Shutesbury - Leverett - Wendell Broadband Joint Committee Meeting Minutes

September 12 , 2006

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

Members Present: Robbie Heller, Lisa Hoag, and Robbie Leppzer from Wendell. Weezie (Marie Louise) Houle, Rob Brooks, Aron Goldman, Stephen Bannasch, Glen Ayers, David Powicki and Dan Mishkind, from Shutesbury and Leverett.

Subjects discussed:

  1. Approved Agenda with additions of number 7, 8 & 9.
  1. Minutes of: June 13 were approved as presented. There were no July minutes as the meeting being cancelled due to a power outage in Wendell from the tornado. There were also no August meeting as there was no official meeting due to a lack of quorum.
  1. Cell tower in North Amherst - Letter to Verizon signed by Shutesbury Select Board may have pushed Verison to install a EV-DO tower. It will be installed in November. The technology will enable air cards to be used with computers. Sprint PCs also uses this technology. David reports he gets 800KB/sec.
  1. Pioneer Valley Connect - PVC has received a JAII Joint Award from John Adams Inovation Ist. to study under-served communities in Franklyn, Bershire and Hampshire counties. It is based on the pilot project done in Leverett and tow other towns. The final plans are not finalized as they don't have $ yet. They want to test at least one or more wireless technologies. Everyone at PVC is gungho to use Crocker. Real world test needs to be done. They are talking about using Meraki technology - a mesh system that is affordable. At last PVC mtg. Aaron offered SLBC research. Once there is a contract, there will be a meeting to discuss real possibilities. Tom Williiams was offered as a local techie who has serious data and he has been in touch with them. Cinda Jones offered her help and she was connected to the appropriate people. PVC will be hosting a series of evening workshops which are going to be held this winter in various town in W. Mass for people interested in learning more about broadband and how it can help their communities and residents.
  1. Wireless town arrangements updates:
    1. Robert Heller for Wendell - no news
    2. Weezie Houle for Shutesbury
      1. The schedule of other Committee Meetings SBLC may want a rep to attend was presented.
      2. Getting notices of our meetings posted on the Shutesbury Calendar website has been implemented.
      3. A notice of our meeting on the bulletin board in Town Hall.
      4. The Shutesbury town web site had the SLBC website listed with an incorrect name. This was corrected.
      5. The Our Town Newsletter is waiting for a submission for the upcoming newsletter. Weezie will submit an article based on info from tonight's meeting and Rob Brooks will edit.
      6. Using the Shutesbury Community Church as a test site: The building still belongs to the congregation and permission needs to be gotten from them.
      7. Our Website was updated with several links. More to be done.
      8. Report on the Wind turbine installation: will nota happen until spring when ground thaws. Possible site for testing wireless equipment.
    3. Robert Brooks for Leverett - He missed the Leverett newletter deadline and will prepare a submission for the next issue.
  1. Crocker wireless update - Nothing is happening. The leaves are turning and it is too late to start testing. Matt Crocker is very busy.
  1. Regarding Nickelsville, Virginia, a town with 435 residents. They installed their very own 22 mile fiber-optic network. TThe project was made possible by a $587,000 federal grant, secured from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Agency, and more than $500,000 from their local Telephone Cooperative. The network is undergoing final testing, and town residents will soon have access to broadband, TV, and phone services via fiber. The cost was about $2M. Discusison ensued as to the feasablility for Shutesbury, Leverett and Wendell to do the same. For further information, see http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/77938
  1. Announcements: Lisa Hoag has resigned and Robbie Leppzer has been installed as the chair of the Wendell Broaddband Committee.
  1. Regarding the former To Do List: Getting written endorsements from committees for web site & general support for PVC. Discussion regarding the reaon for, the type and purpose of and what we would present to these committees. Aaron will craft a master endorsement letter for town committees. Weezie will go to the Shutesbury's Committees to seek endorsements. Weezie and Rob will craft articles for town newsletters.
  1. Rosenberg report: Rosenberg now has reports in the local towns newsletters.
  1. Today's To do list:
    1. Dan will write letter to cable companies in area. Aron to dig a template up for him.
    2. Dan will contact Virginia town to find out more.
    3. Steve will find vendors that claim they have wireless that works and contact David Hunt.
    4. Weezie will contact said vendors to see if they would provide equipment & set them up for testing.
    5. Aron will propose to PVC a coordinated effort (Crocker review technical specs & testing results, full range 
    6. wireless solutions, we help in technical way, vendors lend equipment, locals to do testing)
  1. Other business

Next meeting: Tues, Oct. 10th, Shutesbury Town Hall

Votes Taken:

Special Occurrences:

Walk-In Guests: Bill Irvine from Leverett and Reva Heck from Warwick

Meeting dissolved at 9:00 p.m.

Meeting recorded by: Weezie Houle