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WELCOME AND HAPPY NEW YEAR COMMISSIONER.
WHY NOT? UM, LET'S GO AHEAD AND JUMP IN.
THE THIRD I'M THE CHAIR OF ACUITY TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION.
[CALL TO ORDER]
CALLING TO ORDER OUR REGULAR SCHEDULED MEETING HERE TODAY, JANUARY THE 13TH, UH, 2021.AND, UH, I'LL GO AHEAD AND DO A ROLL CALL BASED ON EVERYONE THAT I SEE HERE IN ATTENDANCE BY NAME.
UH, I JUST SPOKE WITH COMMISSIONER SHELL REINHARDT.
I'M ALSO JOINED BY COMMISSIONERS IN ORDER HERE, UH, ON THE AGENDA, AT LEAST AFTER COMMISSIONER REINHART, WE HAVE A COMMISSIONER MALCOLM MEATS.
WE HAVE COMMISSIONER DAVE FLOYD.
WE HAVE COMMISSIONER SUMIT DASGUPTA AND WE HAVE COMMISSIONER NICOLE THOMPSON.
AND WITH THAT, THEN WE ARE CALLED TO ORDER.
WE'LL BEGIN OUR MEETING WITH CITIZEN COMMUNICATION AT THIS TIME.
NO ONE HAS SIGNED UP, SO THAT'LL BE A QUICK AGENDA ITEM
[1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – December 9, 2020 ]
AND WE'LL PROCEED TO THE APPROVAL OF MINUTES.UH, THESE ARE FROM OUR MEETING THAT WAS HELD DECEMBER THE NINTH.
UH, WE WILL ALL RECEIVE THOSE IN OUR INBOXES.
SO IF YOU COULD PLEASE TAKE A QUICK LOOK AND THEN I'LL ENTERTAIN MOTIONS TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OR ANY CHANGES THAT LEADS ME.
SO I MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES.
I HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES BY COMMISSIONER DASGUPTA.
IF I HAVE A SECOND, THEN WE CAN HOLD A VOTE.
MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MALCOLM GATES.
UH, WITH THAT, THEN WE'LL GO AHEAD AND DO A VERBAL ROLL CALL VOTE ALL IN FAVOR OF APPROVING THE MINUTES AS PRESENTED, PLEASE SAY AYE, AND RAISE YOUR HAND OPPOSED AND ABSTAINING.
THEN THE MINUTES ARE APPROVED, NANO SPOKE SIX ZERO, AND
[2.a. Presentation on ConnectionText ATX (City of Austin: John Speirs and Anilya Krishnan; SpeedUpAmerica: Alexandra Corvello and Matt Sayre) ]
THAT TAKES US TO THEN THE ITEM TWO STAFF AND COMMUNITY BRIEFINGS, UH, TO A, TO BEGIN WITH A PRESENTATION ON CONNECTION TEXT ATX BY, UH, THE CITY OF BOSTON'S, UH, JOHN SPHERES PROGRAM MANAGER AND AMELIA KRISHNA, UH, PROGRAM LIAISON, UH, EXCUSE ME.UH, LISA, UH, VISTA I BELIEVE PROGRAM VISTA IS HER FORMAL TITLE, UM, AND ALSO JOINED BY ALEXANDRA CARVELLO OR AVEO.
I CAN ASK THAT ALEXANDRA, UH, AND, AND THAT SAYER WILL SPEAK UP AMERICA.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING TIRPITZ.
UM, IT'S A PRIVILEGE TO INTRODUCE THIS ITEM.
THIS ITEM IS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE COMMISSION'S COMMITMENT TO DIGITAL EQUITY.
AS YOU ALL KNOW, THE COMMISSION ENGAGED A SPECIAL CALLED MEETING BACK ON OCTOBER 9TH OF 2020 FOCUSED ON DIGITAL EQUITY.
AND THAT MEETING INCLUDED A VARIETY OF RESIDENTS, INCLUDING, UH, THAT RECEIVED, UH, A VARIETY OF RESIDENTS THAT IS THAT RECEIVED SERVICES, UM, POLICY MAKERS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS OF LOCAL NONPROFITS.
AS WE ALL KNOW, THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS UNNECESSARILY ELEVATED THE IMPORTANCE OF SUCH CONVERSATIONS AROUND DIGITAL EQUITY AND THE CONVENING ENABLED THE OPPORTUNITY TO DIRECTLY COMMUNICATE THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF RESIDENTS AND THE PERSISTENT CHALLENGES WITH ACCESSING INTERNET ENABLED DEVICES AND EQUITABLE BROADBAND INTERNET.
THE ACCOUNTS REALLY PROVIDED CHALLENGE DATA POINTS FOR CATALOGING AND POTENTIAL RESOLUTION.
SOME OF THE DATA POINTS INCLUDE, UM, THE LACK OF GEOGRAPHICALLY EQUITABLE BROADBAND AND SUFFICIENT THOUGHTSPOT BANDWIDTH FOR COMMON SHARE WIFI ACCESS SCENARIOS, UM, AND LACK OF, UH, SUPPORT FOR THOSE POPULATIONS THAT EXPERIENCE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE.
THE FINDINGS OF THIS SPECIAL CALLED MEETING ENABLED THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE COMMISSION TO FURTHER DISCUSS THOSE FINDINGS AND, UH, ADOPT THE SPECIAL REPORT ON DIGITAL EQUITY, WHICH IS LINKED ON THE COMMISSION'S WEBSITE, AS WELL AS THE OFFICE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND REGULATORY FERRIS WEBSITE.
THIS PRESENTATION TODAY WILL RESPOND TO THE LACK OF
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GEOGRAPHICALLY EQUITABLE BROADBAND, AND SOME OF THE INITIAL STEPS THAT THE CITY AND ITS PARTNERS AND THE COMMUNITY WILL ENGAGE IN.AND TO INTRODUCE THIS ITEM, EMILIA KRISHAUN, THE AMERICORPS VISTA AND OUR OFFICE WILL INTRODUCE THE ITEM AND THE TEAM HERE TO REPRESENT THE PROJECT.
WELL, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO JOHN FOR THAT INTRODUCTION.
UM, SO WE'LL BE GIVING JUST A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND ONTO OUR CURRENT STEPS WITH CONNECTION TEST ATX AND WE CAN MOVE ON TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
UM, SO YEAH, HERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND AND THE PURPOSE BEHIND THIS INITIATIVE.
UM, SO CONNECTION TESTS ATX WILL BE A SPEED TEST THAT AUSTIN RESIDENTS CAN UTILIZE VIA SPEED UP AMERICA'S PLATFORM.
AND THIS TOOL WILL SURVEY RESPONDENTS VIA WIRELESS AND WIRELINE CONNECTIONS TO TEST THEIR SPEED, BUT THEIR UPLOAD AND DOWNLOAD SPEED, UM, AS WELL AS THEIR ADVERTISED TO BE THAT THEY'RE PAYING FOR INTERNET SERVICE.
UM, AND THIS DATA CAN BE MAPPED TO A CENSUS BLOCK USING AN HTML CODE BY ENTERING AN ADDRESS OR BY USING BROWSER LOCATION, EASING GATEWAY CODE.
UM, AND THIS TOOL CONNECTION TEST ATX WILL WORK IN TANDEM WITH OTHER COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES FROM THE CITY TO GENERATE INPUT, TO SUPPORT AUSTIN'S LEGISLATIVE AGENDA FOR THE UPCOMING STATE LEGISLATIVE SESSION THIS SPRING.
AND THIS TOOL WILL ALSO HELP THE CITY TO ADVANCE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF STUDENTS, COMMUNITY MEMBERS NEEDS, UM, AS WELL TO ADVANCE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SPECIFIC TO DIGITAL ACCESS NEEDS.
UM, SO CURRENTLY WHERE WE ARE IN THIS PROCESS, UM, IS WE ARE CURRENTLY TRYING TO GALVANIZE SOME COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT, UM, TO GET THIS PLATFORM UP AND RUNNING.
SO OUR NEXT INCURRENT STEP THAT WE'RE WORKING ON RIGHT NOW IS REACHING OUT TO SOME DIFFERENT COMMUNITY AND CIVIC HACKER NETWORKS TO DEVELOP A TECHNICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CODING THE TOOL.
UM, SO THERE'S JUST A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND AS WELL AS WHAT JOHN ADDED, UM, I'M INTO THE PURPOSE OF THIS INITIATIVE.
UM, BUT NOW I'M GOING TO TURN IT OVER TO MATT AND ALEXANDRA FROM SPEEDUP AMERICA, AND THEY CAN GIVE Y'ALL A LITTLE BIT MORE OF THE TECH NICKEL SIDE OF THIS, AS WELL AS SOME SUCCESS STORIES THAT THEY'VE HAD AS WELL.
I THINK WE'RE READY FOR THE NEXT SLIDE.
UH, I'M NOT SAYING HERE, AND I'M HERE WITH ALEXANDRA CARVELLO, WE'RE BOTH VOLUNTEERS IN SUPPORT OF SPEED UP AMERICA, AND WE'RE BASED IN EUGENE, OREGON.
SOME PEOPLE CALL OUR NECK OF THE WOODS, THE SILICON SHIRE, AND WE REALLY APPRECIATE BEING INVITED HERE BY AMELIA JOHN AND THE CITY OF AUSTIN'S COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION.
I THINK WE HAVE, UH, JUST UNDER 10 SLIDES, MAYBE SEVEN SLIDES AND, UH, 10 MINUTES OF AGENDA TIME.
SO I'LL JUST MOVE THROUGH THIS, UH, QUICKLY.
AND, AND IF THERE'S TIME FOR QUESTIONS, WE'RE HAPPY TO FEEL THOSE SPEED UP AMERICA IS AN OPEN SOURCE TOOL CODES AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC AND OUT ON GET HUB.
AND IT FACILITATES INDEPENDENT CROWDSOURCED INTERNET TESTS AND COMBINES THAT INFORMATION WITH GEO LOCATION TECHNOLOGY AND REPORTING CAPABILITIES.
SO IT'S REALLY THE COMBINATION OF THOSE THREE CORE CAPABILITIES THAT MAKES IT FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER COMMERCIAL SPEED TESTS THAT ARE OUT THERE.
SO IT NOT ONLY HAS THE SPEED TEST CAPABILITY.
IT ALSO CAN PUT THAT TO THE TEST ON A MAP AND THEN IN ONE CLICK, UH, EXPORT IT AS A REPORT.
SO THIS IS A TOOL THAT COMMUNITIES CAN LEVERAGE AS PART OF THEIR EXISTING DIGITAL INCLUSION EFFORTS TO AFFECT POSITIVE CHANGE.
AND THE GOAL OF SPEED UP AMERICA IS REALLY TO PROVIDE ON THE GROUND TRUTH ABOUT THE INTERNET ACROSS AMERICA.
THE BROADBAND MAPS, UH, THAT ARE OFFERED, PROVIDE TRANSPARENCY, REAL INTERNET SPEEDS, RECEIVED ACTUAL PRICES PAID FOR INTERNET SERVICE, AND ALSO THE LEVEL OF SERVICE EXPERIENCE BY CONSUMERS.
SO TAKEN TOGETHER THIS INFORMATION HELPS GUIDE, UH, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INVESTMENTS AND INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE TO THE PLACES THAT NEED THEM THE MOST.
AND WE ALSO SEE THIS GRASSROOTS APPROACH AS POTENTIALLY A BETTER SOLUTION TO NATIONAL BROADBAND MAPPING THAN WHAT IS CURRENTLY BEING USED BY THE FCC IS LARGELY BASED ON REPORTED SPEEDS BY INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS.
UH, THIS IS A NEWER TECHNOLOGY, BUT DOES DATE BACK A FEW YEARS.
AND THE CONCEPT, UH, WAS ORIGINALLY SORT OF BROUGHT TOGETHER AT A HACKATHON IN SEATTLE WASHINGTON.
AND THEN THE CODE WAS LATER FURTHER DEVELOPED BY A STARTUP COMPANY, UH, CALLED POWER UP LABS IN LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, AND THEN ULTIMATELY PURCHASED BY THE CITY OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, AND OPEN SOURCE TO THE PUBLIC.
AND THAT'S WHERE ALEXANDRA AND I SORT OF COME INTO THE STORY.
SO ALL OF THE CODE FOR THIS TOOL IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND IS FURTHERED
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BY VOLUNTEERS, SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS, AND EUGENE SCALE.IT, UH, ON THE AMAZON WEB SERVICES PLATFORM EXPANDED THE MAP OR ALL OF OREGON LATER WASHINGTON, AND THEN IDAHO SIMILARLY COULD BE DONE FOR TEXAS AND ALEXANDRA.
AND I ARE HERE TODAY TO SEE IF ANYONE WANTS TO CHAMPION THIS EFFORT FOR AUSTIN AND, UH, PERHAPS ALL OF TEXAS.
AND WE'VE BEEN REALLY EXCITED BY THE LEVEL OF ENGAGEMENT THAT WE'VE RECEIVED FROM FOLKS IN YOUR NECK OF THE WOODS SO FAR.
SO WE KEEP COMING BACK AND, AND, UH, THIS IS JUST A REALLY FUN CONVERSATION TO HAVE, UH, NEXT SLIDE PLEASE.
SO JUST A QUICK REMINDER ABOUT WHY THIS CONVERSATION MATTERS.
I KNOW I MIGHT BE SPEAKING TO THE CHOIR HERE, BUT IT'S JUST GOOD FOR US ALL TO SORT OF CENTER AROUND THE WHY OF THINGS.
SO BROADBAND MEANS ACCESS TO EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, EMPLOYMENT, CULTURE, AND ENTERTAINMENT.
AND WE'RE BROUGHT ME IN DOESN'T EXIST.
THERE IS A INVISIBLE BARRIER TO QUALITY OF LIFE.
SO, UH, IN THE PAST, I'VE GIVEN A LONG FORM OF THIS PRESENTATION, PRE COVID.
UM, AND MOST OF THE SLIDES WERE AIMED AT CONVINCING PEOPLE THAT THE DIGITAL DIVIDE WAS A REAL PROBLEM AND A PROBLEM WORTH ADDRESSING.
I THINK WE ALL HAVE HAD THE SHARED EXPERIENCE OF COVID NOW.
AND, AND I THINK MORE PEOPLE ARE ON THE SAME PAGE ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT, UM, DIGITAL ACCESS IS.
SO HOW BIG OF A PROBLEM ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? UH, IT REALLY DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ASK.
THE FCC REPORTS THAT 24 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE US LACK BROADBAND ACCESS.
SO BROADBAND IS, IS MEASURED SPEED OF 25 MEGABIT DOWN THREE MEGABIT UP AND RECENTLY, UH, A DIFFERENT REPORT CAME OUT ONE FROM SO ONE FROM THE PRIVATE SPEC SECTOR IN THE FALL OF 2019.
AND THAT REPORT SHOWED THAT IT WASN'T 24 MILLION AMERICANS THAT LACK BROADBAND ACCESS.
SO HALF OF THE U S U S POPULATION NOT HAVING ACCESS TO BROADBAND.
SO, UH, WHAT YOU'RE SEEING HERE IN THIS THIRD REPORT, THIS REPORT, UH, FROM 2020 SHOWS THAT, UH, IN TEXAS SPECIFICALLY, THAT'S, THAT'S THE BAR CHART RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GRAPH.
THERE'S ABOUT A 10, 10% DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT THE FCC SAYS, UH, TEXAS HAS IN TERMS OF BROADBAND ACCESS AND HOW MUCH, UH, ONE INDEPENDENT STUDY SHOWED.
SO AT A 10% DIFFERENCE, THE TAKEAWAY HERE IS THAT THE FCC THINKS THAT YOU HAVE MORE BROADBAND ACCESS THAN YOU PROBABLY DO IN TEXAS.
AND THIS MATTERS BECAUSE IT AFFECTS HOW MUCH FEDERAL FUNDING COMES TO YOUR STATE TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE.
SO WE TALKED ABOUT THE, WHY NOW THE, HOW, UH, WITHOUT, WITHOUT ACCURATE BASELINE DATA, HOW CAN POLICY MAKERS, COMMUNITIES AND PROVIDERS, UH, DIRECT RESOURCES TO THOSE WHO NEED IT MOST? HOW CAN WE MOST EFFECTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY ADDRESS BROADBAND INEQUITIES SPEED UP AMERICA CAN IDENTIFY DATA DESERTS, ENCOURAGE AND GUIDE INVESTMENT, AND THEN VALIDATE THAT INVESTMENT BY PROVIDING ACCOUNTABILITY BY QUANTIFYING IMPROVEMENTS.
SO WHAT YOU CAN MEASURE YOU CAN IMPROVE, AND YOU CAN MEASURE IT BEFORE AN INVESTMENT, UH, IN A NEIGHBORHOOD OR GEOGRAPHIC REGION, AND THEN YOU CAN DO THE SAME, UH, ASSESSMENT AFTER THE INVESTMENT HAS BEEN MADE.
SO, SO, UH, WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS, UH, SOME SCREEN CAPTURES AND THE, UH, UH, SORT OF, TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN MORE QUICKLY HERE.
UH, SO I'M JUST GOING TO SHOW YOU, UH, SOME DATA, UH, WHAT YOU SEE THERE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE WHEN YOU RECEIVE, UH, A SPEED TEST RESULT.
YOU'RE SHOWING YOUR DOWNLOAD SPEED, YOUR UPLOAD SPEED, WHICH IS INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT WHEN YOU'RE DOING A BI-DIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION.
SO THAT IS TO SAY A TWO-WAY VIDEO CALL THAT UPLOAD SPEED REALLY DOES MATTER, OR IT DIDN'T QUITE MATTER AS MUCH IN THE PAST.
AND THEN THE LATENCY, UH, OF YOUR CONNECTION.
THAT'S THE PING RATE ON BELOW, AND THEN A COMPARISON TO HOW YOU, UH, HOW YOUR SPEED TEST RESULT COMPARES TO, UH, OTHER, UH, SPEED TESTS THAT ARE DONE IN YOUR GEOGRAPHIC AREA.
SO TYPICALLY THAT'S, UH, MOST PEOPLE KNOW THE TERM ZIP CODE.
SO THAT'S A GOOD POINT OF REFERENCE.
YOU DRILL DOWN A LITTLE BIT MORE, A MORE, YOU CAN GET TO YOUR CENSUS TRACT, AND IF YOU DRILL DOWN EVEN MORE, YOU CAN GET TO YOUR CENSUS BLOCK.
SO THIS TOOL HAS THE CAPABILITY TO GEO LOCATE, BE THE CENSUS BLOCK LEVEL, WHICH IS REALLY HELPFUL INFORMATION TO GUIDE
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POLICY MAKERS.WE ALSO CAPTURE SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE PRICE PEOPLE PAY, UM, TO MAKE COMPARISONS THERE.
AND THEN ALSO IT'S IMPORTANT TO MEASURE WHAT, UH, PEOPLE THINK THEY'RE GETTING.
SO THAT IS TO SAY WHAT THEY PAY FOR A CERTAIN SET OF SPEEDS, AND THEN WHAT THEY ACTUALLY GET.
SO THAT'S AN INTERESTING CONTRAST, AND THEN A STAR RANKING SYSTEM TO QUALIFY THE OVERALL EXPERIENCE OF, OF THE SERVICE RECEIVED.
SO, UM, UH, IT'S ONE THING TO TAKE A SPEED TEST, MEASURE YOUR RESULTS, UM, THE ADDED FUNCTIONALITY OF THIS TOOL BEYOND THAT IS AGGREGATED REPORTING.
SO, UM, MAYBE IT'S JUST SOME QUICK COLOR ON THAT.
UM, IF EVERYONE IN AUSTIN WENT TO SPEED UP AMERICA, UH, TOMORROW AND MEASURE THEIR INTERNET SPEEDS, YOU COULD DOWNLOAD THE REPORT THAT VERY SAME DAY.
ANYONE CAN DOWNLOAD THE REPORT AT ANY TIME IT'S FREE, IT'S OPEN SOURCE AND, AND THAT'S SORT OF THE MAGIC OF THIS TOOL IT'S, UM, UH, THERE WHEN YOU NEED IT AND IS AN ADDED TOOL IN THE TOOL BELT OF ANYONE WHO'S DOING DIGITAL INCLUSION WORK.
SO WE'VE HAD REALLY GREAT SUCCESS WITH THIS TOOL AND OREGON IT'S BEEN, UH, USED OR BRAS, RODAN, UH, FEASIBILITY STUDIES OR, UM, INVESTMENTS AROUND THE STATE.
AND, UH, TO ADD A LITTLE BIT MORE COLOR THERE, I'D LOVE FOR, UH, ALEXANDRA TO UNMUTE AND TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT HOW THIS TOOL HAS BEEN APPLIED SUCCESSFULLY.
THANK YOU, MATT, AND, UH, COMMISSIONER CHEERING COMMISSIONER.
SO SOME EXAMPLES OF, UM, CREATIVE AMERICA AND OREGON IS THAT BEAUTIFUL AMERICA PLAYED A REALLY IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE OREGON BROADBAND ADVISORY COMMITTEE, ROBIN DATA COLLECTION THAT WE'LL USE FOR THEIR STRATEGIC PLANNING EFFORTS AROUND STATEWIDE ACCESS TO BROADBAND IN 2020.
AND IT'S NOW BEING USED BY THE COLUMBIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT TO GATHER SURVEY RESULTS, WHICH WILL INFORM THEIR BROADBAND STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE.
THE PLATFORM HAS REALLY HELPED WITH THEIR BROADBAND SURVEY COLLECTION BECAUSE IT HAS ALL THE INFRASTRUCTURE IN PLACE ALREADY, AND THEY ARE NOW ABLE TO DO MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO GET THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS, TO TAKE THE TEST AND ARE HOARDING THE DATA TO SEE WHAT THE CURRENT LABS AND ACCESS IS AT THAT LEVEL.
AND ADDING THAT WITH CENSUS US CENSUS DATA, HELP THEM FIGURE OUT WHERE THE GAPS ARE.
AND ON A LEVEL FOR US, JEAN, AS PART OF LANE COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EFFORT AROUND FRONT-END ASSETS, WE ARE WORKING ON GETTING MORE DATA POINTS IN OUR AREA.
AND STATE OF AMERICA HAS BEEN REALLY GREAT IN HELPING US WITH THAT.
WE HAVE BEEN DOING SOME INTERESTING BACKING CAMPAIGNS, AND ONE OF THOSE CAMPAIGNS IS THAT WE PARTNERED WITH OUR LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT AND HAD OUR STUDENTS THAT ARE DOING REMOTE LEARNING, MEET ME IN OUR, AN INTERNET SPEED TEST ASSIGNMENT.
AND THIS INFORMATION IS REALLY HELPFUL TO GET A SENSE OF WHAT THE STUDENTS ARE GETTING.
AND IF THOSE SPEEDS CAN SUPPORT VARIOUS LEVELS OF REMOTE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY.
AND SO IT'S JUST BEEN REALLY GREAT TO SEE PEOPLE ENGAGING WITH THE PLATFORM AND GETTING MORE INFORMATION AND LEARNING WHAT THEIR COMMUNITIES LOOK LIKE FOR BROADBAND ACCESS AND WHAT THEM AS INDIVIDUALS.
UH, WE'RE READY FOR OUR NEXT SLIDE.
SO, UM, UH, DURING OUR LAST PRESENTATIONS, WE SAID WE WERE LOOKING FOR A CHAMPION THAT WANTS TO BRING THIS TOOL TO AUSTIN WHERE, OR PERHAPS ALL TEXAS.
AND WE THINK WE FOUND ONE WITH YOU GUYS, UH, IN THIS CONNECTION TEST ATX PROGRAM BEING ENVISIONED, UH, WE'RE SUPER EXCITED TO PARTNER ON THAT FRONT.
UM, ALL OF THE CODE AGAIN IS, UH, OPEN SOURCE AND, UH, THIS IS JUST THE ADDRESS THAT IT CAN BE FOUND AT.
UH, THERE'S ALSO A WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE ABOUT THE PROJECT OVERALL, SO, UM, UH, PEOPLE CAN, UH, RESEARCH IT AND LEARN MORE ABOUT IT.
UH, WHAT ELSE? I THINK WE HAVE ONE LAST SLIDE.
THAT'S JUST, UM, OUR CONTACT INFORMATION.
AND THEN, UM, WE'RE HAPPY TO TAKE QUESTIONS, UM, AS, AS NEEDED.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, MATT AND ALEXANDRA AND, UH, DELIA FOR HELPING SEE THIS UP.
UH, I WANT TO BACK UP ALSO, UH, JOHN DID A GREAT JOB OF SETTING
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A CONTEXT FOR THE PRESENTATION TODAY, BUT I'D LIKE TO REITERATE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT JOHN MENTIONED, UH, BECAUSE AS YOU KNOW, UH, MY FIRST INTRODUCTION TO FEED OF AMERICA WAS ON A DECA CALL THAT WE HELD A COUPLE OF WEEKS BACK.AND THAT'S WHEN I IMMEDIATELY STARTED RECRUITING.
YOU TRY JOIN US IN THE WORKING GROUP SESSION AND THEN TO JOIN US IN THE COMMISSION SETTING AS WELL.
AND THE MAIN REASON IS BECAUSE WE ENVISION YOU BEING A GREAT PARTNER FOR PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS IN SERVICE OF OUR MISSIONS, WHICH IS SPECIFICALLY FOCUSED ON BRIDGING THE DIVIDE AND HELPING TO GET THROUGH SOME OF THESE HISTORICAL LEGACIES THAT WE'VE HAD TO DEAL WITH HERE.
AND THE PLAN IS VERY STRAIGHTFORWARD AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED TO FIND A WAY TO INTEGRATE THIS SPECIFIC SURVEY POINTS FOR YOUR SERVICES FOR SPEED OF AMERICA, INTO THE RESIDENTIAL STUDY AND MORE AS A FUNCTION OF THIS CONNECT ATX PROJECT, UH, WHICH IS BEING, UH, ROLLOUT.
SO, UH, WITH THAT, I WOULD LIKE TO OPEN IT UP TO, UH, IF THERE'S ANYONE AT JOHN OR OTHERS WOULD LIKE TO ADD TO WHAT HAS BEEN STATED AT THIS POINT.
OTHERWISE I'D LIKE TO OPEN IT UP TO THE COMMISSION, UH, TO ASK QUESTIONS.
AND I WANT TO ALSO TO BE CLEAR, UH, BECAUSE WE DID ACTUALLY HAVE A, YOU KNOW, A WORKING GROUP SESSION, UM, WHERE SEVERAL OF US, JUST A HANDFUL OF US GOT A CHANCE TO REALLY ENGAGE AND ASK QUESTIONS.
UH, SO I'D LIKE TO BEGIN BY GIVING THOSE THAT HAVEN'T HAD A CHANCE TO ENGAGE WITH SPIRIT OF AMERICA, A CHANCE TO ASK SOME QUESTIONS, UH, UNLESS THERE'S ANYTHING ELSE THAT JOHN OR CITY STAFF WOULD LIKE TO ADD.
OKAY, WELL WITH THAT THEN, UH, I'D LIKE TO GIVE, UH, COMMISSIONERS, UH, REINHART, UH, COMMISSIONER THOMPSON AND, UH, COMMISSIONER FLOYD, A CHANCE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS BECAUSE I KNOW COMMISSIONER SCOOPED UP MR. UTES, JAKE AND I WERE ON THE CALL WITH, UH, SPEED OF AMERICA.
SO WHEN THIS GOT ROLLED OUT IN OREGON, HOW, HOW WAS THE, HOW WAS THAT IMPLEMENTATION DONE? HOW, HOW DID YOU GET PEOPLE TO GO TO THAT TOOL AND MAP THEIR, THEIR DATA? SURE.
SO, UM, I THINK THERE'S TWO PARTS TO THAT ANSWER.
INITIALLY, WE DID SOME FACEBOOK PROMOTION AND PUT IT OUT THERE AND, AND, UH, WHAT WE LEARNED WAS, UM, PEOPLE WERE VERY CURIOUS ABOUT THEIR INTERNET SPEEDS AND, AND BEING ABLE TO QUANTIFY IT.
WE ALSO FOUND THAT, UM, BECAUSE IT WASN'T A BRAND NAME THAT THEY WERE FAMILIAR WITH, THEY WEREN'T SURE ABOUT, UM, UH, USING IT, LIKE WHAT, YOU KNOW, WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE INFORMATION GATHERED? AND WHILE IT DOESN'T GATHER ANY PERSONAL PEOPLE, PERSONAL, PERSONAL IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION, PII, UH, YOU KNOW, IT DOES ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT LIKE, HEY, IS YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION WIRED OR WIRELESS? AND, AND SO IT BEGS THE QUESTION, LIKE, ARE THEY SELLING SOMETHING WHICH WE'RE NOT, BUT, YOU KNOW, THAT'D BE A NATURAL QUESTION.
SO OUT OF THAT, WE LEARNED THAT, UM, PERHAPS A BETTER APPROACH TO PROMOTION IS THROUGH TRUSTED PARTNERS.
SO LOCAL, UH, LOCAL COMMUNITY GROUPS.
AND WE'VE SEEN THAT PLAY OUT WITH TEACHERS AND THEIR STUDENTS WITH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONALS AND THEIR LOCAL DISTRICTS.
SO IT SORT OF BECOMES AN EXTENSION OF TRUST.
LIKE, HEY, YOU CAN USE THIS TOOL TO MEASURE YOUR INTERNET SPEED.
AND THIS IS WHAT WE'RE, WHAT INFORMATION IS BEING CAPTURED.
AND THIS IS HOW WE'RE USING IT.
AND ULTIMATELY THE WAY WE'RE USING IT IS TO ADVOCATE FOR MORE INVESTMENTS TO BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE.
SO, UM, THIS WORKS BECAUSE IT IS PROMOTED BY INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE TRUSTED IN THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITIES.
AND SO THAT THAT'S SORT OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE PROMOTION AND HOW PEOPLE COME TO FIND IT AND, UH, MEASURE THERE'S SPEED RESULTS.
SO PEOPLE ARE TAKING THIS TEST, UM, UH, EVERY SINGLE DAY, UM, DIRECTLY FROM SPEED-UP AMERICA.
AND THEY'RE ALSO TAKING THE TEST, UH, AT GOOGLE.COM.
IF YOU SEARCH THE KEY PHRASE, UM, INTERNET SPEED TEST, AND YOU DO A SPEED TEST THAT WAY DIRECTLY IN YOUR BROWSER, IT ALSO CAPTURES A SPEED TEST THAT GOES INTO THE SYSTEM.
THE DIFFERENCE WITH THAT APPROACH IS IT DOESN'T PROVIDE VERY SPECIFIC GEOLOCATION.
UM, BUT WE DO CAPTURE THE DATA AND DO REPORT IT OUT ON THE MAP.
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DOES THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION? COMMISSIONER REINHART? YES.UM, I HAVE ONE OTHER ONE REAL QUICK.
SO, UM, W WERE THERE ANY IMPLICATIONS FOR THIS? SO IF YOU GOT, IF YOU'RE BEING CHARGED MORE THAN YOU WERE REALLY GETTING, WERE THERE ANY, UM, IMPACTS TO BILLING OR WERE CONSUMERS ABLE TO USE THAT DATA TO LEVERAGE BETTER PRICING ALEXANDER, DO YOU WANT TO SPEAK TO THAT AS IT RELATES TO THE EFFORTS AROUND THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO HELP BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE AND, AND THEIR EFFORTS TO, UH, ROLL OUT SUBSIDIES AND THAT SORT OF THING? YEAH, DEFINITELY.
SO PART OF IT IS, UM, AROUND THE QUESTION OF, YOU KNOW, LIKE WHAT IS ACTUALLY INFLUENCING YOUR CURRENT STREAM.
SO THERE IS AN THANK YOU PAGE THAT WE HAVE THAT HELPS TO EXPLAIN SOME OF THE DISCREPANCIES THAT HAPPENED BETWEEN, UM, WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AND WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING.
SO SOMETIMES THERE'S ISSUES OF OLDER MONITORS OR ROUTERS THAT HAVE CAUSED ISSUES TO SLOWING DOWN THAT SERVICE THEY'RE PAYING FOR THE HIGHER SERVICE, BUT THEY'RE NOT GETTING THAT ACTUAL SERVICE IN REAL LIFE.
UM, SO THE THERE'S BEEN AN EFFORT FROM OUR LOCAL SCHOOLS, AND I THINK WE'LL ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TO HELP MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE, INDIVIDUALS MONITORS ARE UP TO DATE, AND IF THEY DON'T HAVE A MONITOR OR IF THEY DON'T HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY, UM, ABILITIES THAT THEY ARE THEN GIVEN RESOURCES TO HELP SUPPORT THOSE.
SO THAT IS SOMETHING THAT HAS HELPED, THERE HAS BEEN, UM, THE MOVEMENT AROUND MAKING SURE THAT INDIVIDUALS KNOW YOU CAN CALL YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER AND SEE WHAT MIGHT BE THE ISSUE.
AND HOPEFULLY THROUGH THAT FEED, THERE'S ALSO BEEN EFFORTS ON THE LIKE CITY LEVEL WIDE.
UM, MATT HAS AN EXAMPLE FROM, UH, LAKEVILLE WHERE THEY FLAGGED THAT A CERTAIN AREA WASN'T GETTING THE SEEDS THAT IT WOULD BE GETTING.
AND THEY WENT TO THAT PROVIDER AND SAID, HEY, IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE NOT HAPPY.
SAY THEY ARE, WHERE CAN WE PARTNER AND HELP IMPLEMENT THESE NEEDS FOR THIS COMMUNITY? AND IT RESULTED IN, IN THAT COMMUNITY AND GETTING THE SERVICE THAT THEY NEEDED TO BE A PART OF THE 21ST CENTURY.
COMMISSIONER REINHART, COMMISSIONER FLOYD.
DID YOU HAVE A QUESTION OR COMMISSIONER THOMPSON? I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING ADDITIONAL TO ASK RIGHT NOW.
JUST THE LAST COUPLE OF QUESTIONS WERE GREAT.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON HAVE A QUESTION AT THIS TIME.
NOT HAVE A QUESTION IF THAT'S OKAY.
I BELIEVE COMMISSIONER DOES SPEAK TO, UH, HAVE A QUESTION FOR 24 MILLION PEOPLE WITHOUT PROPER BROADBAND SERVICE, BUT THEN MICROSOFT SAYS WAS 162 MILLION.
UH, DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE EXPLANATION IS FOR THE HUGE DISCREPANCY DISCREPANCY THAT 24 MILLION SUGGESTS THAT MAYBE THESE ARE, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT IN THE FARMS WHERE IT'S HARD TO STRING A WIRE ALL THE WAY, JUST ONE FAR AS OPPOSED TO DOWN IN THE CITIES, BUT HUNDRED AND 62 MILLION, SINCE THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE IN THE CITIES THAT ARE WITHOUT REASONABLE BROADBAND.
SO HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE DISCREPANCY, A POINT OF CLARIFICATION COMMISSIONER, CAN YOU CONFIRM WHAT YOU'RE QUOTING FOR, UH, FOR THAT SENTENCE? UH, THIS IS THE STATEMENT THAT I HEARD MATT MAKE EARLIER THAT, UH, THERE IS SOME, IT WAS 24 MILLION PEOPLE ARE WITHOUT PROPER RED BROADBAND.
WHEREAS MICROSOFT HAS COME UP WITH A NUMBER OF HUNDRED AND 62 MILLION PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY WITHOUT A SUITABLE BROADBAND.
SO I'M TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE DISCREPANCIES, WHAT ARE THE, WHAT ARE THE GROUND RULES THAT MAKES THIS DIFFERENCE? I MEAN, IS THERE AN EXPLANATION FOR IT? RIGHT.
ALSO, I WAS JUST TRYING TO GAIN VERIFICATION FOR WHEREVER THE MICROSOFT QUOTE CAME FROM ON CONNECTIVITY.
SO WE GOT THAT AS A POINT OF REFERENCE, BUT I THINK, UH, THEY COULD PROBABLY TAKE THAT IN A MOMENT THAT, YEAH, SO, UH, I'M HAPPY TO TRY AND FEEL THAT ONE.
AND I'M ALSO HAPPY TO PROVIDE A LINK TO THE REFERENCE MICROSOFT ARTICLE,
[00:30:01]
WHICH WAS IN POPULAR MEDIA AND NOT ON AN OBSCURE WEBSITE.AND IT WAS A, AN OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FROM MICROSOFT DIRECTLY.
SO, UM, THE HISTORICAL APPROACH TO BROADBAND MAPPING FROM THE FCC HAS BEEN ONE BASED ON REPORTED, UH, SERVICE AREAS AND REPORTED SPEEDS.
AND SO, FOR EXAMPLE, WHAT CAN HAPPEN IS THAT A ISP CAN HAVE ONE PERSON CONNECTED, ONE HOUSEHOLD CONNECTED IN A CENSUS TRACT, AND THAT COUNTS AS, UM, EVERYONE BEING ABLE TO BE SERVED IN THAT CENSUS TRACK.
UM, AS YOU KNOW, COMMISSIONER, UM, THERE, THERE'S A, UM, A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION ON, ON HOW, UH, WHAT THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT ARE.
SO, UM, THERE WOULD OBVIOUSLY BE A CAPITAL COST ASSOCIATED WITH SERVING OTHER HOUSEHOLDS IN THAT CENSUS TRACK.
UM, AND THOSE CAPITAL COSTS TO CONNECT INDIVIDUAL HOUSEHOLDS MAY BE, UM, THE BURDEN MAY BE PUT ON A HOUSEHOLD.
SO IT IS ACCURATE TO SAY THEY COULD GET BROADBAND ACCESS, BUT THE COST OF DOING SO IS PROHIBITIVE.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, UM, TO BRING IT DOWN THE STREET MAY COST $5,000, WHICH IS FOR MOST AMERICANS, UM, VASTLY TOO EXPENSIVE TO BE CONNECTED.
SO IT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CAN BE CONNECTED AND CAN AFFORD TO BE CONNECTED.
UM, AND THAT PLAYS INTO THE, THE DIFFERENCES AND THE DEFINITIONS, AND THEN ULTIMATELY THE TOTAL NATIONWIDE ASSESSMENT.
UM, THE SECOND QUESTION I HAVE IS, AS FAR AS THE TEST IS CONCERNED THAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, I THINK I MENTIONED IT DURING THE WORKING GROUP CALL THAT WHEN I MEASURED AT ABOUT ONE 30 IN THE MORNING, SINCE I'M A LEAD TO BEDTIME, IT IS BLAZING FAST.
I MEAN, I SIGNED UP FOR 200 MEGABIT SERVICE AND I GET ABOUT 170 AND DIFFERENCES.
IF I GRADE MEMOS GET CLOSE TO 200, BUT IF YOU MEASURE IT ABOUT 10 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING, IT DROPS TO 120, 110, SOMETIMES A HUNDRED.
SO THERE'S QUITE A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN 170 AND A HUNDRED.
AND IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LOGGED IN BECAUSE IT'S AT ONE WIRE GOING DOWN THE STREET AND EVERYBODY'S STOPPING OFF IT.
AND IT BEING, IT'S A DROP NETWORK.
SO IF I'M AT THE END OF THE STREET, WHICH I AM TOWARDS THE END OF THE STREET, I AM THE LAST MINUTE JUST ABOUT.
SO DEPENDING ON WHEN JUST IT CAN GIVE YOU A TOTALLY DIFFERENT ANSWERS.
SO DO YOU HAVE, WHEN YOU RUN THESE TESTS, DO YOU TELL PEOPLE RUN IT, THESE ARE THE PREFERRED TIMES, LIKE SAY IN THE EVENING, FOR INSTANCE, WHEN EVERYBODY'S LOGGED IN, KIDS ARE FREE TO DO THEIR HOMEWORK.
YOU KNOW, ADULTS ARE TRYING TO CATCH UP ON THE NEWS AND EMAIL, ET CETERA.
SO DO YOU ALSO RECOMMEND CERTAIN TIMES? YEAH.
AND SO I, I THINK, UM, I'LL, I'LL ANSWER THAT WITH, UH, TWO POINTS.
THE FIRST IS, UM, IF YOU WERE TO TAKE YOUR PROVIDER'S WORD FOR IT, UM, YOU WOULD, THEY WOULD LIKELY REPORT, YOU WOULD EXPERIENCE ABOUT 200 MEGABITS ALL THE TIME.
UM, WHAT YOU'RE SAYING IS, IN THE BEST OF TIMES, WHEN YOU MEASURE YOUR SPEEDS, YOU GET SOMETHING LESS THAN THAT.
AND THEN IN THE WORST OF TIMES YOU GET SOMETHING SIGNIFICANTLY LESS THAN THAT.
SO THEY'RE IN LIVES SORT OF THE, UM, ON THE GROUND EXPERIENCE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE TRUTH OF WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING ON THE GROUND RELATIVE TO WHAT'S ADVERTISED BY YOUR PROVIDER TO BE PROVIDED THERE.
SO THERE'S A DIFFERENCE THERE, UM, AS IT RELATES TO, UM, ACCURATELY REPORTING, UM, UH, WHAT THE TRUE MEASURE IS ON THE GROUND, THAT TO SOME EXTENT IS OVERCOME BY HAVING A LOT OF DATA POINTS.
AND WE SAY, HOW MANY DATA POINTS ON A GIVEN CENSUS BLOCK OR TRACK ARE OBSERVED? SO IF YOU JUST HAVE ONE POINT OF REFERENCE, YOU NEED TO TAKE THAT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT.
THIS IS JUST ONE OBSERVATION, ONE TEST, OR THAT CENSUS BLOCK.
HOWEVER, UM, WHEN WE PULL IN THE DATA FROM GOOGLE AND MEASUREMENT LAB, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SPEED TESTS FROM ALL, ALL TIMES OF THE DAY.
UH, AND THEN WE GIVE THE MEDIAN RESULTS AND WE SAY, HEY, THERE WERE 40,000 CASTS TAKEN IN THIS, UH, CENSUS TRACK.
AND THE MEDIAN DOWNLOAD SPEED WAS X, THE MEDIAN UPLOAD SPEED WAS Y SO, SO WE WERE TRANSPARENT IN HOW MANY TESTS ARE TAKEN THERE AND WE'RE TRANSPARENT IN HOW WE CALCULATE A MEDIAN.
THE QUESTIONS, UH, COMMISSIONER YATES.
UH, DID YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? YES.
[00:35:01]
YOU MENTIONED THAT WE COULD NOW DOWNLOAD A REPORT IF ANYONE HAD ACTUALLY DONE THIS TEST HERE IN AUSTIN OR SOMEWHERE IN TEXAS.UH, CAN WE FILTER THIS REPORT SO THAT WE ONLY GET THE TEXAS OR THE AUSTIN RESULTS? ABSOLUTELY.
UM, I THINK IN THE REPORT NOW IT DOES CAPTURE ZIP CODE.
UM, CERTAINLY IT CAPTURES THE NAME OF YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER, IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE EXCEL.
IT'S AS SIMPLE AS SETTING UP AN EXCEL FILTER TO, TO BUILD THEIR, THAT DATA.
UM, THE WORK AHEAD TO ENGAGE THE TECHNICAL GROUPS THAT JOHN REFERENCED WOULD, UH, ENABLE THE TEST TO ALSO CAPTURE THE CENSUS BLOCK GEOGRAPHIC TAG.
SO THAT WOULD BE THE EFFORT OF THE LOCAL TECH FOLKS ON THE GROUND.
THERE IS TO ADD THOSE ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTES, WHICH WE ALREADY HAVE FOR OREGON, UM, ADAM AS FUNCTIONALITY, UH, LOCALLY THERE FOR AUSTIN.
SO I'M LOOKING AT YOUR ACTUAL WEBSITE HERE AND YOU GOT ALL THE DATA MAPPED FOR WASHINGTON AND OREGON.
AND IS THERE A WAY THAT WE CAN JUST DOWNLOAD THE, UH, THE INFORMATION IN A SPREADSHEET OR SOMETHING FOR AUSTIN? YEAH, SURE THING.
JUST SCROLL DOWN AND THEN KEEP SCROLLING DOWN A LITTLE BIT FOR THERE'S A BLUE BUTTON JUST BEFORE YOU GET TO THE BOTTOM, IT SAYS EXPORT DATA, LET'S CLICK THAT, IT'LL START THE CVS FILE, WHICH IS COMMA SEPARATED FILE.
AND YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO OPEN IT IN EXCEL OR A WORD, A WORD PROCESSING, EXCEL SPREADSHEET, LIKE APPLICATION OF YOUR CHOICE.
LET'S SEE THE EXPORT DATA BUTTON.
SO THIS DOWNLOADS EVERYTHING FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, OR CAN WE BE SELECTED? IT DOWNLOADS ALL OF THE TEST RESULTS THAT, UH, INITIATED ON SPEED UP AMERICA.
IT DOES NOT DOWNLOAD THE, UH, SPEED TESTS THAT WERE INITIATED BY GOOGLE.COM, UH, BY WAY OF M LAB.
SO, UM, UH, AND IT'S A ROLLING 13 MONTH LOOK BACK, SO IT CAN BE A LARGE FILE.
THAT WOULD BE A GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE IF WE HAD, UH, THAT MANY SPEED TESTS, UH, THERE IN TEXAS.
UM, BECAUSE THEN WE WOULD GET TO CLOSER TO, UM, YOU KNOW, UH, STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT MEDIAN SPEEDS, UM, AS COMMISSIONER GROUP TO MENTION.
BUT WE CANNOT, UH, LIMIT THE, UH, THE DATA BEING DOWNLOADED TO JUST TEXAS.
WE'VE GOT TO TAKE IT ALL AND THEN FILTER IT OURSELVES.
WELL, LET ME SPEAK TO THAT BECAUSE I THINK WHAT WE HAVE TO RECOGNIZE IS WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE THAT THAT'S, UH, UH, UH, THAT WATER HOSE, RIGHT? I MEAN, IDEALLY WE'RE GOING TO ENGAGE IN A CAMPAIGN, UH, THROUGH THE CONNECTION, UH, HEX, UH, TO CONNECT CONNECTION TEXTS.
ATX THAT ALLOWS US TO THEN FILL OUT A SURVEY FROM, FROM, YOU KNOW, IDEALLY EVERYONE IN THE CITY.
I MEAN, EVERYONE, PARTICULARLY IN THE, OUR AFFECTED COMMUNITIES, UH, AND THEN LIKE, UH, HE SUGGESTED THAT IT'S JUST A MATTER OF DOWNLOADING IT, YOU KNOW, A TABLET LIMITED, YOU KNOW, FILE WITH EXCEL AND THEN PUTTING THE FILTERS FOR ZIP CODE AND THEN PAIRING IT DOWN.
UH, BUT THAT WOULD BE A NICE PROBLEM TO HAVE I HAVE ONE MORE QUESTION.
UH, THE QUESTION I HAVE IS, YOU KNOW, EVER SINCE WE HAD OUR LAST DISCUSSION WORKING GROUP LEVEL, I SENT IT HOTEL.
AND IF EVERYTHING FELL INTO PLACE, THAT NOTE, THAT REQUEST TO RUN TESTS SHOULD HAVE GONE TO ONE 50,000 PEOPLE.
AS SOON AS I SENT IT OUT, I STARTED GETTING RESPONSES SAYING, HERE'S THE TEST, HERE'S THE TEST, HERE'S A TEST.
I STARTED GETTING AN EMBEDDED, THAT'S IT? YOU DON'T HAVE TO GENERATE IT, JUST TAKE THE TEST AND THE LOG RECORDING.
SO FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW, HAVE YOU SEEN IT UPTAKE TAKING TESTS FROM AN AUSTIN AREA? YOU KNOW, THE ZIP CODE? SO I JUST DOWNLOADED THE CSV FILE MYSELF, UH, JUST HERE IN THE LAST FEW MINUTES, I DO SEE, UM, UH, TESTS TAKEN THAT ARE CLEARLY FROM THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
AGAIN, I KNOW THAT BECAUSE I CAN SEE THE NAME OF THE ISP.
I ALSO CAN SEE THE ZIP CODE WHEN I CAN'T SEE AS THE CENSUS BLOCK AND TRACK, BECAUSE WE WOULD NEED TO ADD THAT TOGETHER.
UM, UH, OR THE RULING LOOK BACK ON
[00:40:01]
TEST, SPECIFICALLY DONE FROM SPEED OF AMERICA.UH, THERE ARE 890 TESTS, UM, AND YOU KNOW, ROUGHLY, UM, 15 PEOPLE TAKING IT A DAY.
UM, I DID WANT TO FOLLOW UP ON THEM, UH, UH, ON THE PREVIOUS QUESTION, UM, AS WE WORK TOGETHER WITH YOUR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY, YOUR LOCAL TECH FOLKS, IF YOU WANTED, YOU COULD ADD A STATE FILTER DOWN THERE BY THE EXPORT DATA BUTTON.
SO IT WOULD THEN BECOME A TWO CLICK PROCESS.
FIRST, YOU WOULD SELECT, YOU KNOW, IT'D BE AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF STATES, YOU SELECT TEXAS, THEN YOU CLICK THE EXPORT DATA THAT COULD ABSOLUTELY BE A FEATURE ADDED OVER A WEEKEND, UH, AT A HACKATHON THAT YOU GUYS DO LOCALLY THERE IN AUSTIN.
SO THIS IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND IT CAN BE, UM, UH, CHANGED BY TECHNICAL FOLKS WHO WANT TO DO, UH, VOLUNTEERING, JUST LIKE ALEXANDRA.
I HAD ONE MORE QUESTION PLEASE.
AND THAT CONCERNS THIS CONNECTION TEST APX, DOES THAT HAVE A WEB PRESENCE YET, OR THIS IS STILL IN THE WORKS? WELL, I'LL START OUT TO RESPOND WITH THAT.
WE, UH, SO STAFF WANTED TO PRESENT THE PROJECT TO THE COMMISSION TONIGHT AND FROM THIS PRESENTATION, UM, THERE IS WORK UNDERWAY TO, UH, PUBLISH THE PROJECT AND HAVE A WEB PRESENCE AND CONTINUE THE ADVOCACY TO, UH, CONNECT WITH OUR CIVIC HACKERS AND THOSE WITH THE IT SKILLS TO HELP WITH THE BACKEND TO MAKE THIS A REALITY IN AUSTIN.
UM, SO IT'S ACTUALLY A GOAL THIS WEEK TO PUBLISH THAT WEBSITE, UM, AS AN OUTCOME FROM THIS PRESENTATION.
SO WE WILL FOLLOW UP WITH THE URL ACCORDINGLY.
I HAVE A FOLLOW-UP QUESTION ALONG THOSE LINES, UH, IS, UH, THE CONNECTION TEXT ATX, WAS THAT, UH, A NAME THAT, UH, CT N 3D TECHNOLOGY CAME UP WITH? SURE.
UM, WE FELT IT WAS IMPORTANT TO, UM, BRAND THIS PLATFORM FOR AUSTIN AS IT HELPS BRING RELEVANCY TO THE PROJECT.
UM, BUT WE ABSOLUTELY WANT TO RECOGNIZE THAT THIS IS BEING RUN ON THE SPEED OF AMERICA PLATFORM, AND WE, UH, WILL INCLUDE SUCH LANGUAGE WITH ALL OF OUR MESSAGING.
UH, HOWEVER IT RESONATES, UH, WITH THE COMMUNITY.
IF WE ARE ABLE TO REALLY SPEAK TO WHAT THIS, THIS TOOL IS TO, TO ATX COOL.
AND JESSE RODRIGUEZ HERE, STAFF LIAISON, I JUST WANTED TO ACKNOWLEDGE A TYPO ON THE AGENDA IT'S CONNECTION TEST T E S T.
THAT MAKES A WHOLE LOT MORE SENSE, UH, OR THAT'S EVEN COOLER.
SO I HAVE ONE MORE QUESTION HERE, AND THAT MIGHT BE FOR LATER.
THIS QUESTION MIGHT BE FOR LATER IN THE AGENDA, BUT, UH, THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE IS GOING TO BE CONTRIBUTING SOME BILLS ABOUT RURAL ACCESS.
AND ARE WE GOING TO HAVE ENOUGH TEST RESULTS IN ORDER TO MAKE ANY KIND OF, UH, EFFECTIVE, UH, KIND OF INITIATIVE WITH THE LEGISLATURE DURING THIS SESSION? WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT A COUPLE OF YEARS, UH, COMMISSIONER YATES WITH REGARDS TO THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION THAT HAS, UH, COMMENCED THIS WEEK.
UM, THIS TOOL PROVIDES A POINT OF REFERENCE WITH REGARDS TO AUSTIN'S, UH, BROADBAND NEEDS, UM, AND SOMETHING THAT REALLY HELPS ALUMINATE THE EXPERIENCE OF OUR, THE MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY, WHOMEVER IT MIGHT BE TAKING THAT COST LOCALLY.
UM, AND WHILE THIS, UH, DATA MAY NOT NECESSARILY DIRECTLY INFORM ANY LEGISLATIVE POSTURE OVER THE COMING WEEKS, UM, IT IS BY, IT IS AN EVERY EFFORT, UM, A GOOD STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION WITH REGARDS TO THIS OVERALL, UM, INITIATIVE HAVING TO BE DONE BECAUSE OF THE EXPERIENCES THAT HAVE BEEN PROVIDED TO THE COMMISSION, UH, THROUGH MULTIPLE COMMUNITY MEETINGS, THAT THERE ARE SOME
[00:45:01]
KNOWN DISPARITIES KNOWN CHALLENGES, ALL OF THOSE OUTCOMES THAT WERE PRESENTED WITHIN THE SPECIAL REPORT ON DIGITAL EQUITY THAT THE COMMISSION AUTHORED THE CHAIR PIPS, ESPECIALLY, AND SOMETHING THAT, UM, THE, THE PURE FACT THAT THIS WORK HAS TO OCCUR, SPEAKS TO THAT.UM, SO I THINK THAT, UM, UH, QUITE SIMPLY, I DON'T BELIEVE THAT THIS IS A SHORT-TERM SOLUTION OR SHORT-TERM FIX, I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS A LONG-TERM, UM, INITIATIVE THAT WILL HELP US REALLY, UH, BUILD OUT A LARGER UNDERSTANDING, UM, AND HELP, UH, ENSURE THAT OUR EXPERIENCE AS A COMMUNITY IS A KNOWN AND ONE THAT THE COMMUNITIES HOPE TO ENGAGE IN THIS PROCESS, UM, TO, UH, PROVIDE THIS DATA.
DOES THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION? COMMISSIONER SNACKING.
UH, WELL, UH, ARE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR, UH, FOR MATH AND ALEXANDRA OR THE CITY STAFF HERE IN RELATION TO, UM, CONNECTION TEST ATX AND SPEED OF AMERICA? I WOULD JUST ADD ONE MORE EXCITING MILESTONE THAT WE, UM, UH, REACHED LAST WEEK.
UM, OUR COUNTY GOVERNMENT HAS OPTED TO FUND OUR HOSTING OR ANOTHER YEAR.
SO, UM, THIS, THIS TOOL IS, IS, UM, FUNDED FROM A HOSTING PERSPECTIVE.
UM, SO IT DOESN'T REQUIRE ANY ADDITIONAL FUNDS, UM, FROM OTHER COMMUNITIES, UH, AT THIS TIME TO HELP WITH ANY OF THE, THAT ASPECT OF IT.
UM, THERE ARE POTENTIAL INCENTIVES, UM, THAT COULD BE CREATIVE TO THAT WOULD GO TO YOUR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY, UH, TO ADVANCE THE TOOL IN A WAY THAT BENEFITED, UH, AUSTIN SPECIFICALLY.
SO, UH, WE'RE VERY THANKFUL FOR THE SUPPORT OF LANE COUNTY GOVERNMENT AND, UM, UH, THAT JUST CAME IN THIS PAST WEEK.
WELL, I GUESS IT MAKES US ALSO VERY THANKFUL AND APPRECIATIVE OF THEIR SUPPORT.
AND, UH, THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE PRESENTATION AND FOR YOUR COMMITMENT TO THIS PARTNERSHIP.
OBVIOUSLY WE'RE JUST GETTING GOING, BUT I CAN TELL, UH, THERE'S GREAT EXCITEMENT.
I KNOW THAT WE'LL END UP HOLDING, UH, A BOAT JUST TO FORMALLY SHOW OUR SUPPORT IN THE COMMISSION LATER ON IN THIS MEETING.
UH, BUT I FEEL PRETTY CONFIDENT THAT BASED ON OUR FOCUS ON DIGITAL INCLUSION AND THE COMMITMENT THAT THE COMMISSIONERS HAVE SHOWN THE ADVANCING THE GOALS OF BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE AND IN SERVICING OUR POPULATION HERE, UH, THAT THERE'LL BE AN UNSPOKEN, UH, TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THIS PARTNERSHIP.
UM, SO WITH THAT, THANK YOU AGAIN, AND WE'LL LOOK FORWARD TO CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION AND TO ADVANCING NEXT STEPS.
IT WAS REALLY, UH, AN ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE AND, UH, UH, UH, I LOVE FINDING OTHER PEOPLE WHO, UH, EFFORT IN THIS WORK AND IT DOES MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.
[2.b. TARA Office Briefing (John Speirs, Program Manager – Telecom & Regulatory Affairs) ]
RIGHT, WITH THAT, THEN WE'LL PROCEED WITH OUR AGENDA TO AGENDA ITEMS COULD BE A TERRA OFFICE BRIEFING.THIS WILL BE BY JOHN SPEARS, PROGRAM MANAGER, OR A TELECOM AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS, UH, WITH THAT JOHN, TAKE IT AWAY.
UM, THIS BRIEFING IS, UH, SOMETHING THAT WE WILL JUST PROVIDE A QUICK UPDATE ON AN EXCITING NEW CAPACITY OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR COMMUNITIES WORK, AS IT RELATES TO, UM, ADVANCING DIGITAL EQUITY.
AS WE ALL KNOW THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON OUR COMMUNITIES POPULATION, AS WE JUST HEARD ELEVATED THE CRITICALITY OF AFFORDABLE AND ADEQUATE INTERNET CONNECTIVITY TO ALL AUSTIN RESIDENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS FOR DISTANCE LEARNING, HEALTHCARE ACCESS, WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, TRAINING, TELEWORKING, ACCESS TO SOCIAL CONNECTIONS, UM, AND HELP PREVENT SOCIAL ISOLATION FOR OUR MOST VULNERABLE POPULATIONS.
UM, AND LOW-INCOME RESIDENTS, UM, AND COVID-19 REALLY, UH, CONTINUES TO HIGHLIGHT THOSE DIGITAL DISPARITIES WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY.
UM, AND THROUGH THE COVID-19 RESPONSE, IT HAS GALVANIZED A GREAT NUMBER OF COMMUNITY PARTNERS, INCLUDING OUR REGIONAL CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICERS, COUNCIL, UH, COMMUNITY AND COMMERCIAL SECTOR PARTNERS, UM, AND LOCAL COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS.
ONE OF THOSE COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS, LEADERSHIP, AUSTIN, UH, HOST AN ANNUAL FELLOWSHIP THAT FELLOWSHIP, UM, IS NOW UNDERWAY FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 2021, UM, AND
[00:50:01]
LEADERSHIP AUSTIN THROUGH THE FUNDING OF THE ST DAVID'S FOUNDATION, UM, HAS, UM, UH, PROVIDED THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A FELLOW TO BE FOCUSED ON THE INTERNET ACCESS AND THE CONNECTIVITY AND THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF OUR COMMUNITY, AND TO EVALUATE THOSE LARGER, COMPREHENSIVE OPPORTUNITIES THAT MAY EXIST WITH REGARDS TO INCREASING THE AVAILABILITY OF SUFFICIENT, UH, INFRASTRUCTURE THAT THEN PROVIDES RELIABLE AND AFFORDABLE BROADBAND TO ALL RESIDENTS AND EXPLORING THOSE PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS THAT MAY BE AVAILABLE FROM OUR COMMUNITY AND THE INFRASTRUCTURE THAT EXISTS.AND THIS WORK IS SOMETHING THAT IS, UM, THAT THE VERY EARLY STAGE OF THE PROCESS.
HELLO, UH, HOST DAN HARMON IS HER NAME, UH, HAS JUST STARTED.
UM, AND I DON'T KNOW THAT SHE'S IN THE MEETING ROOM HERE.
HOWEVER, I AM MOST CONFIDENT THAT YOU ALL IN SOME CAPACITY WILL BE CONNECTING WITH HER, NO PUN INTENDED HERE IN THE COMING WEEKS AND MONTHS AS THIS WORK HAS CO-CREATED WITH OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS AND FROM A LARGE, UM, UH, 360 DEGREE LENS.
THIS WORK REALLY FOCUSES ON SOME OF THE INSIGHTS AND FEEDBACK THAT THE COMMISSION THROUGH THE WORK PLAN HAS PROVIDED TO STAFF WITH REGARDS TO EXPLORATION OF THOSE, UM, AND, UH, OPPORTUNITIES FOR INFRASTRUCTURE AND BEING ABLE TO, UH, NOT ONLY, UH, EVALUATE THE AVAILABILITY OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE, BUT ALSO TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THOSE OPPORTUNITIES THAT MAY EXIST, UM, WHEN WE'RE LEVERAGING THE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE AND THOSE MODELS THAT WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT IN THE WORKING GROUP MEETINGS WITH REGARDS TO PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS AND HOW THAT, UM, SUPPORTS CURRENT EFFORTS WITH REGARDS TO THE AUTONOMY INSTITUTE AND THOSE PRESENTATIONS THAT WE HAVE HEARD TRUMP CTM, AND IT HELPS ADVANCE OVERALL THE CONNECTIVITY FOR OUR COMMUNITY, BECAUSE AS WE JUST HEARD FROM THIS PRESENTATION FROM SPEED TEST ATS, THERE ARE SOME PERCEIVED AS DISPARITIES THAT EXIST IN THE COMMUNITY.
BUT UNTIL WE KNOW MORE, UNTIL WE'RE ABLE TO REALLY FORMALLY UNDERSTAND SOME OF THE CHALLENGES AND GO THROUGH THOSE FEASIBILITY STUDIES TO EXPLORE AND PRESENT THOSE OPPORTUNITIES AND LAY OUT SOME OPTIONS, UM, IT IS SOMETHING THAT RIGHT NOW, THIS ADVANCES US FARTHER THAN WHERE WE ARE CURRENTLY AT TODAY.
AND SO I WANTED TO JUST PROVIDE AN UPDATE THROUGH THIS BRIEFING THAT, UH, HOTEL ARMEN ARE, UM, THAT ARE COMMUNITY FELLOW FOCUSED ON, UH, DIGITAL INCLUSION AND SPECIFICALLY INFRASTRUCTURE AND INTERNET CONNECTIVITY WILL BE SUPPORTING THIS WORK.
AND THIS IS A ANOTHER ELEMENT OF CAPACITY, UM, IN OUR COMMUNITY AND SOMETHING THAT IS VERY MUCH IN LINE WITH THE COMMISSION'S WORK PLAN.
AND WHILE THIS IS A COMMUNITY ON PROJECT, UH, THE CITY WILL BE SUPPORTING THAT, THAT WORK PLAN AND VERY MUCH LOOKING TO THE COMMISSION'S, UM, WORK PLAN FOR THE FELLOWS ACTIVITIES OVER THE COMING YEAR.
AND WE'LL LOOK FORWARD TO, UM, PROVIDING UPDATES ACCORDINGLY, BUT AT LEAST WANTING TO INTRODUCE THIS OPPORTUNITY BECAUSE ALL OF THIS WORK FITS TOGETHER WITH REGARDS TO REALLY FOCUSING ON THOSE CORE FUNDAMENTALS OF RELIABLE AND AFFORDABLE BROADBAND INTERNET FOR THE AUSTIN COMMUNITY.
UM, AND BEING ABLE TO ENSURE THAT WE'RE TAKING INTO ACCOUNT SOME OF THOSE NECESSARY RESOURCES, INCLUDING SUFFICIENT INFRASTRUCTURE, UM, AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE WHAT GOES INTO THAT, WHICH IS, UM, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE OPPORTUNITIES WITH PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS THAT SUPPORT THAT AND DOING THAT IN, UH, IN REGARDS TO WHAT IS CURRENTLY POSSIBLE, BUT ALSO HIGHLIGHTING THOSE AREAS AND WHERE WE NEED TO, UH, MOVE THE NEEDLE AND BE ABLE TO, UM, HELP UNDERSTAND WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IN ORDER TO AFFECT A LARGER CHANGE.
SO THIS IS, UM, A POSITIVE STEP, UH, TO HELP ADVANCE THAT AND SOMETHING THAT, UM, REALLY APPRECIATE THE COMMISSION'S LEADERSHIP THERE, BECAUSE WITHOUT THIS, THIS GUIDANCE AND THESE WORKING GROUP DISCUSSIONS THAT OCCUR AT THE, UH, DIGITAL INCLUSION WORKING GROUP AND THE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKING GROUP AND THE KNOWLEDGE AND INFOR, UH, INFORMATION WORKING GROUP, WE WOULDN'T HAVE THIS, UM, THIS, UH, INFORMATION AS FAR AS WHAT IT IS THAT WE NEED TO BE EXPLORING.
UM, AND THAT IS SOMETHING THAT, UH, WE APPRECIATE THAT OPPORTUNITY TO REALLY, TO WORK, UM, IN, UH, TO ADVANCE THE COMMISSION'S WORK PLAN.
[00:55:01]
THAT IS THE BRIEF UPDATE ON THE NEW FELLOW.I'LL SAY, THANK YOU FOR THAT, JOHN.
ANYONE ELSE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR JOHN? UH, I KNOW JUST TO COMMENT THAT IT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA.
I MEAN, THE FACT THAT
SO I HAVE A VERY SOFT SPOT FOR THEM.
I DO ENCOURAGE THEM ON DIFFERENT PROJECTS.
I, I, I'M LINKED UP WITH THEM IN MULTIPLE WAYS.
SO I'M DELIGHTED THAT THEY'RE TAKING A LEADERSHIP ROLE.
THEY'RE A VERY, VERY, UM, PROACTIVE ORGANIZATION YOU'RE HERE, WELL SAID, WELL SAID ANYBODY ELSE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED LEADERSHIP, JOHN, UH, AND WORK ON THIS, UH, I GUESS SINCE YOU'VE MADE MENTION OF STAFF, IF IT MIGHT BE APPROPRIATE TO MAKE MENTION OF OTHER CHANGES TAKING PLACE IN THE CHAIR OFFICE, UM, I'M NOT SURE IF YOU INTENDED TO BRING THIS UP TODAY OR NOT, BUT, UH, COLEEN, UH, BILLY, UH, WHO HAS BEEN VERY HELPFUL, UH, AND THE KEY PUT HE ROLE IN MAINTAINING, UH, G TOPS MARKETING, AS WELL AS, UH, HANDLING COMMUNICATIONS FOR DECA AND FOR, UH, THE DIGITAL INCLUSION LISTSERV AMONGST OTHER THINGS IS, UH, GOING TO BE GOING OFF TO GREENER PASTURES AND NO ONE'S GOING TO BE WITH US.
SO AS WE MAY BE GAINING SOMEONE, UH, IN HORTON FROM LUCIA BOSTON PROGRAM, BUT LOSING SOMEONE GREAT CALLING.
SO I JUST WANTED TO ACKNOWLEDGE HER WORK, UH, HERE AT THIS POINT IN OUR AGENDA, BUT THAT WILL CONTINUE.
UH, AND SPEAKING OF G CLASS, THAT'S A GOOD SEGUE BECAUSE,
[3.a. Grant for Technology Opportunities Program – Letters of Interest Received and Action on Grant Review Panel (Commission Discussion and Action, Jesse Rodriguez, Telecommunications and Regulatory Affairs) ]
AND OUR AGENDA THREE, A UNDER NEW BUSINESS, WE NOW TRANSITION TO THE GRAND PRIX TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM AND, UH, THE LETTERS OF INTEREST RECEIVED AND ACTION ON THE GROUND REVIEW PANEL, UH, FOR DISCUSSION BY THE COMMISSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION WE'LL KNOW, DEFINITELY ACTION.AND THIS WILL BE LED BY JESSICA RODRIGUEZ, OF COURSE, OUR LIAISON, HELLO, COMMISSIONAIRES, JESSE RODRIGUEZ WITH TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS.
I HAVE A LIGHTNING UPDATE ON G TOPS TODAY.
UM, FIRST I'LL DO A QUICK OVERVIEW OF WHERE WE ARE WITH THE LETTERS OF INTEREST, AND THEN I'LL GO INTO THE GRANT REVIEW PANEL ITEM, UH, FOR THE LETTERS OF INTEREST, AS YOU ALL MAY KNOW, THE, UH, SUBMISSION WINDOW CLOSED, UH, JANUARY 8TH.
UM, AND WE ACTUALLY HAD A BANNER YEAR OF APPLICATIONS WITH A TOTAL OF 37 LETTERS OF INTEREST FILED.
UM, THIS IS IN COMPARISON TO LAST YEAR, WE HAD 21 AND THE YEAR BEFORE THAT WE HAD 31.
SO THE MARKETING EFFORT, UH, LED BY COLLEEN AS CHAIR PITTS MENTIONED, WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL, UM, WITH A VERY HIGH NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS FOR THE LETTER OF INTEREST THIS YEAR.
UM, WE ALSO HAD, UH, JUST BY WAY OF NOTE, ONE ORGANIZATION THAT WANTED TO FILE A, BUT DIDN'T GET THEIR, UH, APPLICATION OR THEIR LETTER OF INTEREST IN TIMELINE.
UM, THE NEXT STEPS FOR THE G TOPS APPLICATION PROCESS IS FOR, UH, THE SUBMISSION WINDOW FOR JANUARY 18TH THROUGH FEBRUARY 19TH.
SO ESSENTIALLY THE, UH, THE LETTERS OF THAT PEOPLE, THREE ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE FILED LETTERS OF INTEREST, UM, WILL BE PUSHED AHEAD IN OUR GRANT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TO THE NEXT STAGE, UH, BY THE END OF THIS WEEK.
AND, UH, THEY WILL THEN DIVE INTO THE PROCESS OF SUBMITTING A FULL APPLICATION, UH, ONTO THE, UH, GRANT REVIEW PANEL UPDATE.
UH, WE WERE ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED TO HAVE A VOTE HERE ON THE APPLICANTS FOR, TO SERVE ON THE GRANT REVIEW PANEL.
UH, BUT WE EVALUATED LAST WEEK AND THE NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS THAT WE HAD RECEIVED UP TO THAT POINT, UH, WEREN'T QUITE SUFFICIENT FOR US TO TAKE TO THIS MEETING.
AND WE ENGAGED IN A, UH, LATE IN THE WEEK, PUSH TO VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND NETWORKS TO GENERATE ADDITIONAL APPLICANTS.
UM, WE HAVE, SINCE THAT TIME GOTTEN UP TO A TOTAL OF 11 APPLICANTS FOR A PANEL,
[01:00:01]
UH, THAT WE'RE WANTING TO SELECT SEVEN TO SERVE ON THE FULL PANEL.AND ONE OF THOSE APPLICANTS WOULD BE AN EX-OFFICIO, UH, PARTICIPANT.
SO NONVOTING, SO WE HAVE, UH, APPROXIMATELY 10, UH, APPLICANTS IN THE SYSTEM AT THIS TIME.
SO THAT'S ACTUALLY A LOT BETTER THAN WE WERE EXPECTING TO HAVE BY TODAY.
UH, UH, WHEN WE MADE THIS DECISION LAST WEEK, WE WERE HOVERING AT AROUND FOUR OR FIVE APPLICANTS.
UM, AND YOU KNOW, THE, THE LATE PUSH THAT WE HAD FOR ADDITIONAL APPLICANTS IS STARTING TO COME THROUGH.
UM, BUT WE DID ADVERTISE AN EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR FOLKS TO GET THEIR, UH, THEIR APPLICATIONS IN, UH, BY THE END OF JANUARY.
SO WE WANT TO LET THAT EXTENDED TIMEFRAME, UH, PASS BEFORE WE CLOSED THE WINDOW ON ADDITIONAL APPLICATE APPLICANTS TO SERVE ON THE PANEL.
UM, WITH ALL OF THAT BEING SAID, THAT'S A, THAT DOESN'T PUSH BACK OUR TIMELINE, ANY, BECAUSE THE, UH, THE SCHEDULED DATE FOR THE REVIEW PANEL TO BE SEATED AND TO RECEIVE THEIR GRANT REVIEW BINDERS IS FEBRUARY 23RD.
SO THAT'S AFTER OUR NEXT MEETING.
UM, SO NO, NO CHANGES TO THE OVERALL SCHEDULE, JUST A, WE WANTED TO ALLOW FOR ADDITIONAL TIME TO GET, UH, SOME MORE APPLICANT APPLICANTS IN, AND WITH THAT, THAT'S ALL OF MY UPDATES, BUT I'M HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE.
THANK YOU FOR THAT UPDATE, JESSE, UH, AND, UH, FOR RELAYING THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT DO, ADMIT TO HAVING A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO THE, THE LARGE ACCOUNT FROM MY CONVERSATION WITH JOHN EARLIER TODAY.
UH, ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS, SO CONSIDERING THE LIMITATIONS THAT COVID HAS PLACED ON US, UM, HOW ARE THESE GRANTS, UH, THE PROPOSALS, WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO BE DOING IN THE NEXT YEAR, AND IS THIS ON IN-PERSON CLASSES OR REMOTE STUFF? CAN YOU TELL, JUST FROM THE LETTERS OF INTEREST, THE RANGE IS QUITE WIDE ON THE, THE VARIOUS TYPES OF APPLICATIONS THAT WE HAVE.
UM, NOW I, I HAD MET I'VE, I'VE SKIMMED THROUGH ALL 37 THAT WE HAVE, UH, I, I'M PROBABLY NOT ABLE TO RECALL, UH, ALL OF THEM.
I KNOW THAT WE HAVE A SIGNIFICANT, UH, THE, THE, THE SIGNIFICANT MAJORITY OF THE APPLICATIONS HAVE TO DEAL WITH PROGRAMS THAT ARE TRYING TO PIVOT TO A REMOTE SERVICE DELIVERY MODEL.
SO, UH, JUST RECALLING SOME OFF THE TOP OF MY, UH, OFF THE TOP OF MY MIND, UH, YOU KNOW, THE THINGS LIKE, UH, TRYING TO PUT ON VIRTUAL, UH, MUSIC, UH, CONCERTS, FOR INSTANCE, AND TRAINING, UH, THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN HOW TO PULL TOGETHER MULTIPLE SOLO VIDEOS INTO A SINGLE, UH, UH, VIDEO STREAM, UH, AS AN EXAMPLE, UM, A NUMBER OF TRADITIONAL DIGITAL, DIGITAL LITERACY COURSES DELIVERED, UH, VIA ONLINE, UH, METHODS.
UM, ALL OF THE, ALL OF THE PROGRAMS THAT I, I, I RECALL HAVE TO DO WITH, UH, OUR, OUR PLANNING FOR REMOTE SERVICE DELIVERY.
UM, AND MANY OF THEM, UH, AS YOU MIGHT SUSPECT, ARE, UH, PREPARING, UH, FOR A PIVOT BACK TO IN-PERSON SERVICE DELIVERY.
UH, SHOULD WE REACH THAT OVER THE NEXT, UH, YOU KNOW, COURSE OF A YEAR, UM, BUT, UH, THEY ALL SEEM TO BE PREPARED FOR A REMOTE MODEL AS WELL.
THANK YOU, JESSICA, BECAUSE I HOPE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION CONTRIBUTES.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR, UH, JESSE? OKAY.
WITH THAT, THEN A GOOD JOB, JESSE, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK ON THE PROGRAM AND EVERYTHING AS USUAL
[4.a. Digital Inclusion, Civic Engagement, and Strategic Technology and Telecom Policy Working Group ]
WOULD PROCEED IN OUR AGENDA TO AGENDA ITEM FOUR, A, WHICH IS THE VISUAL INCLUSION, CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOM POLICY, UH, WORKING GROUP.AND THE MAIN THING THAT I'D LIKE TO SPEAK TO HAS ALREADY BEEN SPOKEN TO.
AND IT'S KIND OF, UH, ONE OF THE ADVANTAGES THAT HAVE OF, OF GOING FIRST AFTER WE HAVE AN UPDATE RELATED TO JAKE'S HOUSE, BECAUSE THAT IS OF COURSE, ONE OF THE MAIN FOCUSES OF THIS WORKING GROUP AND TO REITERATE SOME OF THE THINGS FROM THE DISCUSSION I HAD WITH JOHN EARLIER TODAY, UM, WE HAD A BRIEF DISCUSSION FOCUSED SPECIFICALLY ON GTALKS
[01:05:01]
AND WE MIGHT, MAY OR MAY NOT NEED TO DO, UH, TO BOOST THE AMOUNT OF THE GRANT REVIEWERS, UH, SPECIFIC PARTICULAR.WE HAD A DISCUSSION ABOUT HOW PRESENTLY GRANT REVIEWERS ARE VOLUNTEERS, AND YET, AS YOU ALL KNOW, WE HAVE, UH, INCREASED THE CAPABILITIES AND CAPACITY OF THIS GRANT.
WE DOUBLED THE FUNDING AMOUNT, UH, AND WE'VE INCREASED THE AMOUNT OF APPLICANTS WHICH INCREASES THE, UH, THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ROLE THAT THE REVIEWERS PLAY.
AND IT WAS A SUGGESTION THAT I HAD THAT WE MIGHT WANT TO ENTERTAIN PAYING THESE GRANT REVIEWERS, UH, JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN MAINTAIN A CERTAIN LEVEL, UH, SERVICE LEVEL, UH, OF EXPECTATION.
UH, AT THIS POINT, JOHN HAS AGREED TO, UH, ENGAGE RESOURCES TO DETERMINE HOW WE'VE MANAGED THAT TYPE OF TRANSITION IN THE PAST, IF WE'VE DONE THAT, UH, I BELIEVE IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.
AND SO WE'RE TRYING TO LOOK AT SOME PRECEDENT TO ESTABLISH HOW WE MIGHT PAY THAT WAY.
UH, BUT THAT WAS THE FOCUS OF OUR DISCUSSION TODAY IN THE CONFERENCE CALL, UH, THAT OF COURSE, AND, UH, BRIEFLY THAT THE STAFFING CHANGES THAT WERE GOING TO BE MADE.
SO MY HOPE IS THAT REALLY THIS WORKING GROUP, UH, WILL CONTINUE AS IT'S BEEN DOING TO, YOU KNOW, FOCUS ON THE COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES AND THE MULTIPLICATION EFFECT OPPORTUNITIES.
UH, THE WORK OF COURSE, WITH CONNECTION TEST ATX AND SPEED UP AMERICA IS CLEARLY INTERSECTIONAL WHEN IT COMES TO THE WORKING GROUPS.
AND THAT'S THE REASON WHY IN OUR LAST WORKING GROUP SESSION OR THIS WORKING GROUP, IT INCLUDED COMMISSIONERS EATS AND PERMISSION DASGUPTA WHO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED INTIMATELY FROM THE INFRASTRUCTURE WORKING GROUP SIDE ON RELAYING THEIR INSIGHTS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT HOW TO BEST MANAGE.
AND SO, UH, WITH THAT, UNLESS THERE ARE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS, I THINK WE PRETTY MUCH COVERED THESE TOPICS OR THIS WORKING GROUP AND EARLIER AGENDA POINTS.
SO LET'S THERE ANY QUESTIONS FOR ME OR ANYTHING THAT I MIGHT'VE MISSED THAT SOMEONE WANTS TO SPEAK TO THAT PERTAINS TO THIS WORKING GROUP, THEN WE'LL PROCEED ON THE AGENDA.
SO I CAN SEE HOW THE WORKLOAD FOR THE REVIEWERS PROBABLY HAS INCREASED EXPONENTIALLY.
AND SO THAT'S GOING TO BE A REAL PROBLEM.
UM, WOULD IT BE FEASIBLE TO TRY AND HAVE MORE REVIEWERS THAT DON'T ALL REVIEW EVERYTHING WITH SOMETHING LIKE THAT WORK? WELL, I'LL LET JESSE GET INTO SOME OF THE DETAILS BECAUSE WE DO ACTUALLY HAVE A PROCESS RIGHT NOW WHEREIN IT IS DIVIDED, RIGHT? SO THERE'S BASICALLY COHORTS OF REVIEW REVIEWED APPLICATIONS.
SO X NUMBER OF GRANT REVIEWERS VIEW X NUMBER APPS.
UH, AND AM I GETTING THAT CORRECT, JESSE? YES.
UH, THE THERE'S TWO PHASES OF SCORING IN THE FIRST PHASE, HALF OF THE REVIEWERS REVIEW, HALF OF THE APPLICATIONS, UM, AND IN THE SECOND ROUND, UH, THE TOP SCORING, UH, 20 OR SO ORGANIZATIONS MOVE ON TO ROUND TWO.
AND AT THAT POINT, THE FULL PANEL REVIEWS ALL 20.
SO THAT'S A MECHANISM TO LIMIT THE NUMBER OF, UH, APPLICATIONS THAT, UH, ALL, ALL PANELISTS NEED TO REVIEW.
AND IT'S IMPORTANT TO SEE, YOU KNOW, COMMISSIONER YATES, BECAUSE AS YOU MIGHT RECALL, FROM PREVIOUS GRANT AWARD SESSIONS, WE'VE HAD A COMMISSION MEETINGS FOCUSED ON APPROVING THE AWARDEES.
WE OFTEN SOMETIMES HAVE TO MAKE DECISIONS ON WHETHER OR NOT WE'LL INCLUDE, UH, WE'LL AWARD X ORGANIZATION AND INCLUDE THEM.
MAYBE WE'LL AWARD LESS, UH, NUMERICALLY FROM A DOLLAR AMOUNT TO ALL OF THEM, BUT WE'LL HAVE TO MAYBE INCLUDE ANOTHER ORGANIZATION.
SO FOR THAT REASON, WE DON'T WANT TO HAVE TOO MANY.
WE WANT TO, WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE APPROPRIATE AMOUNT OF REVIEWERS IS REVIEWING THE APPROPRIATE AMOUNT OF APPLICATIONS THAT WAY IN THOSE MOMENTS WHERE WE NEED THE SCORE, BUT WE'VE GOT A SCORING ON THE FRIEND IS TO CONSIDER WE'VE GOT THEM FACTORED IN.
SO I'LL HOPE THAT MAKES SENSE.
I UNDERSTAND IT'S PRETTY COMPLEX TESTING.
WELL, IF IT'S PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD AT THE SAME TIME, YOU KNOW, UH, AND, AND YOUR, YOUR POINT IS WELL TAKEN THOUGH, BECAUSE WE WILL HAVE MORE APPLICATIONS, BUT BECAUSE THEY'RE JUST, THERE'S JUST A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF WORK THAT'S THAT'S TO BE EXPECTED
[01:10:01]
FOR THIS REVIEW PROCESS.AND, UH, BECAUSE OF COURSE THE, THE BRAND OF THE CASES ARE NO LESS IMPORTANT, AND WE'RE GOING TO DEMAND A CERTAIN LEVEL OF AT LEAST AS AN EX-OFFICIO CHAIR OF THE GRANT REVIEW, EVEN THOUGH I DON'T VOTE AND I NEVER HAVE VOTED, I DEMAND A CERTAIN DEGREE OF DUE DILIGENCE AND THE PROCESS AND MAKING SURE THAT THE APPLICATIONS THEMSELVES ARE REVIEWED.
UH, AND SO I BASICALLY WANTED TO COME TO THIS BODY AND TO SEE WHAT Y'ALL THOUGHT, UH, IF YOU AGREED THAT THE BURDEN OF A GRANT REVIEWER COULD JUSTIFY, AS I HAD SUGGESTED, WE LOOK INTO, UH, US ACTUALLY PAYING THEM AND THEN TO POTENTIALLY HAVE A BOAT TO CERTIFY THAT, UH, JUST TO REFLECT, UH, OUR CONSENSUS HERE AS A BODY, AND THEN SOMEONE WOULD NEED TO IDENTIFY A SOURCE OF FUNDS FOR THAT COME FROM THE CITY OR FROM, FROM THE ACTUAL GRANT MONEY ITSELF.
WELL, IF IT WAS UP TO ME, UH, AND I THINK THE OTHER COMMISSIONERS, WE WEREN'T INTENDING ON FUNDING FTE WHEN WE AGREED TO DOUBLE GRANT, RIGHT? SO, UH, IT WOULD MEAN THAT WE'D HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER SOURCE OF FUNDS OR, UH, FOR REVIEWERS, UH, TO BE, BE PAID.
UH, BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE WORTHWHILE PURSUING THINGS.
THAT'S MY, MY THOUGHT, I WONDER IF WE COULD, UH, CONSIDER SOME, UH, GRANTS JUST FOR REVIEWERS FROM OTHER NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS, UM, NONPROFITS IS WHAT HAPPENED.
THE QUESTION IS THAT'S UP PART OF YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS, JOHN OF RESEARCH, PERHAPS.
UM, SO CHARLES PEREZ, TARA, WE'LL TAKE ALL OPTIONS INTO CONSIDERATION.
AND SO TO CHAIR POINTS, UM, CHAIR PITS POINTS THERE, THAT IS, UM, WHAT WE ARE EVALUATING ARE WHAT ARE THE EXISTING BENCHMARKS WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION, AS THERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES THAT WE COULD EVALUATE FOR, UM, COMPENSATION, SO TO SPEAK OF, UH, COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS IN CONDUCTING SIMILAR PROCESSES.
AND IN THAT, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT FROM AN ACCOUNTING PERSPECTIVE, THAT'S OVERHEAD.
SO IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE WOULD NOT WANT TO ALLOCATE ANY G TOPS FUNDS TO SUPPORT THAT, BECAUSE THAT TAKES AWAY FROM THE CORE SERVICE THAT WE'RE PROVIDING WITH THE, UH, G TOPS FUND OVERALL.
SO IT WOULD REALLY BE INCUMBENT ON STAFF TO EVALUATE THOSE, UM, THOSE REVENUES THAT ARE AVAILABLE, UH, USING ACCOUNTING TERMS TO REALLY TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE NECESSARY OVERHEAD TO SUPPORT THE PROGRAM.
SO, UM, WITHIN THAT, WE'LL HAVE TO TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT IS REASONABLE.
THAT'S ALWAYS A, AN ACCOUNTING, UH, POINTS OF EVALUATION AND, YOU KNOW, WHAT IS A REASONABLE RATES OR A STIPEND, OR, YOU KNOW, WHAT DOES THAT MODEL LOOK LIKE, UM, TO SUPPORT THE, THE OVERALL INTENT THERE? SO, UM, THERE'S, THERE'S A LOT TO UNPACK WITH THAT, BUT IT'S, YOU KNOW, I THINK, UH, UM, SOMETHING THAT WE NEED TO, UM, ROLL THAT INTO THE RETROSPECTIVE PROCESS, WHICH STAFF CONDUCTS ANNUALLY AT THE CONCLUSION OF EACH GRANT CYCLE AND TAKES INTO ACCOUNT THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE COMMISSION, THOSE INSIGHTS THAT YOU ALL PROVIDE TO US AND, UM, WEIGH THAT AGAINST THE OTHER CHANGES THAT GO INTO THE PROGRAM, UM, AND COME BACK TO YOU ALL.
SO AS A NORMAL PART OF OUR PROCESS WITH THE G TUFTS ANNUAL RETROSPECTIVE, WE WILL COME BACK TO YOU WITH THOSE, UM, POINTS OF EVALUATION AND OPTIONS FOR Y'ALL TO CONSIDER.
THANK YOU, JOHN, DOES THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION? COMMISSIONER GATES? YES.
UH, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS HERE FOR THIS WORKING GROUP DISCUSSION? OKAY.
WELL WITH THAT, THEN, UH, WE'LL GO AHEAD.
AND, UH, AND WELL, I GUESS AT THIS POINT, WHAT I'D LIKE TO ASK IS IF I COULD HAVE A MOTION TO, UH, WELL, I'LL GO AHEAD AND MAKE A MOTION THAT WE HOLD A VOTE HERE, UH, ON FORMALLY, UH, PURSUING THIS PROCESS IN, AND, AND AGREEING THAT, UH, SOME DEGREE OF, UH, OF SUPPORT AND A RESOURCING AS APPROPRIATE, JUST TO MAKE SURE, UH, THE GRANT APPLICATIONS GET THEIR APPROPRIATE DUE AND THAT THE GRANT REVIEWERS THEMSELVES THAT CAN MAINTAIN A CERTAIN SUB THAT SERVICE LEVEL.
SO MY MOTION BASICALLY IS, UH, ARE WE IN AGREEMENT THAT,
[01:15:01]
UH, THROUGH THE EFFORTS THAT JOHN HAS ONE UNDERTAKE TAKE FOR RESEARCHING AND FUNDING PAYING, UH, POTENTIALLY PAYING THROUGH SOME MEANS, UH, GRANT REVIEWERS, UH, THAT, UH, WE ARE ALL IN AGREEMENT THAT THAT SHOULD TAKE PLACE, THAT IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE THAT THE G TOPS PROGRAM, UH, CONTINUES TO RECEIVE, UH, THE LEVEL OF, UH, OF, OF ATTENTION IT NEEDS FROM GRANT REVIEWERS, UH, WITH THE INCREASING APPLICATION POOL THAT WE HAVE, UH, THAT WE PUT ATTENTION INTO THE REVIEW SIDE OF POTENTIALLY PAYING THOSE POSITIONS THAT HAVE MOVE VOLUNTEERS, UH, CONVOLUTED.BUT I THINK YOU GUYS GET MY MOTION BASICALLY IS, UH, TO MAKE THE VIEWERS NO LONGER VOLUNTARY, UH, VOLUNTEER POSITIONS, BUT HEY, OKAY, THIS IS GOING TO INTRODUCE SOME COMPLEXITY HERE.
UM, GEEZ, ONE QUESTION WOULD BE, THEY WOULD BE PAID NOT ONLY BY WHO, BUT WHAT WOULD BE THEIR STATUS, THEY'RE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS OF WHAT THE CITY OF AUSTIN OR SOME OTHER GROUP, WELL, PERHAPS WE NEED TO HAVE MORE DISCUSSION, YOU KNOW, I GUESS THE, THE THING THAT I WAS HOPING TO CONFIRM IS THAT, UM, WE ALL AGREED THAT BECAUSE OF HOW IMPORTANT IT IS THAT, UH, THE REVIEWERS BE ABLE TO MANAGE THE APPLICATIONS THAT THEY RECEIVE, UH, IN THE INCREASED NUMBER, INCREASED COUNT.
UH, BUT YET AT THE SAME TIME, STICK TO A REGIMENTED PROCESS, THAT'S FAIR, UH, THAT WE MAY NEED TO COMPENSATE THEM TO MAINTAIN A CERTAIN SERVICE LEVEL.
UH, IF WE DON'T NECESSARILY AGREE ABOUT THAT, THEN, UM, THEN WHAT I THINK WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN WILL STILL HAPPEN, RIGHT? JOHN IS ONE UNTAKE HIS IS HIS RESEARCH PROCESS.
AND WHAT HE'S ASKED TO DO IS TO COME BACK TO US WITH THOSE DATA POINTS.
SO MAYBE WE DON'T NEED TO ACTUALLY EVEN HAVE A VOTE RIGHT NOW, UM, NECESSARILY, WELL, I THINK THAT, UH, WE COULD SUPPORT THIS, UH, RESEARCH STUDY WITH, WITH A GOAL JUST TO SAY, YEAH, THIS IS A, THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED.
AND, UH, THERE MAY BE OTHER WAYS TO ADDRESS IT, BUT LET'S START THERE THEN.
OKAY, WELL THEN I'LL AMEND MY MOTION TO, TO BE THAT JOHN ENGAGED IN THE RESEARCH TO SEE WHAT IT TAKES, UH, TO SEE ABOUT WHAT IT WOULD ENTAIL, GETTING THE RE GRANT REVIEWERS PAID THAT WAY WE CAN THEN DECIDE AT A LATER DATE IF WE AGREE TO THAT.
UH, SO IF YOU SECOND THAT MOTION AND WE CAN VOTE ON THAT.
SO WITH THAT, THEN WE HAVE EMOTION OR JOHNSON GAUGING HIS RESEARCH TO SEE ABOUT ANNE GRANT REVIEWS.
WOULD YOU TOSS, UH, AND IT'S BEEN SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER GATES, UH, ALL IN FAVOR OF THE MOTION, PLEASE SAY, AYE, AND SHOW YOUR HAND, BUT AYE.
CAN WE FINISH THE VOTE OR SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT RELATING TO THE MOTION SAYING HOW DO YOU SET THE AMOUNT OF COMPENSATION? YOU KNOW, WHAT'S, WE KNOW SUFFICIENT COMPENSATION FOR THESE GRANT REVIEWERS.
SO THE MOST EMOTION IS, UH, THAT, UH, WE, WE SHOW SUPPORT AS A COMMISSION FOR JOHN'S RESEARCH AND RIGHT.
SO WE'RE NOT COMMITTING OURSELVES TO ANY AMOUNTS THIS POINT.
SO THEN WITH THAT, WE HAVE A UNANIMOUS VOTE.
UH, WHAT WOULD, LET ME CONFIRM, UH, ANYONE OPPOSED TO THIS RESEARCH AND ANYONE WAS STANDING OKAY, THEN WE HAVE A SEVEN, OH, VOTE UNANIMOUS IN FAVOR OF THIS RESEARCH, UH, BEING GOING TO TAKE THEM ON JOHN AND WE'LL LOOK FORWARD TO HIS FINDINGS.
[4.b. Knowledge, Information, and Data Stewardship Working Group]
WITH THAT, I'LL GO AHEAD AND TRANSITION TO AGENDA ITEM FOUR B, UH, WHICH WILL BE VERY BRIEF.UH, THIS IS WHERE THE KNOWLEDGE, INFORMATION AND DATA STEWARDSHIP WORKING GROUP, UH, THE CHAIR, UH, VICE CHAIR OF THE COMMISSION.
ALEXANDER'S NOT AVAILABLE TODAY.
UH, ALTHOUGH I WILL SAY THAT, UM, I KNOW THAT ONE OF THE THINGS I'M MOST CURIOUS ABOUT, UH, IS AS WE ALL HOPEFULLY ARE MINDFUL OF, WE RECEIVED A, ANOTHER EMERGENCY DECLARATION EXTENDING THE GOVERNOR'S, UH, ORDERS FOR REMOTE PARTICIPATION AS WE KNOW THEM AS WE'RE DOING IT NOW.
SO JESSE IS AT CITY HALL RIGHT NOW, ALONG WITH AB AND WE'RE ALL AT OUR HOMES OR OFFICES AT ACCORDINGLY.
UM, SO I HAVEN'T RECEIVED ANY NOTICE.
UH, MY QUESTION, I GUESS, IS REALLY FOR JESSE IN ANY WORD BACK
[01:20:01]
FROM THE CITY COURT'S OFFICE ABOUT OUR ASK, UH, NO CHAIR PITS.I HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING BACK.
I, UM, HAVE PUMPED IT UP FOR CLARIFICATION TO THE CLERK'S OFFICE.
UM, BUT I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING QUITE YET.
SO WHAT I, WHAT I WAS GOING TO SUGGEST WE DO, UM, IS INVITE THEM ONE OR MORE PEOPLE AT, YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW IF SHE INVITE THE CITY CLERK, STEPHANIE, UH, DIRECTLY OR SOMEONE ELSE.
UM, BUT TO A WORKING GROUP MEETING, UH, WHERE WE CAN HAVE A CANDID DISCUSSION ABOUT THIS, UH, AND IF THE INVITATION IS NOT ACCEPTED, THEN I'M AFRAID WE'D HAVE TO HAVE A CANDID DISCUSSION ABOUT THIS AND OUR NEXT COMMISSION GAGE ON THE RECORD, BUT I'D LIKE TO BEGIN IF WE CAN, UH, AGREE THAT IT MAKES SENSE TO INVITE THEM TO A MORE PRIVATE DISCUSSION ABOUT NEXT STEPS, JUST TO AVOID ANY KIND OF POLITICAL, UH, PITFALLS.
I HAVE A, AGAIN WITH A STRAIGHT UP QUESTION HERE, WE SUBMITTED A COUNCIL COMMITTEE AGENDA REQUEST.
IS THERE ANY DEADLINE FOR RESPONDING TO THAT IN CITY ORDINANCES? GREAT QUESTION.
UH, JESSE, JOHNNY, BY HAVING YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT, UM, MR. GATES, I'M SORRY.
CAN YOU REPEAT YOUR QUESTION JUST ONE MORE TIME? IT CUT OUT THERE BRIEFLY, AND I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT I HEAR AND MAYBE JESSE AS WELL.
SO WE SUBMITTED A COUNCIL COMMITTEE AGENDA REQUEST.
AND THE QUESTION, IS THERE SOME KIND OF DEADLINE THAT IS FOR RESPONSE THAT IS IN THE CITY ORDINANCES SOMEWHERE? OR IS IT, CAN THEY ESSENTIALLY IGNORE US IF THEY WALKED IN? UH, THANK YOU, COMMISSIONER GATES.
UH, I, THAT ACTUALLY WAS THE CONTENT OF MY BUMP UP TO THE CLERK'S OFFICE IS TO TRY AND SEE IF I COULD GET A, A DATE, UH, THAT THAT WAS GOING TO BE PUT ON THE AGENDA.
UM, AND I DIDN'T QUITE GET A CLEAR RESPONSE.
UM, SO THAT THAT'S, UM, STILL SOMETHING THAT I'M TRYING TO NAIL DOWN.
UH, CAN I ASK MR. GATES, WOULD THAT SOMEHOW IMPACT, UH, THEIR PARTICIPATION IN A WORKING GROUP MEETING? UM, NO.
UM, YOU CAN GET THEM, UH, SO LIKE ONE QUESTION IS MORE SPECIFIC IP.
WHERE DOES THE HOLDUP, IN OTHER WORDS, HAVE YOU SUBMITTED THIS REQUEST TO COUNCIL FOR THEM TO SCHEDULE, OR IF YOU'RE BEING HELD UP IN THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE, WHERE IS THE BACK HERE? RIGHT, RIGHT.
SO THAT'S WHAT MY THOUGHT KIND OF MY THOUGHT, MY THINKING WAS ALIGNED WITH THAT.
AND THAT'S PART OF THE REASON WHY I THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD BE POLITICALLY SENSITIVE AND BLESSED TO INVITE THEM TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION IN A WORKING GROUP SESSION, AS OPPOSED TO IN OUR NEXT COMMISSION MEETING.
UM, BUT THAT, YOU KNOW, THEIR, THEIR, THEIR RESPONSE TO JESSE'S EMAIL MIGHT PROVIDE SOME INSIGHT AS WELL, BUT AT THIS POINT WE'RE JUST WAITING TO FIND OUT.
AND I CERTAINLY APPRECIATE THE SENSITIVITY OF THAT AS WELL.
WHY IS, HAVE YOU HAD A BAD KIND OF DIPLOMATIC APPROACH, SO MAYBE, UH, JESSE NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING OFF THE RECORD.
UH, YOU KNOW, JUST NOT EVEN AN EMAIL, JUST A TELEPHONE CALL SAYING, HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? YOU KNOW, AND, AND WE TALK ABOUT IT IN THE WORKING GROUP, SO THAT IT'S ALL KIND OF OFF THE RECORD FOR RIGHT NOW, BUT, UH, IT SEEMS THAT THERE'S A HOLE SOMEWHERE.
UM, BUT I THINK WE'VE GOT A PIECE OF STRATEGY.
UH, JESSE, IF YOU'RE OPEN TO, UM, EXTENDING AN INVITATION TO THE CITY COURT'S OFFICE TO JOIN THE WORKING GROUP, UH, MAYBE THAT'LL GIVE YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO BUMP UP THE ASK FROM YOUR LAST EMAIL AND THEN WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
ABSOLUTELY HAPPY TO DO THAT AND INVITE THEM TO THE NEXT, UH, UH, WORKING GROUP MEETING.
AND, UH, SO I HAVE A QUESTION FOR EVERYONE
[01:25:01]
ON THE COMMISSION HERE, AND THAT IS, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THESE MEETINGS? I FIND I LIKE IT.UM, I'M NOT SURE I WANT TO GO BACK TO GOING DOWN AND DOWN.
THE PARKING IS SUPER CHEAP AT ALL.
I THINK IT'S A VERY EFFICIENT WAY OF DOING BUSINESS.
I STRONGLY, IF WE DO THAT CONTINUE, I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU GET FORM BARELY FOUR MIDDLE WITH SEVEN PEOPLE.
WELL, UH, I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE AS SOME, MAYBE I WON'T ANSWER THAT QUESTION CAUSE I HAVEN'T, I WAS SHOWING UP IF, I MEAN, THE MEETINGS CAN BE LONG AND, AND ON ZOOM OR WEBEX, IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO HOLD ATTENTION FOR.
I FIND, YOU KNOW, LONGER THAN AN HOUR AND A HALF, I STARTED TO KIND OF START ZONING OUT.
SO, I MEAN, I ALMOST WOULD RATHER MEET A LITTLE MORE OFTEN AND SHORTER SPENDING TWO HOURS ON ZOOM IS KIND OF HOW THE LAW IS.
BUT WELL, YOU KNOW, IN FAIRNESS TO US ALL, UH, AND I WANT TO GIVE KUDOS TO THOSE COMMISSIONERS WHO CONSISTENTLY PARTICIPATE IN THE WORKING GROUP SESSIONS, UH, BECAUSE COMMISSIONER REINHART, YOU KNOW, I THINK TO YOUR POINT, UH, YOU KNOW, THOSE MEETINGS ARE, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE SHORT, THEY'RE SHORTER.
CERTAINLY THE THREE HOURS ARE USUALLY, YOU KNOW, AN HOUR MAX, BUT IT GIVES US THE CHANCE TO REALLY HAVE SOME IN-DEPTH CONVERSATIONS.
AND THEN I'M STILL, I'M STILL WAITING TO BE INVITED TO THE WORKING GROUP SESSION THAT I'M PART OF.
I NEVER GOT A REAL UNDERSTANDING OF HOW AND WHEN THOSE MEETS, SO MAYBE THAT'S A COMMUNICATION ISSUE.
LET'S, LET'S TRY TO WORK THAT OUT THEN, BECAUSE I KNOW THAT, UH, YOUR, I BELIEVE YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE KNOWLEDGE, INFORMATION AND DATA STEWARDSHIP WORKING GROUP.
AND, UH, AND SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE WERE LOOKING, I THINK WE HAD TROUBLE WITH BEFORE WAS, UH, THE TIMING, UH, RIGHT.
SO IT WOULD BE BIASED OF ME TO TRY TO SCHEDULE THAT FOR THE WORKING GROUP CHAIR.
UM, BUT, UH, IF YOU HAVE YOUR THOUGHTS ON A WEEK, DAY AND TIME, THAT WOULD WORK WELL FOR YOU TO HAVE A MONTHLY WORKING RECALL, THEN I THINK THAT WOULD BE A GOOD POINT OF DEPARTURE.
UM, IF YOU'VE GOT ANY THOUGHTS ON SCHEDULING AND IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW UP, IF YOU WANT TO GET BACK TO, I MEAN, I, YOU KNOW, AT THIS POINT IT'S ACADEMIC BECAUSE VICE CHAIR, ALEXANDER, WHO CHAIRS THAT WORKING GROUP, IT'S GOING TO NEED TO WORK WITH HIS SCHEDULE OBVIOUSLY, UH, AND, OR HE'LL HAVE TO BE FLEXIBLE.
UH, SO, BUT IF YOU COULD JUST START THINKING ABOUT A DAY THAT YOU CAN MAKE THAT WORK, THAT HOPEFULLY WE'LL GET SOMETHING NAILED DOWN.
SO FAR, WE HAVE MET PRETTY CONSISTENTLY WITH THE INFRASTRUCTURE, THE TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE, INNOVATION WORKING GROUP AT THAT, UH, 4:00 PM MONDAY EVENING TIME, THE FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH.
AND IN A CONSISTENTLY I'VE ALSO CONVENE THE, IS INCLUSION, CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, STRATEGIC POLICY WORKING GROUP CONFERENCE CALL.
SOMETIMES IT'S JUST ME AND CITY STAFF ON THERE.
UH, BUT YOU KNOW, STILL TRYING TO, TO HAVE THAT CONVENING, YOU KNOW, CONSISTENTLY.
SO I THINK WE CAN JUST GET, GET TO A DAY THAT WORKS BEST FOR MOST PEOPLE, FOR THE KIDS WORKING GROUP.
THEN WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET THAT ON CALENDAR.
I'M WONDERING, IS THERE SOME KIND OF A WAY THAT WE COULD HAVE A SURVEY OF ALL OF THE MEMBERS OF THE DIFFERENT SUBMISSIONS TO SAY, HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS? DO YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO GOING DOWN TO CITY HALL AND NOT, YOU KNOW, JUST USE, HAVE SURVEY MONKEY OR SOMETHING, AND THEN EVERY ONE OF THE COMMISSION MEMBERS, UM, WHO WOULD BE ABLE TO ARRANGE SOMETHING LIKE THAT? WELL, THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION.
I THINK, I THINK WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT THE, THE, THE STRATEGIC COMPONENT, UH, OF, YOU KNOW, AND THEN WE'LL GIVE YOU TALK ABOUT THE WHO, RIGHT? BECAUSE
[01:30:01]
THIS REMINDS ME OF WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT BEFORE, UM, WHEN YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT, UM, IT WAS IN RELATION TO, UM, OH YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT.IT WAS IN RELATION TO THE RESOLUTION AND HOW IN OUR INITIAL LANGUAGE, WE BASICALLY ASSUMED THAT EVERYTHING'S GOING GREAT.
SO THEREFORE EVERYONE WANTS TO DO THIS.
UM, WE MIGHT WANT TO BE CAREFUL WHAT WE ASK FOR, RIGHT.
IN OTHER WORDS, AS A COMMISSION, WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT.
I DON'T KNOW IF WE WANT TO NECESSARILY, UH, ASK EVERYBODY ELSE WHAT THEY WANT.
OTHERWISE WE MAY NOT BE HAPPY WITH THE ANSWER, BUT THAT'S, THAT'S, THERE'S A REAL DANGER TO THE HEAD.
SO STRATEGICALLY JUST THINKING ABOUT THAT CONDITION, YOU KNOW, HERE'S A POTENTIAL WAY TO REPRESENT IT.
WE ARE THE TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION.
WE SHOULD BE LEADING THE WAY IN THIS TECHNOLOGY CHAIN.
OTHER COMMISSIONS MAY TAKE A WHILE TO GET TO THIS PLATFORM CONSISTENTLY, BUT WE ARE GOING TO TRY THIS FOR THE NEXT YEAR TO SHOW THAT WE CAN MAKE REAL PROFITS.
AND THEN WE CAN PRESENT TO THE OTHER COMMISSIONS BECAUSE THERE ARE COMPANIES WERE SAYING, YOU DON'T HAVE TO COME BACK TO WORK.
SO I DON'T BELIEVE THAT BY THE WAY, I THINK ABOUT A COUPLE OF YEARS LATER, THE COMPANIES WOULD SAY, WE WANT YOU BACK ON CAMPUS, BUT LET'S WAIT AND SEE, BUT COVID HAS COMPLETELY CHANGED THE MINDSET OF INDUSTRY HERE.
IF INDUSTRY CAN SAY, WE MAY NOT NEED TO COME TO WORK, WORK FROM HOME IS FINE.
AND WHO ARE WE TO SAY, NO, AS A CITY, WE NEED TO GET BACK TO THE OFFICE.
MAYBE OUR SURVEY COULD, UM, KIND OF SCORE IT, THE QUESTION, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO? AND JUST SAY, HOW ARE THINGS WORKING RIGHT NOW, UM, WITH THESE MEETINGS AND TO DO A SURVEY OF THE DIFFERENT COMMISSIONS IN THAT RESPECT AND SEE WHAT THEY, HOW THINGS ARE GOING.
I THINK THAT THEY'RE GOING PRETTY WELL FOR US.
UM, WELL, LET'S FIND OUT WHAT OTHER COMMISSIONS ARE, ARE DOING WELL, OR, OR I WOULD JUST SLIDE YOU CHOOSE THE QUESTION SAYING, SO WE'VE BEEN AT IT FOR ABOUT A YEAR AGO.
SO WHAT DO YOU THINK NEEDS TO CHANGE TO MAKE IT A MORE ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE? YEAH, THAT WAS KIND OF A LEADING QUESTION, BUT WE, OF COURSE IT HAS MEANT TO REALLY GREAT.
WELL, WE'VE GOT A FEW DIFFERENT WAYS WE COULD APPROACH IT, OBVIOUSLY.
I THINK, UH, I THINK THAT THE, HOW DOES IMPACT A LITTLE BIT AS WE START THINKING ABOUT IT NOW, BECAUSE UNLESS I'M MISTAKEN, UH, THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT CAN EASILY ASSEMBLE THIS LIST ARE THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE.
I MEAN, WE COULD GO, WE COULD, YOU KNOW, GO THROUGH THE EXHAUSTIVE EXERCISE OF GOING TO THE CITY WEBSITE AND PULLING UP EACH COMMISSION AND THEN, YOU KNOW, THAT WOULD JUST TAKE, IT WILL TAKE US FOREVER.
SO WE WOULD DEFINITELY NEED THEIR BUY-IN.
UM, SO THERE'S A GOOD CHANCE WE MIGHT LEAVE THEIR BUY-IN ON THE SURVEY TOO.
DOES EVERY COMMISSION HAVE A SITTING LIAISON, SOME KIND OF EMPLOYEE OF THE CITY? UH, MAYBE JESSE COULD ANSWER THAT.
AND IF THAT'S THE CASE, THEN JUST AN EMAIL OUT TO ALL THE, UH, COMMISSION LIAISON, UH, MIGHT DO IT AND THEY CAN DISTRIBUTE FROM THERE.
I LIKED THAT PART, JESSE, WE THINK, UH, YES, TO ANSWER THE QUESTION, UH, EVERY BOARD OR COMMISSION DOES HAVE A STAFF LIAISON, AT LEAST TO MY KNOWLEDGE, SO WE CAN DUMP THIS BACK ON CITY STAFF.
SO JESSE, UH, WITH, WITH THAT KIND OF POSITIONING OF, SHE JUST CAN'T WAIT.
UH, BUT, UH, SO, UH, HOW DOES THIS SOUND TO YOU, JESSE? UH, YEAH, I DO THINK THAT, UH, WORKING WITH THE CLERK'S OFFICE TO BE ABLE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS TYPE OF, UH, A SURVEY WOULD PROBABLY BE THE BEST THEY HAVE A DISTRIBUTION LIST THAT GOES TO ALL STAFF LIAISONS.
UM, AND SO AS LONG AS WE HAVE THE BUY-IN OF THE CLERK'S OFFICE, I WOULDN'T THINK THAT THIS IS SUCH A HEAVY LIFT.
SO LET ME INTERPRET THAT, UH, FOR, FOR, UH, FOR YOU COMMISSIONER YATES, UH, JESSE WANTS TO MAKE SURE, UH, TO LEVERAGE OUR EFFICIENT RESOURCES, BUT ALSO KNOW THAT
[01:35:01]
JESSE DOESN'T WANT TO ALIENATE THE CITY COURT'S OFFICE.UH, SO THAT'S MY OWN 2 CENTS AND INTERPRETATION.
I CAN BE SO BOLD JESSE, UM, TO MANAGE THAT, UH, BECAUSE I, I KNOW THAT IF WE INVOLVE THEM IN THE PROCESS AND WHICH MIGHT EVEN INCLUDE, YOU KNOW, ALLOWING THEM SOME INPUT ON WHAT THE SURVEY ENTAILS, THEN WE MIGHT GAIN SOME POLITICAL WILL AND, UH, YOU KNOW, THAT MUCH CLOSER TO REACHING OUR OBJECTIVE OF GETTING THIS DONE.
UM, AND IT COULD BE ONE OF THE THINGS THAT JESSE RAISES AN EMAIL, UH, TO THE INVITATION, UH, PERTAINING TO THE INVITATION TO JOIN THE WORKING GROUP.
SO WE COULD BASICALLY HOPEFULLY FLESH THIS ALL OUT IN A WORKING GROUP CONVERSATION WITH THE CITY COURT'S OFFICE AND THEN, UH, YOU KNOW, BY THE NEXT MEETING, HOPEFULLY, UH, BE ENGAGING IN THAT SURVEY EVEN.
THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA TO ME, LIKE, UH, BRING IT UP WITH THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE IN A BORING INFORMAL SITUATION FIRST.
AND GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO HAVE SOME INPUT.
AND THEN, UH, WE CAN ALL SING A SHINY, HAPPY PEOPLE TOGETHER AND GET WHAT WE NEED.
SO DO WE NEED ANY KIND OF A RESOLUTION FROM THE COMMISSION, OR THIS IS JUST, UH, AN ACTION ITEM FOR, UH, CITY STAFF AND, UH, THE WORKING GROUP.
I BELIEVE THAT'S JUST AN ACTION ITEM FOR JESSE.
AS FAR AS THE INVITATION IS CONCERNED, WE DO HAVE TO DECIDE WHICH WORKING GROUP, UM, I THINK WE KNOW BECAUSE THE VICE CHAIR, ALEXANDER'S NOT HERE, THAT WE CAN'T GET SCHEDULED IN THE, THE KIDS WORK GROUP SETTING.
UH, SO THAT LEAVES US EITHER, UH, CAN AM ON TUESDAY MORNING OR 4:00 PM ON MONDAY EVENING AS OUR GO-TO TIME SLOTS.
SO JESSE, WHAT I WOULD PROPOSE WE DO, LIKE WE DID FOR SPEED UP AMERICA IS THAT WE OFFER ONE OF THOSE TWO TIME SLOTS TO THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE TO JOIN US.
AND I THINK THAT'LL TAKE CARE OF IT FOR EVERYBODY IN THE, THAT THAT'LL TAKE CARE OF IT FOR RIGHT.
YOU MIGHT WANT TO WARN THEM ABOUT THE TOPIC AND THE QUESTION AT HAND SO THAT THEY'RE NOT BLINDSIDED.
THEY CAN THINK ABOUT THIS FOR AWHILE.
I THINK HE WILL, BECAUSE HE'S GOING TO BE FOLLOWING UP, BUMP UP EMAIL, RIGHT? YES.
I'M PRETTY SURE YOU HAD SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN MIND.
I'LL, I'LL HAVE, UH, A DETAILED EMAIL LETTING THEM KNOW WHAT THE SUBJECT MATTER WOULD BE AND, AND POSSIBLE ACTION ITEMS THAT MIGHT COME OUT OF IT.
UH, LET'S GO AHEAD AND CALL THAT DONE.
UM, AND THAT TAKES CARE OF AN ITEM FOR B, UH,
[4.c. Technology, Infrastructure, and Innovation Working Group ]
WITH THAT, THEN I KNOW WE'VE DISCUSSED A LITTLE BIT OF IT, UH, BUT WE TRANSITIONED TO THE TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE AND INNOVATION WORKING GROUP, AND I'LL HAND IT OVER TO, UH, UH, THE CO-CHAIRS COMMISSIONER, UH, FLOYD AND COMMISSIONER DUSK.RIGHT? THAT'S THE MAJOR THING THAT WE DISCUSSED AT THE LAST MEETING WAS SPEED UP AMERICA, WHICH WE JUST SAW THE PRESENTATION FROM A FEW MINUTES AGO.
UH, I THINK WE ALSO TALKED ABOUT IN THE RITUXAN ASSIGNMENTS ABOUT TELLING OTHER ORGANIZATIONS TO TAKE THE TEST.
PLUS WE TALKED ABOUT, UH, THE LET'S LET YOUR STARTING UP AND ANY BILLS THAT WOULD COVER THE TECHNOLOGY SPACE TELECOM SPACE.
AND THE QUESTION WAS, UM, IF THE BROADBAND PROVIDERS DON'T STEP UP TO THE PLATE TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE SERVICES, COULD THE STUDIO CITY STEP UP TO FILL THE GAP? AND THIS IS A QUESTION FOR CITY OF AUSTIN TO APPROACH THE LEDGE, TO GET WITH AUTHORITY, TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE, IF THE PROVIDERS DO NOT.
AND THEN THE LAST ONE WAS, UH, THAT WE SHOULD CONNECT TO PROJECT CONNECT TO SEE HOW THIS CAN BE A PARTNERSHIP WITH CAP METRO.
AND WE SAID THAT WE WERE GOING TO INVITE JASON, JOHN MICHAEL, FROM ATG TO, YOU KNOW, TO COME AND JOIN US AT THE NEXT WORKING GROUP.
SO JOHN SPEARS HAS THE ASSIGNMENT DURING DIGESTION TO OUR NEXT MEETING.
[01:40:01]
ARE WE GOING TO EXTEND THE INVITATION HERE TO THE OTHER COMMISSIONERS TO TAKE, NOW THAT WE'VE SEEN THE SPEED OF AMERICA PRESENTATION TO TAKE IT OUT TO THEIR GROUPS, NEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS NEXT DOOR.YOU KNOW, AS I SAID, I'VE SENT IT OUT TO THE ORGANIZATIONS AND THE ONE ORGANIZATION I STILL HAVEN'T SENT OUT IS THE DDC AT UT BECAUSE THEY HAVE BOOTS ON THE GROUND, A LOT OF DEEP CONNECTIONS IN THE DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOODS, PARTICULARLY, YOU KNOW, DISTRICT ONE, TWO AND FOUR, UH, OR OUR NEIGHBORHOODS THEY'RE, UH, THEY'RE KIND OF REDLINED IN QUOTES.
I DON'T MEAN IT IN A LEGAL SENSE.
AND OUR PROJECT CONNECT WAS THAT WAS TO GET BETTER CONNECTED AS TO THE, UM, FOLKS THAT MAY BE HAVING DIGITAL INCLUSION ISSUES.
I MEAN, THAT WAS WHATEVER, YEAH.
THESE DO INCLUSION AS WELL AS THE ADOPTION.
PUTTING IN NEW LINES, NEW ROADS.
UH THEY'RE YOU KNOW, THEY'RE GOING TO PUT IN THIS RAIL LINE, THERE'S LIGHT RAIL.
HOW DO YOU POWER UP THESE, YOU KNOW, THESE, THESE TRAIN CARS, YOU KNOW, THE CARS FLYING, YOU KNOW, HOW DO YOU PUT CHRONIC CONNECTIVITY IN THERE SO THAT A PERSON CAN HOP ONTO THE TRAIN OR THE RAIL LINE OR THE OTHER, AND THEN KEEP ON WORKING, UM, YOU KNOW, HOW DO YOU GET, HOW DO YOU GET BROADBAND
BUT YOU'RE GETTING IN THE AGE OF THE, YOU KNOW, 5G ISN'T THAT WHAT 5G IS PROMISING THAT HE WON'T NEED TO WATER, YOU KNOW, WIRELESS.
HE COULD HAVE PROMISING THAT, WHETHER IT DELIVERS THAT IN A TIMELY MANNER,
MAKE IT ALL WORK, YOU KNOW? AND THAT GOES BACK TO OUR SHARED CONDUIT DISCUSSION AND WE KEEP HAVING, AND I THINK THAT ALSO LOOKED INTO YEAH, WE CAN TOO.
SO THAT, THAT'S BASICALLY WHAT WE DISCUSSED AT THE LAST MEETING.
I GUESS THE UPSHOT IS FOR EVERYBODY, UM, YOU KNOW, REACH OUT TO, TO, TO NEXT DOOR IN GROUPS THAT YOU NEIGHBOR GROUPS TO GET PEOPLE, TRY TO GET THE WORD OUT ABOUT THE SPEED TEST AMERICA.
IF, IF, UM, CITY STAFF COULD HELP US GET A, UM, JASON, JOHN, MICHAEL FROM CABINETRY TO COME TALK TO US, AND THEN I GUESS THE LEGISLATIVE DISCUSSION THAT'LL BE, I MEAN, I THINK THAT'S WHEN WE HAVE TO WATCH KIND OF WATCH THINGS EVOLVE, SEE WHAT BILLS WERE FILED.
SEE HOW IT'S GETTING APPROACHED.
CAUSE LIKE WE TALKED ABOUT BEFORE, YOU KNOW, THEY ARE GOING AFTER RURAL BROADBAND, BUT, UM, I THINK IF WE CAN GET MORE, GET THE WORD OUT ABOUT TAKING THIS TEST, TAKING THE SPEED OF AMERICA TESTS, THAT'LL HELP PROVIDE THE INFO AT LEAST ABOUT AUSTIN THAT WOULD GIVE US MORE TALKING POINTS.
I THINK THAT, UH, THE, THE, THE, THE, THE ADVANCED, YOU KNOW, THE ENHANCEMENT SOFTWARE ENHANCEMENT THAT, UH, THAT, UH, THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT, I THINK THAT'S ESSENTIAL BECAUSE WHEN I TOOK THE TEST, I ASKED YOU TOOK THE TEST TWICE.
AND, UH, UH, SEVERAL FRIENDS FORWARDED THEIR TEST TO ME.
SO I CLICKED ON THE, ON THE UPLOAD BUTTON AND I GOT THIS MASSIVE SPREADSHEET THAT, THAT CAME IN AND WAS A HUGE, I SORT OF SCROLL DOWN AND LOOK FOR MY, AND I DID FIND MY TEST, WHICH IS, OF COURSE, IT'S THE LAST LINE, THAT'S AN EXTRADITION.
SO YOU JUST SCROLL DOWN AND THERE IT IS.
AND, YOU KNOW, THE NUMBERS LOOK REASONABLE.
AND SO MORE PEOPLE DO THAT, THAT DATA IS COLLECTED.
UM, COULD YOU GUYS RE WRITE SOMETHING UP SO WE CAN SHARE IT TO OUR GROUPS BECAUSE I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE BEING ACTIVE.
UM, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER WE SHARE IS ACCURATE.
SO IF YOU GUYS COULD JUST DISTRIBUTE THAT OR, AND ESPECIALLY LIKE SOME SORT OF IMAGE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT WOULD BE GOOD TOO, BECAUSE YOU KNOW HOW SOCIAL MEDIA WORKS.
SO IF YOU COULD DO THAT BY EMAIL WOULD BE HAPPY TO, I KNOW I WOULD BE HAPPY TO, TO SPREAD IT AMONG MY NETWORKS AND SOUTHWEST OFFICE.
I SENT IT OUT TO SEVERAL GROUPS.
SO LET ME FORWARD YOU THE EMAIL.
I SAID, I'LL JUST TAKE A CLIP OF THAT TEXT AND THE, AND THE LINK, AND I'LL SEND IT TO YOU.
WELL, YOU COULD SEND THAT TO ALL THE COMMISSIONERS.
SO WHY DON'T I SEND IT TO JESSE? I NEED FORWARD TO ALL OF YOU.
WE GOT A QUESTION HERE ABOUT LEGISLATION.
SO I GUESS THIS IS THE CORRECT WORKING GROUP TO ADDRESS THAT.
SO, UM, IT HAS BEEN MENTIONED THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL BILLS THAT TALK ABOUT, UH, RURAL INTERNET ACCESS.
[01:45:01]
AND I'M WONDERING IF THE CITY OF AUSTIN HAS A GOVERNMENT GOVERNMENT RELATIONS GROUP, UM, WHAT ARE THEY DOING? ARE THEY TRYING TO INFLUENCE THIS LEGISLATION SO THAT THEY'RE NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT INADEQUATE ACCESS FOR RURAL AREAS, BUT FOR URBAN AREAS ALSO, IT SEEMS LIKE THEY OUGHT TO BE DOING THIS, AND WE OUGHT TO BE ASKING THEM TO DO IT SO THAT THE CITY STAFF, UH, ANSWER THAT KIND OF GRAMBLING QUESTION, HEY, THIS IS RON DELLA, UH, HAWKINS.I, UM, I'VE BEEN KIND OF ON SILENT AND, UH, STANDING BY, I WANTED TO GET MY VIDEO WORKING HERE.
RHONDELLA HAWKINS TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS OFFICE.
AND, UH, AND COMMISSIONER YATES.
I MEAN, THE LEGISLATION FILED TO DATE IS PERTAINING TO IMPROVING BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY IN RURAL AREAS, BUT MANY, MOST, I MEAN, OFTEN IT'LL, IT'LL TRANSLATE TO URBAN AREAS AS WELL.
THE FOCUS MAY BE ON IS CURRENTLY RURAL, BUT, UM, WE ARE, WE ARE WORKING AS, UM, AS A CITY TO PUT TOGETHER WHATEVER INFORMATION WE HAVE FOR OUR LOCAL DELEGATION TO, YOU KNOW, PAINT THE PICTURE OF, YOU KNOW, WHAT IS, YOU KNOW, TO WHAT EXTENT WE KNOW ABOUT THE, UM, YOU KNOW, INADEQUACIES OF BROADBAND AVAILABILITY, UH, INFRASTRUCTURE THAT ISN'T WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY, BUT ALSO WHAT CITY PROGRAMS AND WHAT WE'VE DONE TO DATE TO HELP SUPPORT, UM, THROUGH DIGITAL INCLUSION, UM, YOU KNOW, PROGRAMS AND G TOPS.
AND, UH, SO WE'RE TRYING TO DEMONSTRATE THAT WE HAVE A DIGITAL DIVIDE HERE IN AUSTIN AS WELL.
SO IT'S NOT JUST A RURAL AREA.
HOWEVER, I'M BEING RURAL TEXAS.
WE KNOW THAT, UM, AS FAR AS THE STATE OF TEXAS, THE MILES AND MILES OF, UM, YOU KNOW, AREAS THAT ARE UNCOVERED AND MAY ONLY HAVE A SATELLITE BROADBAND CONNECTION, WHICH IS YEAH.
BUT, UH, WE ARE, YOU KNOW, IF THE OPPORTUNITY COMES, WE WILL DEFINITELY ADVOCATE, UM, THAT THERE SHOULD BE SOME RELIEF, UM, PROVIDED THAT HELPS TO PROVIDE, YOU KNOW, YEAH.
FOR, FOR, FOR SERVICES TO BE DEPLOYED.
UM, WE KNOW THAT IN PRIOR LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS OR LEGISLATION THAT, YOU KNOW, WE WOULD NEVER, THE STATE PASSED THE, UH, STEAK CABLE FRANCHISING LEGISLATION IN 2005, THAT IT DID NOT PROTECT, YOU KNOW, IT DID NOT INCLUDE ANY, UM, REQUIREMENTS FOR PROVIDERS THAT ONCE THEY GET A FRANCHISE FROM THE STATE THAT THEY ACTUALLY HAVE TO SERVE AND, UM, YOU KNOW, AN ENTIRE CITY AND AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY.
SO THERE'S SOME, I THINK, UH, CONSEQUENCES OF SOME ACTIONS PREVIOUSLY THAT, UM, THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT MAY HAVE CAUSED, YOU KNOW, WHAT W YOU KNOW, THE S THIS, UH, UM, IN, YOU KNOW, THE DIVIDE, OR JUST LACK OF A BACK OF A UBIQUITOUS SERVICE, UM, UH, IN A SERVICE AREA.
SO, UM, AND I KNOW WE, YOU KNOW, WE STILL HAVE THE, WE DO HAVE THE LEGISLATION THAT PROHIBITS MUNICIPALITIES FROM PROVIDING TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES, WHICH BROADBAND IS NOT A TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICE, YOU KNOW? UM, BUT SO THERE'S, YOU KNOW, WE JUST HAVE TO KIND OF, YEAH, WE'LL BE MONITORING THE LEGISLATION AND MAKING ALL THE EFFORTS, UM, WORKING, YOU KNOW, WITH, WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND, YOU KNOW, WITH OTHER MUNICIPAL LEAGUE AND, UM, ANOTHER MUNICIPALITIES DO HOPEFULLY ADDRESS US, BRENDA TODAY, YOU RIGHT.
JUST HOW THAT, UH, BROADBAND IS NOT CONSIDERED TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICE.
SO THEREFORE THE CITY CAN STEP IN AND PROVIDE IT, LIKE, SAY IN CERTAIN PARTS OF THE CITY WHERE THERE'S LESS THAN ADEQUATE SERVICE.
CAN THE CITY GO IN THERE, PARTICULARLY IF THEY ARE DIGGING UP AN AVENUE WHERE ARE PUTTING IN NEW, YOU KNOW, NEW ROADS, NEW, THIS NEW THAT CAN BE PUT IN A PIPE WITH FIBER OPTIC CAPABILITIES SO THAT THEY CAN PROVIDE BROADBAND.
I, I, AS FAR AS THE CITY BECOMING A SERVICE PROVIDER, THAT'S A WHOLE OTHER, THAT'S A WHOLE OTHER DISCUSSION.
UM, AS FAR AS THE INTERPRETATION OF, OF THE LEGISLATION.
I MEAN, IT'S, IT'S VERY, UH, IT WAS, IT WAS ONLY, IT'S VERY LIMITED AS FAR AS WHAT, YOU KNOW, MS. VALLEY'S CAN DO.
UM, DID I, DID I SAY IS BROAD BROADBAND IS BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS IS INTERNET.
IT'S NOT A TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICE AS DEFINED UNDER OUR STATUTE UNDER OUR STATE LAW, WHICH IS TELEPHONE.
UM, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, THAT'S, THAT'S
[01:50:01]
SOMETHING TO EXPLORE.COULD THE CITY DO IT? I THINK THAT WOULD REQUIRE A LOT OF, I THINK IT WOULD DEFINITELY REQUIRE A LOT OF STUDY AND VISIBILITY IF THE CITY WANTED TO BECOME A SERVICE PROVIDER, BUT THAT IS ONE OF THE, UM, THAT IS CERTAINLY ONE OF THE ITEMS THAT, UH, THAT WHOLE TIME IS GOING TO OUR LEADERSHIP AUSTIN FELLOW, UH, THAT WE HAVE FOR A YEAR IS GOING TO BE LOOKING AT OVER THE COURSE OF TIME, LONGER TERM, SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR, FOR CONNECTIVITY.
AND SO, YES, WE'LL EXPLORE WHAT I MEAN.
I THINK THAT'LL BE IN, UM, THAT'LL BE IN THE, YOU KNOW, IN THE PROCESS OF EVALUATION AND THEN, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE STUDENT ENERGY, BOSTON WATER, WE CALL THEM AUSTIN, BARBARA, RIGHT.
NOW I THOUGHT THAT THE 1993 HOUSE BILL, I THINK IT WAS 24, 24, THAT WAS IN REACTION TO GATTON THAT PROHIBITED MUNICIPALITIES FROM OFFERING ANY KIND OF COMMUNICATE WITH SERVICE WHATSOEVER.
ALTHOUGH IT EXCLUDED THIS SUPPOSEDLY OWNED ELECTRIC UTILITIES.
WELL, IT'S SPECIFICALLY SAID TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES, AS YOU ALL CAN IMAGINE, TELECOM IS VERY BROAD.
IT COULD BE IN SOME PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, INTERNET, BUT INTERNET IS NOT BECAUSE THE TELECOMS SERVICE, UM, AND THEN YOU'VE GOT TELECOM, INTERNET AND BROADBAND.
AND SO IT'S THAT, THAT LEGISLATION THAT WAS PERTAINED TO TELECOM SERVICES, BUT THERE ARE, I MEAN, THERE IS AN INTERPRETATION THAT THE CITIES THAT, I MEAN, CITIES CANNOT GET INTO BEING AN ISP OR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER.
SO I THINK THAT, I THINK IT WOULD BE RE IT'D BE A GOOD EXPLORER.
I MEAN, IT'S CERTAINLY WORTH US EXPLORING AS ONE OF THE MODELS, RIGHT.
AS ONE OF, IF THERE WAS A LONGER AND LONGER TERM MODEL FOR, YOU KNOW, FOR THAT GETTING, UM, GETTING ALL OF OUR RESIDENTS AND CONNECTED TO.
SO I KNOW, YOU KNOW, YES, WE, UH, YES, I, YES.
AND WE WILL BE DOING, SHE JUST KIND OF, AS SHE SAYS, UM, SHE WANTS TO BE DATA, DATA BOARDED AS A TERM DATE OR BUCKETS.
SO WE ARE GIVING HER LIKE SO MUCH INFORMATION AS FAR AS GETTING READING AND CATCHING UP.
AND SO THERE'LL BE, WE'RE PUTTING TOGETHER A LIST OF, UM, STAKEHOLDERS AND CONTACTS, UH, FOR HER, YOU KNOW, TO, TO BE WITH.
SO THAT, I MEAN, THE COMMISSION WILL DEFINITELY BE, UM, YES, THE INTRODUCTION AND, UH, ALSO JUST HELPING TO FRAME OUR STATEMENT OF WORK WITH HER.
SO IS IT OKAY IF I CALL HER AN ADULT? YES, YES.
SHE'S, SHE'S LIKE A SPONGE RIGHT NOW.
LEARNING, UH, TRYING TO UNDERSTAND BROAD BAND AND STRUCTURE LOOK LIKE AND WHO, YOU KNOW, THERE'S JUST A LOT TO GET UP TO SPEED, BUT SHE IS FULL, UH, YEAH, WE'RE REALLY, THAT'S EXCITING FOR LONGER TERM, UH, SUSTAINABLE, UM, OPTIONS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE.
WE KNOW WE'VE GOT ALL OF OUR, YOU KNOW, OUR PRIVATE COMMERCIAL PROVIDERS OPERATING IN AUSTIN, UM, FOR OTHER THERE'S OTHER MODELS THAT KIND OF FIT WITHIN YEAH.
THE, THE REGULATORY SCHEME OR LEGAL SCHEME OR, UM, THINGS THAT WE HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF, OR JUST, THERE'S SO MANY, UM, THERE'S SO MANY INITIATIVES AND EFFORTS THAT WITH COVID THAT WE'VE, WE'VE GOT TO KIND OF, WE HAVE TO COORDINATE A LOT OF THOSE, THOSE EFFORTS SO THAT WE'RE SUCCESSFUL.
I THINK WE HAD DONE WITH OUR WORKING GROUP.
[FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS]
WELL WITH THAT, THEN I THINK WE CAN TRANSITION.UH, UH, AND THE, THE DISTRICT THAT'D BE A WORK SESSION OR AGENDA, UH, TO FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. UH, AND I KNOW THAT WE, THERE'S ACTUALLY ONE ITEM, WHICH I DO WANT
[01:55:01]
TO MENTION, UH, WHICH I'VE BEEN TRYING TO STAGE FROM A TIMING STANDPOINT, UM, BECAUSE I THINK WE'LL HAVE AN IN-DEPTH DISCUSSION ON IT.UM, AND IT IS TECHNOLOGY AUDITS.
I'VE BEEN, I'VE BEEN IN CONVERSATION WITH THE AUDIT TEAM SINCE THIS PAST SUMMER, UH, ACTUALLY SPRING, UH, ABOUT SOME AUDITS THAT THEY WERE GOING TO BE UNDERTAKING, UM, AND THEY'VE COMPLETED THEM AND I'VE RECEIVED A REPORT, UH, ON SOFTWARE LICENSING.
AND SO I'D LIKE TO HAVE A DISCUSSION ABOUT SOFTWARE AND TECHNOLOGY AUDITING, AND PARTICULARLY WITH THIS SOFTWARE LICENSE REPORT, THAT WILL BE A FUTURE DENIED ON FOR US.
UH, BUT WE WILL HAVE PLENTY OF FOLLOW UP THAT'S FOR SURE.
UM, I'M NOT SURE IN TERMS OF PRESENTATIONS AT THIS POINT, IF ANYONE HAS ANY THOUGHTS, BUT I WOULD INVITE YOU ALL TO EMAIL ME WITH ANYTHING THAT YOU GOT IN MIND THAT MIGHT BENEFIT OUR BODY, UH, FOR OUR NEXT SESSION.
OTHERWISE, I THINK WE'LL END UP HAVING A VERY HANDS-ON SESSION AGAIN, LIKE WE'VE HAD TODAY.
UH, BUT ONE THAT WON'T GO THREE HOURS, PROBABLY JUST TWO HOURS, KEEP THAT IN MIND.
I HAVE BEEN TRYING FOR SEVERAL DAYS NOW TO, UH, GET A COVID VACCINATION AND THE CITY HEALTH SERVICE WEBSITE IS JUST TERRIBLY UNRECOGNIZED.
AND I DON'T KNOW IF NEXT MONTH THERE'LL BE MORE ORGANIZED AND WHO MAYBE WE COULD HAVE THEM.
THEY'VE HAD ALMOST A YEAR NOW IN ORDER TO, UH, BUILD UP SOME KIND OF INFRASTRUCTURE FOR REPORTING DISTRIBUTION.
UM, AND IT JUST DOESN'T SEEM TO BE THERE.
STEVE, I HAVE TO ECHO THAT SENTIMENT.
UH, BUT NOW I'LL LET YOU CHIME IN, IF YOU MENTION DUSKY TO MULTIPLE ISSUES IN BRO, PLEASE, UH, I'LL LET YOU CHIME IN AS SOON AS I'M FINISHED SPEAKING.
UM, BECAUSE I PARTICIPATED BRIEFLY AND A, UH, ZOOM CONFERENCE CALL HOSTED BY COUNCIL, EXCUSE ME, COUNCIL MEMBER AND THE HARPER MADISON, UH, BY COUNTY COMMISSIONER, UH, JEFF TOURBILLION, UH, AND BY THE MAYORS OF PFLUGERVILLE AND MAYOR, UH, MAINER, ALL EXPRESSING CONCERNS ABOUT, UH, I'VE SEEN DISTRIBUTION AND, UH, DATA.
UM, IN FACT, COUNCIL MEMBER, UH, HARPER, MADISON, WHO IS ON THE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE, UH, ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THERE WAS AN ISSUE WITH INFORMATION ACCESS.
SO I'M, I'M WANTING TO MAKE SURE TO EXPLAIN THAT, UH, YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE ON THE COMMISSION THAT'S EXPERIENCING THESE CHALLENGES.
BUT YOU WOULD LIKE TO CHIME IN ON THAT RUNDOWN? UH, NO.
UH, SO W WOULD THAT BEING SAID, I THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA.
UM, AND LET'S LET COMMISSIONER DUSTIN TO CHIME IN NOW AS WELL.
DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO ADD OR QUESTION? YEAH.
UH, WELL, YOU KNOW, THAT REALLY, AT LEAST TWO ISSUES INVOLVED THAT ARE QUITE UNRELATED TO EACH OTHER.
ONE IS OF COURSE, VACCINE DISTRIBUTION, PLAIN AND SIMPLE, THAT DISTRIBUTION MECHANISM I THINK IS IN TERRIBLE SHIT TODAY.
I SPENT ALL MORNING TRYING TO GET REGISTERED I'M IN GROUP ONE, B PEOPLE I KEEP HEARING ARE GETTING VACCINATED, BUT YOU HAVE TO BE OVER 80 YEARS OLD, OR YOU HAVE HEART DISEASE OR THIS DISEASE OR THAT DISEASE.
I JUST HAPPENED TO BE IN GROUP ONE B, OKAY.
I WENT TO THE AUSTIN PUBLIC HEALTH WEBSITE AND IT KEPT GROWING ON ME AND CLOCKING ON ME AND COOKING ON ME.
IT TOOK ME TWO HOURS TO JUST GET REGISTERED.
AND THEN I SAID, OKAY, I WANT TO NOW, YOU KNOW, SIGN UP FOR THE VACCINE.
I WENT THROUGH IT TWICE AFTER TWO HOURS, BY THE
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WAY, I'M VERY, VERY STUBBORN ABOUT THESE THINGS.FINALLY, I TAUGHT I'D FILL IT OUT.
SO THEN I WILL GOT THIS EMAIL SAYING THAT I HAD SUCCESSFULLY REGISTERED FOR THE VACCINE.
SO I SAID, OKAY, LET ME GO IN THERE AND RE LOG IN TO SEE WHEN I TRIED TO LOG IN TO THAT, I, MY PASSWORD IS WRONG.
I'M STILL WAITING FOR A MESSAGE FROM THEM TO SAY, OKAY, GO HERE AND RESET YOUR PASSWORD.
I SAID, I'M GOING TO GO GET SOME LUNCH.
I HAD THE SAME EXACT EXPERIENCE WHERE I REGISTERED.
THEN I TRIED TO SCHEDULE A SHOT.
AND, UM, ESSENTIALLY AFTER I'D SET UP MY REGISTRATION, I COULDN'T WALK AGAIN.
THEY SAID YOUR PASSWORD IS WRONG.
LIKE THERE'S SOME KIND OF SERIOUS PROBLEMS, YOU KNOW, I HATE THE BURGEON COMMISSIONERS.
UM, I JUST NOTICED THAT WE'VE LOST OUR QUORUM.
WE'VE LOST TWO, UH, COMMISSIONERS.
OKAY, GENTLEMEN, UH, WELL WITH THAT, IT'S JUST WHAT I WAS WANTING.
UH, BUT, UH, IT'S OBVIOUSLY VERY SERIOUS AND, AND, UH, UM, COURSE COMMISSIONERS, A SCOOP TO THE COMMISSIONER YATES ARE, UH, IN A MORE, UH, VULNERABLE POPULATION.
SO, YOU KNOW, WE APPRECIATE YOUR, YOUR, YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR ABOUT THIS TOPIC, BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, WE, WE CERTAINLY TAKE IT SERIOUSLY HERE AS A BODY AND, UH, IT'S NOT LOST ON ME, UM, THAT, UH, THIS NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED.
SO HOPEFULLY, UH, W W I WOULD LIKE TO PROPOSE, WE DO, UH, UH, JESSE IS TO FOLLOW UP, UH, AND MAYBE MAKE AN ACTION ITEM TO, TO SEE WHO CAN ENGAGE, UH, WHETHER IT'S SOME OF THEM HELPING HUMAN SERVICES OR, UH, SOMEONE, UH, ON THE WEBSITE TEAM, BUT, UH, MAKE AN ACTION ITEM FOR, TO FOLLOW UP ON THAT.
UH, BUT UNFORTUNATELY WE DO HAVE TO ADJOURN, UH, NOW, UH, SHOOT, DO WE EVEN HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE PROCESS OF GETTING A MOTION TO ADJOURN ONCE WE LOSE OUR FORUM? UH, NO, WE ARE AUTOMATICALLY ADJOURNED AT WHATEVER POINT.