Minneapolis Telecommunications Network
Board of Directors Meeting
Thursday, November 10, 2005

Board Members Present: Kevin Jenkins, Andrew Hedden, Robert Vose, Marido Huber, Tom Cassidy, Floyd Child, Joel Rainville,
Board Members Absent: Tamir Nolley
Ex-Officio Present: Lance Leupold, , Cathy Burns
Others Present: Pamela Colby, Jim Derks, Beth Peloff

Child called the meeting to order at 5:40 PM

I. Opening Business

A. Comments from public and staff. None.

B. Approval of the agenda. Motion to add item D to discuss wi-fi and the city. MSP Hedden, Higginbotham. Motion to add item E to discuss election process. MSP Child, Huber. Motion to approve agenda as amended. MSP Child, Vose.

C. Approval of minutes from last two meetings. July minutes, MSP Vose, Rainville. September minutes, MSP Huber, Hedden.

D. Wi-fi. Hedden asked if MTN is talking to city about wi-fi and if we should be more involved in the process. Colby said that she was told by a rep of a policy think tank that the city has already approved an RFP with an internet service provider. Harrison said that RFP is just for a pilot project. Hedden asked if the board would want to support a municipally owned system and how would that impact our franchise renegotiation. He said that we could have someone at our next meeting to educate us about a municipally owned system. Vose said that it is hard enough to get info from city for our narrow area, maybe not such a good idea to move into a new sector. Hedden said that this decision could have a lasting effect and that because it is a telecom issue it is part of our mission. Higinbotham said that the board should be educated about this issue. Motion to have an informational presentation on wi-fi at January board meeting. MSP Huber, Hedden.
E. Create process for election of officers. Motion to create ad hoc committee to recommend slate of officers for election and transfer in January. MSP Rainville, Higinbotham. A call for volunteers for the committee (traditionally board members who are not on executive committee): Higinbotham to head, Hedden and Jenkins.

II. Reports

A. City of Minneapolis – C. John Harrison was present and spoke. Board terms for Nolley and Huber will expire on January 6, 2006. The city still needs Hedden's signature to make him official on the board. Harrison said he liked the resolution about the state telecom issue (in reference to the resolution the board discussed over the summer). Vose asked about funding for next year. Harrison didn't bring the exact numbers, but said that there is a line item for MTN which still needs to be approved by the city. Huber asked what the number was and whether MTN could expect the additional equipment money, but Harrison did not know the answer to those questions. He said he would look into it.

B. Minneapolis Public Schools – Cathy Burns was present. She introduced herself. On June 1, she started working with the Communication Department of the Minneapolis school district. She will come to MTN board meetings. She has a special two-year contract to do positive PR for the school district. Her focus is media relations, "Area C" schools, and video. She is working on a new show for channel 15. She reports to the Director of Communication. The board members introduced themselves to Burns.

C. Time Warner Cable – Lance Leupold reported
The current number of subscribers is 78,228, up from last report. Time Warner is working with the Minneapolis Foundation on Project 2010, which follows a group of students to see what kind of educational support they are getting and what effect that help has. Time Warner has agreed to provide free high speed internet to the students for a year. Time Warner is also well into its United Way campaign. Vose asked if the city has approved the transfer to Comcast. Leupold said that it hasn't.

D. Executive Director's Report – Pam Colby presented
MTN has a signed copy from Hennepin County for 2006 for a 1-year contract with a 2% increase to tape commissioners' meetings. Hennepin County has also been experimenting with expanding our role with some video production they have been doing internally. MTN has a partnership with Marcy open school for 30 one-hour sessions with 25 students. The classes are being taught by our new youth worker, Lisa Ganser, who we have hired on a part time, experimental basis. Are we making money on this project? Yes. Fanuel Tsehaye is full time now, working at the checkout desk and doing video production. He is a fantastic editor. Todd Wardrope moved to part time. He is working on his MFA in creative writing. There is a good article in the New York Times about what's happening with the federal telecom legislation. There is a frenzy to try to educate folks at the federal level not to take franchise authority and municipal right of way from cities. If that did happen, it would be bad for MTN. We have been working with Time Warner staff to improve our live signal. MTN is having a party on Dec 9. Dec 8 is the next board meeting. Rainville and Colby met with Barb Johnson, Chair of the Ways and Means committee yesterday. Rainville will present report.
Meeting with Barbara Johnson. Colby and Rainville told Johnson that communication with the city has improved since the motion was approved by the city council earlier this year, but it still could be better. They asked about our funding for 2006, wanting to know our status, since the franchise agreement has not been renewed yet. She did not have the budget number.
Huber asked about contacting city council members. Rainville suggested that the Members Meeting would be a good way to do that. MTN staff discussed the issue and they recommend that the Members' Meeting be held in January or February. Colby said that Members' Meetings are at our request. Motion to submit request for the meeting this calendar year with the expectation that it will probably be scheduled for after January 20, 2006. MSP Rainville, Vose.

E. Treasurer's Report
Huber said she would like the Executive Committee to schedule a meeting. Committee members agreed to meet for a few minutes after this meeting. Total revenue year-to-date is $560,000, on budget. Expenses are $529,000, lower that budgeted. Colby will forward a balance sheet to any board member who wants it. Vose asked why training income is so far below budget. Colby said it was because we had to shut down classes to install new editing systems. Demand for classes is up though. Huber asked why "board and staff development" expense is so high. Colby said she will look into it. Probably it is because of the conferences staff has been attending. Rainville suggested that there be a separate line item for conferences.

III. Adjourn
Motion to adjourn. MSP Huber, Vose. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 PM.

Next meeting: December 9