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MINUTES OF THE � • <br /> ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING � " , <br /> Monday,March 11,2013 <br /> 7:00 o'clock p.m. <br /> (4. LMCC UPDATE, Continued) <br /> Joe Huber,Executive Committee,noted he has been recently appointed to the LMCC Board. Mediacom, <br /> in attempting to separate the cities from the LMCC, is a validation of the services that they provide to the <br /> constituent cities. One of the absolute top proprieties for the LMCC is to negotiate for further build-out <br /> of services at no cost to the cities. Mediacom has been making money,which is a good thing, but it <br /> should not come at the expense of the cities. The second goal of the negotiations is improved customer <br /> service. <br /> Three of the volunteer executive committee members are computer communications industry executives <br /> with over 75 total years of experience. Even though none of those members are from Orono, it does show <br /> some diversity. <br /> Huber noted consolidated services are not new to the area and that he can remember reading in the <br /> newspaper a couple of months ago about how another city went through negotiations with Orono for <br /> police services and that in his view the cities are stronger if they band together. Cities the size of Orono <br /> cannot provide these types of services at the cost that are currently charged. <br /> Huber stated Orono is a valuable member of the LMCC. In negotiations,the LMCC is looking far ahead <br /> into the future and has included terms in the agreement so that if, for some reason local franchises no <br /> longer continue,the City knows what happens to the money if they agree to some type of debt or money <br /> payment. <br /> Koenecke indicated she did provide some documents tonight as additional information. One is a program <br /> report from the production manager to provide some insight into the programming. The other document <br /> is a summary completed by a consultant hired by the LMCC and encompasses both a community needs <br /> assessment and a technical assessment. The needs assessment included a survey of 300 people with cable <br /> and 300 people without cable. It is a statistically valid survey which was used to justify some of the <br /> priorities and key issues that in their view the LMCC should be looking at. The LMCC then took both the <br /> technical assessment and needs assessment and studied them to determine the priority list. The first <br /> priority identified by the consultants was extending cable to areas currently not being served and the <br /> second priority was customer service. <br /> As far as the LMCC's priority list goes, it was developed through focus groups and the survey. The <br /> LMCC,when they go into negotiations,has to substantiate what they are asking for,which was the <br /> purpose of compiling the reports. Both reports were submitted to the LMCC in their entirety but the <br /> information provided to the Council may not include some of the raw data that was compiled for the <br /> technical report but was summarized. <br /> Koenecke indicated she has been invited to tonight's meeting to go over the LMCC's priority list. <br /> Koenecke stated it is her understanding the city administrator received it prior to the meeting and then <br /> provided that information to the City Council. In addition,the City Council did receive some information <br /> from Mediacom but that she does not plan to analyze that report. If the City Council has questions as to <br /> how the information might relate to Mediacom, she would be happy to answer those questions. The <br /> priorities list has been approved by the executive committee. <br /> Page 2 of 27 <br />