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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/27/1990 COW minutes MINUTES COMMITI'EE OF THE WHOLE SEPTEMBER 25, 1990 I. ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. Present at the meeting were: Mayor Gerald L. Farley, Trustees Ralph Arthur, Mark Busse, Timothy Corcoran, Leo Floros, George Van Geem and Theodore Wattenberg Also present at the meeting were: Assistant Village Manager John Burg, Cable Telewsion Admimstrator Cheryl Pasahc; three members of the press and 40 persons in the audience. II. MINUTES The Minutes of the Committee of the Whole meeting of September 11, 1990 were accepted and filed. III. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD Lois Heitzman, 615 North Forest, was concerned that the Vdlage had not moved forward in trying to address the flooding problems in her neighborhood. She said she had heard there was going to be a meeting between Village officials, Arlington Heights officials and District 214 on September 27, and she asked for information so that she could attend the meeting Mayor Farley asked her to leave her name and phone number so that staff can contact her. IV. SPECIAL CABLE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION HEARING Mayor Farley indicated that appropriate notice for the Hearing was prowded in the newspaper and on channel 63. He also said that Telenois was notified of the Hearing. Mayor Farley then introduced the topic, noting the reasons for the Hearing Cable Television Administrator Pasalic then gave a presentation outlining the problems the Village has been hawng with Telenois/TCI. She noted that last year the Village received 320 unresolved complaints. The Vdlage already has 274 unresolved complaints this year. She said that complaints have been increasing every month since she has been in her position. She asked Telenois/TCI to provide further information on how they keep track of and handle complaints Ms. Pasalic also indicated that phone calls have risen drastically system-wide. She indicated there were over 40,000 phone calls for service during the most recent month. She asked if Telenois can do something to decrease these service calls She also asked for further clarification on how Telenois trains its customer semce representaUves. Ms. Pasalic noted that an engineer who looked at the technical performance of the system was also concerned about this situation. Mayor Farley then opened the floor to comments by the pubhc Fourteen people in the audience spoke regarding the performance of the cable system. The complaints consisted basically of the following: 1. There is a long wait on the phone to talk to customer service. Then it takes a very long time to get a serviceman, usually three to five days. 2. There are frequent picture outages. 3. The picture quahty is very poor. 4. There is sloppy workmanship The servicemen do not bury the cable Debris is often left behind after the job is completed 5. Rates are very high but service is poor. 6 The cable is sometimes improperly installed on the buildings. 7. Bills are mailed late often w~th only one day left to pay the bill Sometimes the bill arrives after the due date. One person said that he had no problems with the service but suggested going to the one cable. Trustee Van Geem then tried to summarize the 19 letters received by people who were unable to attend the Evaluation Hearing. He summarized 14 of these letters but then indicated that the remaining letters were on file with the Vdlage Clerk Basically, these letters were letters of complaint very similar to the complaints lodged by individuals who testified at the Evaluation Hearing However, one letter was from an indMdual who would hke to see a single cable system. Mayor Farley then asked the representatives of Telenois/TCI to make their presentation. System Manager Kelvin Fee gave the presentation on behalf of Telenois/TCI. He noted that the upgrade in the system has caused many problems recently. He noted that some situations beyond their control such as power outages and cables cut by contractors increased during the summer season. He said a sigmficant number of the outages were caused by these two problems. Mr. Fee said his company has hired a full-t~me trainer and is making efforts to improve customer service. He also noted that the rates are close to the national average He said Telenois would be willing to reduce the bill by $2.50 per month ~f they were allowed to go to a single cable. He said that 35% of the service calls are related to the converter box, and he suggested going to the single-cable system thus eliminating the converter box. The Committee asked numerous questions of the System Manager Kelvin Fee. The Committee was very disappointed at the performance of Telenois/TCI. The Committee was concerned about all the problems noted by residents and felt the complaints presented an accurate picture of the poor performance of Telenois/TCI Of particular concern was the failure on the part of Telenois/TCI to address these problems especially in the customer service area Fmlure to submit the proper financial information was also noted. The Committee was not convinced the offer to reduce the rate by $2.50 per month if a single cable system were allowed would benefit the Village and the residents since Telenois/TCI's track record has been so poor and the Village cannot regulate rates. Mayor Farley asked Mr. Fee to meet with Cheryl Pasalic and to work on improving performance during the next 60 days. After 60 days, the Board will again consider the matter to see if there has been progress. V. MANAGER'S REPORT None. VI ANY OTHER BUSINESS There being no further business to come before the Committee of the Whole, the Committee moved on to the next item of business. VII. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 10.25 p.m. Respect,fully submitted, JPB/rcw Assistant Village Manager -3-