electronic village of abingdon

"91st Day" Subcommittee

MINUTES

4 June 1996 7:30 P. M.

The scheduled meeting of the 91st Day Subcommittee held in the Town of Abingdon Municipal Building was opened by Chairman F. H. Moore, Jr. There were fourteen members present. These included:
F. H. Moore, Jr., Chairman Steve Galyean
Jay Cox, Vice Chairman Ray Millsap
Al Bradley, Secretary Rachel Fowlkes
Doug Macklin Wanda Fritz
Greg Macklin Steve Laek
Bill Chaffin Jackie Stevenson

 

Minutes of the 28 May meeting were approved as presented.

Dr. Moore introduced Wanda Fritz, Data Salesperson with Sprint, to the rest of the group. Wanda was substituting for David Taverner who was unable to attend this meeting.

Dr. Moore then reminded us that at the last meeting Jay Cox, Jean Luker and David Taverner had been instructed to attempt to model a rate structure based upon the system costs that David Taverner had presented.

Jay Cox distributed draft copies of such a model and explained that the group had met and attempted to plug into the model as many of the known and foreseeable costs of such an operation as best they could devise. The model presented here appeared to be an acceptable one to the group. They had decided on three main goals for this plan:

  1. The operation should be self-supporting insofar as practicable.
  2. The operation should offer universal access and connectivity.
  3. The operation should be affordable.

 

Jay then explained the model that the group had devised and were recommending for adoption The model had taken into account various costs of operation; including 20 initial drops to individual connections, IP address administration, billing functions, a part-time contents administrator, a loan for capital in order to make connections, and the cost of a leasing program offered by Sprint for the electronic components to be installed in the Sprint Valley Street Office. The only part of the system costs left unfunded by this rate structure was that of the physical cost ($39,400) of the purchase and installation of the 48-strand fiber optic cable along Plumb Alley, Court Street and Troopers Alley. The Town Council had been approached and requested to pay this cost at their meeting of 3 June and had agreed to do so. Jay also stated that they had discovered means of economizing on the number of physical connections, a very expensive part of the Sprint proposal at the previous meeting, that they had decided on 20 physical connections as a more reasonable number.

After the expenses had been included, the revenues to cover the expenses had been derived and these were in the form of projected connection fees and rates NOTE: actual rates were submitted and discussed at this meeting, but have been deleted here since they may have to change as a result of matters discussed later in the meeting.

Jay noted that, to the best of his knowledge, there was no system like this in the world and that there would be a learning curve on Sprint's part, as well as that of the Town and NetAccess.

Jay also presented as part of the committee's report that there were six items to be generally agreed upon as part of the service requirements for users. These are:

  1. The cost expressed for the backbone fiber does not include the possibility of having to replace utility poles.
  2. Sprint will firm up the cost of maintaining the fiber backbone. The cost included in the projected operating expenses appears to be in the range of reasonableness. We discussed insuring the system and recommend against it at this time.
  3. The network will have the ability to transport all types of traffic. At this time, we would price only IP traffic and have customers sign an agreement restricting their use to IP only. We would advise the Town of other potential uses (revenue sources) of the network.
  4. The customer rates, and the costs of maintaining the system, will be set for a 6 month period. The purpose of the 6 month period is to learn what the actual costs will be and what the potential revenues will be.
  5. Stated pole attachments will define the limits of the project.
  6. The general rate structure, level of expenses, method of operation, capital expenditures, as described in the worksheet would be recommended as a basis to work from to further develop the project.

 

With this, Wanda Fritz, Sprint Data Salesperson, discussed Sprint's charges for maintenance of the system. These were set out as follows:
BACKBONE ISSUES
Basis
Rate - first hour
Rate - additional hours
Time & materials $125.00 $75.00
ELECTRONICS
Type
Monthly rental
Free Market Value Lease
Version 1 $1,176.00 n/a
Version 2 $ 860.00 $ 597.00
ELECTRONIC MAINTENANCE
Basis
Rate - first hour
Rate - additional hours
$ 150.00 $ 95.00


Wanda reiterated that this was a best estimate pricing and could change after six months of service. She also explained that the rental rate of the Version 2 electronic equipment ($860/month) included limited maintenance and no ownership of this equipment, but that when this equipment became outmoded, it could be traded in for newer equipment. The Free Market Value Leasing price ($597/month) includes outright ownership of the equipment after 36 months. The consensus of opinion of the group seemed to be to employ the monthly rental rate. Jay Cox stated that in his model he had used an earlier estimate of $750 per month or a total of $ 9,000. The change in rental rates to $10,320 per year would affect the model somewhat and could change the final rate structure.

There followed some discussion of the terms of the model, debt financing and of the changes to the financial picture that the corrected model might show. Ultimately, it was decided that the overall picture would change very little.

On motion of Jack White, seconded by Ray Millsap, the financial plan was approved as presented by Jay Cox, Wanda Fritz and others. This motion passed unanimously.

There was further talk of the financing of indebtedness to be incurred and who actually would apply for and receive these funds. It was hoped that the Town would be able to do this.

Respectfully Submitted,

 


Albert C. Bradley,

Secretary

Go Back