Shutesbury - Leverett - Wendell Broadband Joint Committee Meeting Minutes

May 9, 2006

Meeting opened at: 7:05 p.m. at Wendell Town Hall

Members Present: Robbie Heller, Lisa Hoag, and Robbie Leppzer from Wendell. Plus Weezie (Marie Louise) Houle, Steve Rice, Rob Brooks, Glen Ayers and Frank Citino, from Shutesbury and Leverett

Minutes of: April 16 were approved as presented.

Subjects discussed:

Two additional items added to the agenda and it was approved.
Discussion and presentation of a network tested by Tom Williams who lives on Carter Rd. 802.11A did not work connecting to friend on Pelham Hill Rd. Then they tried 900 MHZ with 4 watts. In winter when 32 degrees & below, they had perfect connectivity. With leaf buds it went dead. Then they upped the power to 200 watts. They have to change the frequency depending upon weather & interference. Maximum thru-put is about 780 – 800 KBS. EIRP is usually limited to 4 watts on a narrow band by commercial vendors. The vendors use a wider band with to spread it wider to cover more people. 80 MH band with. Worse RF performance. He said we have to do extensive testing before we agree to anything. Tom was asked to come to our next meeting.

Lisa Hoag presents shed maps made by AT & T for a proposal to attach cell phone transmitter to tower on Locke Hill. It has been approved by Wendell but is not installed yet.

Pick someone to take minutes (SLBC's turn this time) – Weezie Houle volunteered.

Wireless town arrangements updates:
Robert Heller for Wendell: talked to Myron Becker, Chair of ZBA and Planning Board regarding testing proposed equipment. Seems that it should be ok to test following historical guidelines, etc. He sent his proposal to ZEO, Phil Delorey and is waiting for response.

Weezie Houle for Shutesbury: Several SLWBC members met with the Shutesbury Planning Board after the SLWBC meeting on April 11. Aron presented the idea of testing wireless equipment. The Planning Board indicated that the bylaws do not apply to town buildings and that a test of equipment would be acceptable. Their attitude was surprisingly favorable. It is hoped that this attitude could be forwarded to the other two town's Planning Boards. Aron suggested that Weezie get a copy of the Shutesbury By Laws and share them with the reps form Leverett and Wendell, Rob and Lisa. Attached is the section of the Shutesbury By Law about Telecommunication Towers. The plan is that the reps from each town get together and compare the language from the three towns and then work to convince Leverett & Wendell Planning Boards to interpret their bylaws as Shutesbury's did. Weezie sent Shutesbury By-Laws to the Leverett and Wendell reps after last meeting.

Robert Brooks for Leverett: Nothing – He is meeting w/ Planning Board tomorrow, 5/10.

Robbie Leppzer, from Wendell, presented progress in contacting American Tower who owns Locke Hill tower:
He finally was able to speak with person in charge of making decisions late today. His questions: How long can we use tower for testing. If one week no charge. If longer than a week maybe some fee. Only consideration that an agreement be signed once a vendor is approved for installation of testing equipment concerning personnel liability.

Conversation with Matt Crocker regarding testing equipment: Matt wants to put up antennas that do a 60 degree spread. In order to do a 360 degree spread, it requires someone to go up and turn it six times. Realistically it could take several weeks with volunteers to test all directions. Matt is wiling to invest $5,000. He did make it clear that this equipment works on line of sight, as Tom Williams demonstrated in item one. Rob will contact Aron to arrange for Tom get together with Matt to techno speak together regarding issues of our topography.

Further, Matt would need 30 – 40 subscribers to commit to install equipment on Locke Hill Tower, with a $300-400 per subscriber installation fee. If this would support VOIP, we could possibly improve interest. Matt thought we could get 3MBS or higher per subscriber. Biggest question is if it successful, what will American Tower charge for using tower. Matt will call them.

Timeline for Matt installing testing equipment is this summer – probably July. If it is successful, he would leave the equipment up there and start subscribing people and have Verizon bring a T1 line to the tower. The cost of the test/rental of the tower by Crocker will have great bearing on feasibility.

Hearing back from Wendell ZEO is next. This would affect Wendell and Lake Wyola Shutesbury residents only. Each town has to work with Matt separately due to zoning issues. Tom Williams may be able to offer his tower for a Shutesbury test.

Lisa Hoag regarding Developments re: Mass State Telecommunications Committee:
Robbie Heller got slides as PDF from a presentation regarding the Underserved Communities Pilot Project by PVC (Pioneer Valley Connect). Their suggestion was to install a fiber-optic backbone with spokes. Key feature for Leverett was that it already has a fiber connection already. It will take about $800K to install per town. Shutesbury has a terminal box on Pratt Corner Rd.

Lisa went to the Annual MA Democratic Fundraiser w/one of Kerry's speechwriters. Ben Schwarz a Wendell resident is very motivated to help. Slides from the PVC report were sent to Mark Pacheco and Linda Wick who works for Stan Rosenburg.

We should work on a proposal for Legislature for funding. Make a point of economic development, increase tax base, etc. Maybe send the three town Select Boards to Boston to present.

Status of new members? (Frank and Weezie) Frank and Weezie were both approved by Shutesbury Select Board, but need to be sworn in.

Review of David Scott's draft of Wendell Broadband Mission statement for WBC. The WBC approved it unanimously.

Other business:
Concern of a resident of Leverett regarding health issues of radio frequency pollution.
Tom Williams responded that there are various regulations that manufacturers strive to meet. Most concerns center around heating of the body, although there has been anecdotal evidence that suggests neurological effects (temporary confusion, etc...) can be an issue.

Next meeting: Tues., June 13th Leverett.

Votes Taken:

Special Occurrences:

Walk-In Guests: Tom Williams

Meeting dissolved at 9:00 p.m.

Meeting recorded by: Weezie Houle
Signature of record keeper. (Please also print if signature is hard to read.)