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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBC 2024-08-23Town of Dryden Broadband Committee Meeting Friday, August 23, 2024 – Via Zoom Approved Minutes Attendees Graham Dobson – Broadband Committee Mark Wilson – Broadband Committee Tony Salerno – Broadband Committee Dan Lamb – Town Board Tracy Monell – Gleamon Technology Ryan Garrison – HUNT EAS Kate Morseman – HUNT EAS Jeff Smith – Municipal Solutions Eric Beckhorn – Clarity Connect Dave Makar – Executive Director Amanda Anderson – Bookkeeper Cassie Byrnes – Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor Ray Burger – Planning Director Dave Makar called the meeting to order at 10:32am. Introductions – Dave Makar Graham Dobson read the Dryden Fiber Mission Statement aloud: “Our mission is to provide reliable, affordable, high-speed, fiber-based internet access for all Dryden residents. We offer state-of-the-art technology and unmatched customer service.” Graham Dobson gave a review of his experience as a Dryden Fiber customer, stating that he is a “happy customer” and gets responses when he talks to the help desk, doesn’t have to ask for refunds when they are built into the contract, and doesn’t have to wait on the phone for 45 minutes to do something… This is a total change from where he was with Spectrum. Marketing Updates – Dave Makar • Mission Statement o Current: Our mission is to provide reliable, affordable, high-speed, fiber-based internet access for all Dryden residents. We offer state-of-the-art technology and unmatched customer service. o Notes: This is a very “Dryden” specific mission, and with the MIP grant, we want to make sure to expand to support Caroline as well as other potential neighboring municipalities o Proposed: Our mission is to provide reliable, affordable, high-speed, fiber-based internet access for all residents. We offer state-of-the-art technology and unmatched customer service.  Mark Wilson thinks the proposed mission statement is great  Graham Dobson suggested adding Dryden and Caroline to the statement  Dave Makar mentioned that as we continue to grow and expand, and may add more coverage to municipalities bordering Dryden, we will have to continually update the mission statement  Dan Lamb suggested placing a period after the word “access,” which would remove “for all Dryden residents” from the statement  Mark Wilson, Graham Dobson, and Dave Makar all liked that idea Motion: Mark Wilson made a motion to change the Dryden Fiber Mission Statement to “Our mission is to provide reliable, affordable, high-speed, fiber-based internet access. We offer state-of-the-art technology and unmatched customer service.” Second: Graham Dobson All in Favor: Mark Wilson – Aye, Graham Dobson – Aye, Dan Lamb – Aye With no opposition, the motion to change the Dryden Fiber Mission Statement was adopted. • Website Updates o Revised Mission Statement: Now updated and approved o Request Service Form: Added “Town of Caroline” and removed the hamlets (Varna and Etna) as well as Village of Freeville and Village of Dryden; Now limited to “Town of Dryden, Town of Caroline, and Other”; This will help make it clearer as to where people are when they sign up o Request Service: Adding zip code to help differentiate the Freeville and Dryden locations  Graham Dobson suggested asking for the service address (street address, city, state, and zip code) and Dave Makar agreed to make those changes o Map Updates: Adding the Town of Caroline to the map (will all be in orange) in the next 30 days o Managed WiFi Service Page: Build this page out better to help answer a variety of questions about the Plume devices (what the features are, if people should use it, and why they should or shouldn’t use it) o Updates to the Business Class / Business Tiers: Current names are “Residential Silver, Residential Gold, Residential Platinum, Business Silver, Business Gold, and Business Platinum”  As of August 1st – 59 customers are residential and 7 are business, so keeping the residential tier names makes sense, while starting a discussion on re-naming the business tier names to help differentiate between residential and business • Committee members will use the next 2 weeks to brainstorm names • Swag & Apparel o Polo shirts for in-person events and meetings with Dryden Fiber leadership (Broadband Committee members and staff who go on site or door-to-door) o Caps for installation crews (field work or meeting people at their homes or businesses)  Ryan Garrison suggested vests for the field workers with a reflective logo, since they must wear them anyway • Signs o Current sign says, “Your Town, Your Internet” (about 25 of them around town) o Change of Tagline Options:  Option 1: “Keeping It Local”  Option 2: "Local Internet”  Option 3: "Community Internet” o Dan Lamb suggested “Your Community, Your Internet” and removing the Town ownership in our branding  Broadband Committee members agree with this change, and Dave Makar will update signs moving forward • Graham Dobson and Tony Salerno asked if we are committed to doing the entire Town of Caroline, or just the MIP part of it, and will we finish the Town of Dryden before getting to the Town of Caroline (our original promise and mission), because residents will want to know why we are building in the Town of Caroline if we haven’t finished in the Town of Dryden? o Dave Makar answered that the MIP funding covers every household in the Town of Caroline, as to bring broadband to every unserved and underserved home, we pass every other served home; Adding the Town of Caroline also builds out the sustainability of the entire platform for the Town of Dryden because it adds about 1,200 more households who could sign up; It will be close to 80-90% of the Town of Dryden being done when the Town of Caroline is done, and every unserved or underserved home in the Town of Dryden will have service; Everyone in the Town of Dryden who is currently unserved or underserved, will have access through the MIP funding by or before we finish the Town of Caroline • September – December Marketing Plans o Social Media – Instagram, Facebook, NextDoor, YouTube o Website Updates o Email Marketing o New Signage o Public Relations – Press Release on the first 4 MIP customers in the State of NY o Swag (Shirts/Caps) o Live Events in Caroline or Dryden Approval of Monthly Minutes – Dave Makar The draft meeting minutes of May 3rd and May 17th have been provided by Cassie Byrnes and she requested their approval. Motion: Tony Salerno made a motion to approve the meeting minutes of May 3rd and May 17th Second: Mark Wilson All in Favor: Graham Dobson – Aye, Tony Salerno – Aye, Mark Wilson – Aye With no opposition, the meeting minutes of May 3rd and May 17th were approved. MIP – Dave Makar There will be a public hearing a month from now about the MIP grant where they will ask for feedback on the grant from both Town of Caroline and Town of Dryden residents • We have been asked for letters and/or to have people speak at this event who have no broadband options at their home o We currently have 4 from the Town of Caroline and 5 from the Town of Dryden but we need a few more Meeting Reminder – Dave Makar Our next meeting will be on September 6th – Reporting Meeting (we are back to the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month) The meeting adjourned at 11:34am. Respectfully submitted, Cassie Byrnes Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor