09-14-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Thursday, August 24, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 11 of 13 it shuts off again. She said the point is, this is unacceptable, especially in the environment they live in today to tell residents they will come out in a month to see if they can fix it, noting that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be fixed. She said she doesn’t know if the Council needs direction or to look at other options, but many residents are working from home, she can’t be the only one. Seals noted she sees people ranting and raving. Crosby stated he’s had friends and residents tell him they need other people in there. He knows it’s a difficult task and they’ve gotten a lot done in the first terms, but this has got to be something the Council gets accomplished in this term. It’s not that they won’t get it done, they will get it done. He said they need to help get someone else in the City, Comcast or anybody, noting when they’re making Comcast look good, they’ve got problems. Seals noted she had Comcast when she was in St. Paul and she thought it couldn’t get any worse, noting she was wrong. Crosby said he gets it, they are a rural area, but they need to get competition out in Orono and that needs to be one of the major things they work on. Rief said he’s been in contact with a couple of residents on different sides of the City and one emailed Rief a summary of his communications with Mediacom and he needs to chat with Attorney Mattick on whether there’s violation within the franchise agreement. Seals noted she understands that service goes out from time-to-time, but she doesn’t get how the company can say it will be a month before they can come out. Rief stated if the Council gets complaints, please forward them to him as he can get directly to the Senior Vice President and try to address it there. Crosby stated capitalism and competition makes people better. Rief has heard across the board from everyone as far as customer service, Mediacom will come back and do what they need to do within the bounds of the agreement, but he does not think the satisfaction of their service is there. He said he received a voicemail from someone from another company interested in providing internet services so he will set up a time to chat with him and discuss it. Walsh said the Council will see if they call back, noting they’ve had meetings with one of the big ones, and out in Fox Hill around 40 residents paid around $2,000 each to install fiber. Walsh said he met with the company and said Orono could perhaps budget $100,000 a year and do a neighborhood one at a time and start knocking them out and the company was going to call the City back and never did. Walsh stated the company was so excited and then they saw the density and wouldn’t return calls or emails. Printup said it’s worth another shot. Walsh agreed and said it’s frustrating. Crosby said it’s not like the houses in Fox Hill are butting up right next to each other, if the company can get that area done.