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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.18.2023.telecommunications minutesTELECOMMUNICATIONS UTILITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Harold E. Getty Council Chambers October 18, 2023 4:00 p.m. 1. Roll Call Members present: Van Fleet, Kurtenbach, Young, and Wienands. Absent: Batemon 2. Approval of Agenda. Moved by Young seconded by Wienands that the Agenda, as presented, be approved. Voice - vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. 3. Approval of Minutes. Moved by Kurtenbach seconded by Young that the minutes of October 4, 2023 Regular Session, as proposed, be approved. Voice -vote: Four. Motion carried. 4. Resolution approving preliminary plans, specifications, form of contract, etc. and resetting date of bid opening as November 9, 2023 and public hearing as November 15, 2023, in conjunction with the FY2023 Drops and Installation of a Fiber -to -the -Premise Network, Contract No. 1094. Warren Lyon, Magellan Advisor, explained that the dates of the bid opening and public hearing were changed however the plans and specifications will remain the same. He further provided an outline of how the project will progress. The board members discussed the timeline for the project with Warren Lyon and Eric Lage, General Manager. Moved by Kurtenbach seconded by Wienands. Roll call -vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. Resolution No. 2023-027. 5. Motion approving a Network Engineering Consulting Agreement with Fuse Technic, LLC, of Cedar Falls, Iowa, for an hourly rate of $175 per hour and authorizing the General Manager of Telecommunications to execute said document. Eric Lage, General Manager, provided an overview of the agreement and explained that the purpose of the agreement is to fill in for a staff position that we would be filling in the future. The board members discussed the terms of the agreement with Mr. Lage. Moved by Young seconded by Wienands. Voice -vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. 6. Motion approving a records request policy. Kelley Felchle, Board Secretary, provided an overview of the policy. Moved by Kurtenbach seconded by Young. Voice -vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. 7. Motion approving Change Order No. 2023-0001for a decrease of $2,120,308.32, Change Order No. 2023-0002 for a decrease of $92,826.47, Change Order No. 2023-0003 for a decrease of $878,877.12, and Change Order No. 2023-0004 for an increase of $8,092.00, in conjunction with the Construction of a Backbone and Fiber -To -The -Premise Project, Contract No. 1088. Warren Lyon, Magellan Advisors, provided an overview of the change orders. Change Order 1-3 are for material changes and the fourth is for sales tax for the pre-fab building. Moved by Kurtenbach seconded by Wienands. Voice -vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. Page 2 8. Motion approving an Independent Contractor Services Agreement with SmartSource Consulting, LLC, and authorizing the General Manager to execute said document. Mr. Lage provided an overview of the agreement and shared that his rate would be $135 per hour. Moved by Young seconded by Kurtenbach. Voice -vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. 9. Motion approving a revised Waterloo Fiber Purchasing Policy. Eric Lage provided an overview of changes to the policy. The changes primarily allow for an exemption for purchasing marketing needs to give flexibility to make decisions and spend funds that are within the budget. Moved by Kurtenbach seconded by Wienands. Voice -vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. 10. Motion creating Level 1 and Level 2 Field Technician positions within Waterloo Fiber, and eliminating the Field Locates and Construction Technician position. Eric Lage explained that the original staffing plan called for the Field Locates and Construction Technician position. After discussing with staff he shared that it would be optimal to have cross trained Level 1 and Level 2 Field Technician positions. Moved by Kurtenbach seconded by Young. Voice -vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. 11. General comments from staff, consultants, and board members. Eric Lage, General Manger provided an update on several items. There is a billboard at 4th and Washington, and a dasher board at Waterloo Black Hawks. Amperage is working on press releases and will be sending out a press release regarding our new logo and branding. Tara Thomas-Gettman is working to set up an appearance on the Steele Report sometime in November. He has been working on employee benefits and handbook with PDCM and Kelley. We are looking at sharing a route with CFU where we could possibly put in a CFU conduit and split the cost with CFU. Work continues on the pre-fab shelter, interviews are scheduled for a sales and marketing manager this week, the NOC Supervisor, and field tech position. Mr. Van Fleet questioned if the new branding will be going on the temporary website. Eric Lage confirmed Mr. Van Fleet commented that Amperage would reduce the time to build the new website from 24 weeks to 14-16 weeks. He added that the rates are on the website now as well. Warren Lyon, Magellan Advisors, shared that he did not have any major updates at this time but provided a high level overview of project progress. Board members discussed project progress with Mr. Lyon and Mr. Lage. Chris Wendland, Board Attorney, shared that he has continued to work on an incentive pay plan. Maggie Burger, Speer Financial, shared that in early November there will be conversations with larger lenders outside the regional area, from the east coast that are interested in placing additional funds. She added that they will follow up with the General Manger 10-14 days prior to the next draw before the funds would come. Page 3 Kelley Felchle, Board Secretary, shared that she continues to work with Eric and PDCM on an employee benefits package and handbook. She has been sitting in on interviews and working through records requests. 12. Closed session pursuant to Iowa Code Section 21.5(1) to discuss records which are authorized by law to be kept confidential. Moved by Kurtenbach seconded by Wienands. Roll call -vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. Moved by Kurtenbach seconded by Young to adjourn from the closed session at 5:12 p.m. Roll call -vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. 14. Adjourn. With no further business before the board, it was moved by Kurtenbach seconded by Young that the meeting be adjourned at 5:12 p.m. Voice -vote Ayes: Four. Motion carried. 7(e(Cey rFeCc(Ce Kelley Felchle Board Secretary