of fiber returning to City Hall Annex); and
. University of Dubuque Flight School (six strands of fiber
returning to the University of Dubuque).
(c) The following sites shall have a total of 12 strands of fiber optic
cable returning to City Hall Annex:
. Fire Training Facility, 1100 Seippel Rd; (this site's Return
Location moves from Fire Headquarters as originally listed in
Exhibit B to City Hall Annex per this amendment);
. Fire Engine House No.2, 2180 JFK Rd;
. Fire Engine House No.3, 3155 Central Ave;
. Fire Engine House No.4, 1697 University Ave;
. Fire Engine House No.5, 689 S. Grandview;
. Fire Engine House No.6, 1500 Rhomberg Ave; and
. Fire Engine House No.7, location TBD, will be connected by
the Grantee at no additional charge.
(d) The Grantee shall install and test bundles of fiber as indicated to
the following traffic intersections, which will report back to City Hall
Annex:
. 151 and Grandview (6 fibers);
. Rockdale and Maquoketa (6 fibers);
. Twin Valley and Tower (6 fibers); and
. JFK and Pennsylvania (12 fibers)
3. City and the Grantee agree to share equally the cost resulting from the
changes to Exhibit B. Grantee has determined that these costs will not
exceed $109,417.67.
By:
MCC IOWA, LCC
By:
RoyD.
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~en M. Chesterman, Deputy City
Clerk
Its
DRAFT OF WAIVER LETTER
May 15, 2006
Kathy McMullen, Area Manager
Mediacom
3033 Asbury Road
Dubuque, IA 52001
Dear Kathy:
This letter confirms that the City will waive the requirements of Ordinance 29-05
Title 1(18)(3)(A), with regard to construction, on the condition that Mediacom
agree to provide an annual report containing all such construction reports as
required by this section, 18(3)(A) of Title I of Ordinance 29-05 within 120 days of
the end of each calendar year for which this waiver applies. The City reserves
the right to withdraw this waiver and reinstitute the requirements of Ordinance
29-05 Title 1(18)(3)(A), at any time.
Sincerely,
Craig Nowack
Cable TV Coordinator
cc: Randy Gehl, Public Information Officer
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel
DRAFT OF VIOLATIONS LETTER
May 15, 2006
Kathy McMullen, Area Manager
Mediacom
3033 Asbury Road
Dubuque, IA 52001
Dear Kathy:
In the 2005 Mediacom Annual Report recently sent by Mediacom to the City,
Mediacom documents several areas of non-compliance with the Cable Right-of-
Way Ordinance, Ordinance 29-05, as follows:
. The standards required in Title II, Section 6(4)(C)(i) were not met in
the third and fourth quarters of 2005 (covering the period from July
1-December 31,2005); and
. The standards required in Title II, Section 6(4)(C)(ii) were not met in
the third quarter of 2005 (covering the period from July 1-
September 30, 2005).
The purpose of this letter is to serve notice that in consideration of Mediacom's
agreement to the First Amendment to the Cable Franchise Agreement, the City
will consider the aggregate total of all the violations referenced in the preceding
paragraph as single, initial violations of Ordinance 29-05 Title II, Section
6(4)(C)(i) and (ii), and as such will seek no remedy for these violations, which will
constitute the first violation of Title II, Section 6 for purposes of section 9(d)(4) of
the Cable Franchise Agreement.
Sincerely,
Craig Nowack
Cable TV Coordinator
cc: Randy Gehl, Public Information Officer
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel
I
Compliance Statement for Q3 2005:
MCC Iowa LLC has reviewcd the customer service reporting information relative to the
customer service requirements in the francbise and determines tbat tbe standards were not met in
all areas for the quarter.
The areas of non-compliance in the third quarter were telephone answering at least ninety (90)
percent of the time within thirty (30) seconds and customers receiving a busy signal less than
three (3%) percent of the time. MCC Iowa LLC data indicates that calls received twenty-four
(24) hours per day, seven (7) days per week were answered within thirty (30) seconds seventy-
four point eight 0;;,8%) percent of time, For tbe same period, customers rcceived a busy signal
three point two (3.2%) percent of the time,
MCC Iowa LLC determined non-compliance in the previously noted telephone response areas in
the annual report composition process, Data for suhsequent quarters in 2005 and first quarter
indicates that the busy signal issue has bcen resolved. The remedial plan for meeting the
answering within thirty (30) seconds requirement going forward includes using telephone switch
and routing capabilities to correctly send calls to the appropriate personnel in the virtual phone
center in the correct order. The correction methods have been previously successful in similar
situations,
To the hest of its knowlcdge, MCC Iowa LLC verifies that all other customer service
requirements of the franchise have been met or exceeded for the period,
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Compliance Statement for Q4 2005:
MCC Iowa LLC has reviewed the customer service reporting information relative to the
customer service requirements in the franchise and determines that the standards were not met in
all areas for the quarter.
The only area of non-complIance in the fourth quarter was telephone answering at least ninety
(90) percent of the time within thirty (30) seconds, MCC Iowa LLC data indicates that calls
received twenty-four (24) hours per day, seven (7) days per week were answered within thirty
(30) seconds seventy-six point six (76.6%) percent of time.
MCC Iowa LLC determined non-compliance in the previously noted telephone response areas in
the annual report composition process. The remedial plan for meeting the answering within thirty
(30) seconds requirement going forward includes using telephone switch and routing capabilities
to correctly send calls to the appropriate personnel in the virtual phone center in the correct
order. The correction methods have been previously successful in similar situations.
To the best of its knowledge, MCC Iowa LLC verifies that all other customer service
requirements of the franchise have been met or exceeded for the period.
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