VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 15, 2014
CALL TO ORDER
In the absence of Mayor Mark Berman, Trustee Mark Gaffino called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Trustee Gaffino, Trustee Curtis, Trustee Lowery, Trustee Faber, Trustee Carroll, Trustee Guethle, Village Clerk Lori Murray.
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Bill Hannah, Community & Economic Development Director Mike Toth, Public Works Superintendent Mike Glock, Water superintendent Paul Young, Police Chief Dave Summer, Village Attorney Kevin Drendel, Village Engineer Jim Bibby.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS
Mike Rennels of the Southwest Fox Valley Cable & Telecommunications Consortium addressed the Board and requested they choose to remain with the Consortium. Rennels noted that Stuart Chapman (Municipal Services Incorporated) was in attendance at the Committee of the Whole meeting and is the franchise consultant who has been hired to handle negotiations with Comcast.
DISCUSSION
1. Discussion on the General Obligation Bond Refunding
Dave Phillips and Mark Jeretina of Speer Financial were in attendance. Village Finance Director Bill Hannah explained that the general obligation bond being discussed was for 2008 bond used to substantially fund construction of the police station.
The sale is scheduled for October 20th. The Board can approve the bond ordinance and receive the bids that night. The closing will be in November.
Present value savings should be around $500,000 of savings. Hannah said this is an alternate revenue source and is funded out of the General Fund monies with sales tax revenues.
2. Discussion on Southwest Fox Valley Cable Consortium
Steve Bosco noted that the primary question is how much PEG access the Village Board wants.
Funding – each village pays 40% of its Comcast franchise fees annually to the cable consortium. Since 2008, the Consortium has rebated about 40% of those fees back to the Villages. The Village of North Aurora has paid $82,000 and expects they will be rebated back $31,000. The franchise agreement with Comcast is up for renewal in February 2015. Staff has two recommendations. The first is if the Board wants access to a production studio to give residents and local business the opportunity to create programming or the Village wants to tape meetings, local events and re-air them, Staff would then recommend the Village remain a part of the Consortium and have them negotiate a long-term franchise agreement with Comcast. If the Board has concerns about the money it spends to be part of the consortium, the Village can move forward and re-evaluate the fees after the Comcast agreement has been negotiated. The other option is if the Village Board does not want to have access to the studio and the equipment and ability to air local programming and simply wants channel where the Village would have slides of information on the channel, the Village would have to pay for an outside company to record and provide dvds in order to air a program. Start up equipment would be $25,000 the first year and $10,000 – $15,000 a year going forward.
Trustee Guethle said that he was in favor of Option 1. Trustee Curtis said that the Consortium was founded as a way to leverage negotiations with Comcast or AT&T to improve infrastructure and it has evolved into PEG. Curtis said that after looking at the numbers, at best it’s an underutilized resource and at worst it is a waste of money. The Village receives $82,743 in franchise fees of which it is taking a loss of almost $50,000 a year for PEG access and the Village is not getting a benefit for that money. Curtis added that the money could be used for something better than PEG programming which has a limited audience. Curtis said she spoke with residents in the Village including members of the Mothers Club and most people did not realize the Village had a public access channel.
Trustee Guethle stated that the fee is being paid for by those in the community who have Comcast and that those who do not have Comcast are not paying anything. Guethle added that if the Village decides to go with Option 1, it will allow for negotiation of the fees.
Trustee Carroll questioned why the Village does not use the Consortium services and record and air the Village meetings. Carroll said it is being underutilized and there should be advertisement for the public access channel.
Gaffino agreed that public access is underutilized. Gaffino asked how other villages advertise their channel. Rennels said that we have to do a better job of advertising. Other communities air their high school sports and tape city council meetings. There needs to be advertisement of the channel and televised Village meetings, and the Consortium needs to partner with the Village.
Rennels said they would be open to lowering the cost. Curtis asked about the minimum contribution that would be acceptable, adding that she did not want to commit if there is only a 10% reduction in fees.
Trustee Faber said that if the Village agrees to remain with the Consortium and the Consortium negotiates at a price the Village does not agree with, the Village can walk away. Bosco noted that the contract with Comcast is separate from the involvement with the Consortium. The Village can leave the Consortium down the line and retain the contract with Comcast separately.
Faber said he was leaning toward Option 2, but if the Village decides on Option 1 and can negotiate the fee closer to what it would cost the Village to do this on its own, would lean toward Option 1.
Stu Chapman of Municipal Services Incorporated stated that the Village of Niles’ start up fees ended up costing about $80,000.
Mike Wallace, Comcast Governmental Regulatory Affairs Manager, said they are doing PEG pass-through in Oswego. There would be a 35-cent pass through per subscriber per month.
The Village Board, with the exception of Trustee Curtis, were in agreement to having the Consortium negotiate on the Village’s behalf.
Steve Bosco said he will work with the Consortium on the fee level and get back to the Board at a later date.
3. Discussion on Branding
Steve Bosco addressed the Board regarding creating a new marketing plan which would allow for the Village to create a new motto and logo. Bosco asked the Board for direction on going out for a proposal process. The Board was in agreement.
Staff to move forward with hiring a company to create a new logo and motto for the Village.
TRUSTEE COMMENTS – None
ADJOURNMENT
Motion made by Trustee Guethle and seconded by Trustee Carroll to adjourn to executive session for the purpose of discussing land acquisition and probable litigation. All in favor. Motion approved.
(return from Executive Session)
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Trustee Guethle and seconded by Trustee Faber. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori J. Murray
Village Clerk
