Town of Halifax, Vermont
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES- DRAFT
October 21, 2015
Call to Order
This meeting was rescheduled from 10/14/15. The meeting was called to order at 6:31 pm at the town office. Board members in attendance were Edee Edwards, Jessica Bruno via conference call, Gretchen Becker, and Mary Horne.
Agenda Additions/Deletions
Edwards- add broadband committee contacts and notices under committee purpose, direction and membership
Approval of Minutes
Becker made a motion to accept the minutes of the September 9, 2015 Regular Meeting as written. Horne seconded the motion, which passed 4-0-0.
New Business
VTel experiences from customers
Horne has not received a response from VTel- they opened a ticket but heard nothing back. She has not been happy with her ability to get a response from customer service.
A few people in town have expressed they can not get service even though they are close to tower and below the mountain.
Bruno noted she exceeded the 30GB gold plan limit and got dropped to 3mb download, and 1mb upload. She noted it is still a lot higher than Fairpoint service avail to her.
Committee Purpose, Direction, and Membership
The committee discussed what they should do. We need new members to generate new ideas and bring new energy. What is there a need for? If people are getting service, do we need the committee now? Should we meet less frequently, perhaps quarterly? Some members of the group feel that it is difficult to get the community involved. We chased down grants, got website updated, a Wi-Fi hotspot, had vendors come in. We can still pursue cell phone service grant related opportunities, complete the cell service mapping project, or provide public training on devices as discussed in the past. We have reached out for participation on several occasions and response has been poor. We rarely have any visitors at meetings. The community does not seem use the committee as a resource.
Bruno made a motion to recommend to the Selectboard that the broadband committee be disbanded effective immediately. Horne seconded motion. The motion passed 3-1-0 (Edwards voted no).
It was noted that currently broadband notices and minutes are monitored on the town website by Bruno and Edwards. The Selectboard needs to review the list of people with access to editing the town website and remove any that no longer officially have a role.
Website Updates
n/a
Old Business
Vendor Updates
No updates from Fairpoint or VTA Cellular Resiliency Project.
The Cellular Resilience Project has a deadline in November 2015 for completing infrastructure.
Wi-Fi Hotspot Usage
One user per day average.
Hearing of Visitors
N/A
Adjournment
The meeting was closed at 7:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jessica Bruno