good morning this is the meeting of the hamon a special meeting of the hamon board of Selectmen uh being conducted in the Town Hall in selectman's office please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pled to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and jce for all thank you is anyone else recording the meeting other than us seeing none would you admit Mr Solomon there we go hey Bill can't hear you he's muted 's the type of consultant you want that's it quiet okay that your work hello darn it good morning morning what do you got he bill you got a tie on already and everything jeez no you don't can't tell t-shir can you hear us I can can you hear me yeah good thank you what you got for us Bill oh okay I'm sorry I thought you're tired all right well uh thank you folks Bill Solomon uh one is I've sent you a legal services agreement i' love to as I mentioned to be your counil uh special counsel for the cable license uh you know we'll figure out what you need and we'll we'll get there um and so uh if you can do that now or after I'm uh Gone um if you'd like uh so uh as you know uh the uh license uh quote expires although the company's view is they continue and we continue but you know there are protections for the the town in the license and so I fully agree with what I understand this the board's position is is that uh there should be a some sort of short-term extension uh now so that uh uh the license is clearly in place with particularly with respect to the financial and legal protections of the town until the new renewal license is reached um so I've drafted up based on short-term agreements I've done elsewhere um uh I've drafted up a short-term extension uh which um holds things in place it's a 9 the day extension uh talks about the parties working toward negotiating a new license agreement and during that period of time uh the town and Charter will continue to abide by the terms of the license and which remain in full force and effect and neither party uh waves any rights they have under any law and I'd like to thank Mr uh Davenport for sending sending me uh some comments and and I Incorporated uh the gist of those comments into my revised document I sent in the we hours um by by referencing chapter 166a of the Massachusetts general laws which the state cable law and referencing the state regulations uh as I mentioned uh in an email um it's the most be the law that's like people think of when they who who do this is more the cable act but those other laws apply those laws have procedural requirements um but I also thought that it was best not to set out what the the procedural steps are after the extension because that opens Pandora's Box to the company will say well let's let's talk about this and let's say this and I I wanted to try to keep it clean which is hey this is an extension and then afterwards immediately afterwards uh the town the board uh hopefully with my help will be able to to uh uh let the cable company know what we see are the next steps or just to do the next steps on our part um and secondly uh you know I I this document makes clear as they said that no party waves any rights and you know I I didn't want to put future specific steps going forward because the company might believe it it somehow reflects that that they didn't do something they should have done I don't want to talk about the past we want to go to the Future so that's IC I asked the board to review that and if it's looks sufficient to vote it as I wrote it uh there may be some minor changes and it's always hard to say what name the company is officially using uh so you know there may be a change in the name there could be some minor changes in the language so I asked in the motion I sent that the board allow the chair to negotiate any any uh non-substantial changes uh and to sign the agreement uh uh when the the details are are finalized with Charter I expect to get that response today from Charter and I expect that uh I will be done today uh uh final with a final uh agreement for the chair to sign and that would be prior to the expiration of the license Jers made clear though that they view that that any expiration of the the existing license by its terms would not affect uh their their compliance going forward but again we want to we want to cross the te's and Dot the eyes they happen to answer any questions um Bill Bill on on the on the agreement for short-term extension number three yeah right you've got chapter 161a I think it should be 166 yes I'll I'll change that thank you okay and the other thing is I I want you to I want you to understand we're dealing W with the Spectrum who spent tens of thousands of dollars to uh defeat a a fiber optic question at town meeting so that they could continue their Monopoly in addition to that they didn't comply they haven't complied I mean it says on 1669 that we can't even consider this until there's a application and a license fee paid so they haven't done that in addition to that we spent sent them an email about their participation in removing wires from double poles and they never responded so they really haven't been a good and plus there's been a lot of complaints so they really haven't been a good corporate neighbor or a good corporate citizen here so that's a real issue with me okay no thank yep than go ahead sorry I I thank you they're very helpful was we some of that but not all of it and we'll we'll work with each of those uh on each of those issues uh uh there's different levels of authority but uh you know the beauty of Li seeing locally is that it allows us to discuss issues with the company uh outside of the framework of the renewal with respect to what they what what they need to do so I I've listed those down thank you okay so we need to do two things we have to vote your contract again again uh how many hours you think it'll take you that was that one question back in the day yeah yeah yeah no it's a great question question um I I work on licenses across the state I just my back I was as as you know for Mr marle uh Bob I was a Town Council in stonum for 30 years uh in-house did all their work so uh in working across the state on licenses I work with large towns tiny towns uh I pride myself in being coste effective uh that uh that you know I get the job done in a very efficient way uh with a good result what's what's difficult here to judge is and and we'll be and I'll be able to give you uh estimates as we go along uh we can limit you know work or or not what's difficult to judge is M Mr chairman that that what work's going to be involved for instance uh I I believe at least based on the sheet that that Bob marel had said there may be an extension of the cable system that's still an open issue is that right an area where where Spectrum want will want to be paid to extend the system at least there was a document I had on that at one point um yeah no no he had some he had some loc this document had locations of uh like U these prices remain in effect let's see 625 Main Street um maybe maybe not all right so then there's the issue of what what sort of compensation if any uh is is the T would the town be looking for Charter for Charter using your public way you know which you buy and maintain repair police ensure um for for their cable system because remember Charter is in your is under the FCC decision which if FS on my side of the aisle disagree with FCC says if if if a cable company has a cable license it gives them the right to provide other services like internet and telephone uh without without the uh franchising Authority the licensing Authority the bo bard of Selman uh regulating that or charging for that so that all their rights not only for cable but their other rights at the come from being a a cable company if they w a cable company they they could try they could get other permission to be in your right away but that's how they do it so the question I've thought it here is uh it's important for to take a look at are the rates and this is hard because you know they don't publicize their rates but we can try to get bills are the rates that Charter charges in hampon are are they less because the board has emphasized the importance of cost and not wanting to take action which would cause Charter to raise their prices and and that's the perfectly fine position to take but I think to get it to renew the license uh the first thing that we should look at is to see whether that's true whether or not by not having a franchise fee for instance at the uh that the final rates that are charged by Charter or less because if they're not less then the towns well meaning and good effort to try to constrain Rising cable prices doesn't work because the charters in effect keeping the savings they have from the town now was now if that's that'll take a little work but not a lot of work you know we just want to get some bills by from different communities from hamon and just take a look if we can figure out whether or not there's truly a savings so you know that'll take you know 8 hours five hours something like that then if the board decides that that it would like to continue it its current practice of not having a franchise fee then the license really comes down to protecting the town in the document from uh uh from gaming the system going forward to get out of obligations uh protecting the public way protecting the legal interest uh and there in a charter there's some challenges but but that's not an that's a doable task uh and that process you know it might take that could take maybe 15 20 hours you know it but what I what I say is if I can get that done and I'm doing a lot of Charter licenses now and you get the benefit of that so and that's likely so given that I might be able to do it in you know uh hours or 10 hours so what I can tell you is as we go along we'll understand the scope of the work and I can continue to give you then estimates of what that work will be um but if you wanted a number of hours now I'll throw something out uh I'd say you know first let's try to you know keep it within uh 25 hours but again as we go along uh we'll make sure that it's meeting your your Cost needs and your cost Effectiveness needs and I can uh uh I I can promise you that I will get the work done in a cost-effective way we're not going to waste time or or or or money I do a lot of cable licensing and my goal is uh as it was as a Town Council for one town for 30 years and I've done cable work for about 25 years is to make sure that you get a good license in a very cost effective way okay good bill I got a couple questions about what you were saying and they're going to dovetail into a couple different other topics um the department of telecommunications regulates cable correct yes but most of it their their role in cable other than if you reach out to the department is very very minimal other than sending you a letter saying hey where are things at they they have a hands a hands-off approach with respect to the license renewal is matter which I think is good would you say cable licensing is an unregulated commodity cable services no but it's just like the good news is as I see it is that that the the cable act gives the authority to the franchising Authority and that's you so but prices are as you know as you said prices are unregulated when they you know 25 years ago the uh cable 1996 cable Act uh D deregulated prices so the board has no ability to control the price of cable right but with respect to the issue of Peg access as you know public education government access and you folks do a great job on YouTube with respect to those issues and and and and financial and policy and legal issues uh we we we we have authority in that sense we we regulated this document what about internet is Internet services unregulated great great Point yes internet services are not governed by the cable act uh at this point at one point they were you know at one point they were cable and at one point they were telephone the moment they call it Information Services so we can't control or affect the internet service other than you know if there's truly a large issue in town you know at least we can raise the issue with people we know uh because we know the cable people because they have to get a license so my question was you were talking about public way and um the public licensing and that license agreement that we come to terms with with Spectrum you said if we grant them the cable license automatically grants them authority to string whatever else they want on those lines too well uh right municipalities it's that that's still something that's actually been remanded to the FCC but a 19 2019 decision that the FCC deci decided that those other you know the cable company has a right to provide those other services and not be regulated exactly right by the franchising Authority so that we you know we we don't um we don't have authority over those but again they need a cable license at under their present approach in order to provide those services and that's what's up now it's not really whether they get a cable license but how they get that and in theory if if if if the approach of a cable company was was didn't meet the needs at all or was violating its license in theory a town and and sometimes does and uh do something called a preliminary denial basically saying you know we're not going to give you a new a new cable license now that there only been like four of those that have been finalized in the country but that's a risk but exactly right that we don't regulate those things and cable company can provide it under the cable license I mean I know it's a whole legislative thing and I have an issue with you know granting them a cable license but then saying hey you have free reign to do whatever else you want on there you know whether it's telephone internet or whatever you know we we have major internet issues here in town which is why we push that fiber optic incentive that they spent you know lots of money to to combat here at a town meeting and you know we're a little bit bitter here because of that you know they're they're providing poor service they're not providing stady the art service and they're doing nothing to reinvest into our infrastructure so I'm assuming there there this whole licensing agreement that they've elapsed per you know general laws that Mr Davenport said is probably because of some type of retaliation for us wanting to go into a fiber optic program no no you know good point to raise um I'm not yelling at you I'm just yelling no no no no yeah no the challenge with Charter is that uh you're not alone here that Charter in my view and you know you know the people they gentleman uh government Affairs person uh has moved on to I guess another place so we the I don't know if to deal with John Mah John Mah has has moved on to another job somewhere and good for him and uh uh and they haven't replaced uh uh John yet they they have a a person who handles government affairs from Connecticut but is not a person who works on renewal I actually view that as a good opportunity for us because I think uh at this point Charter has a lot of things that they have to handle and they're missing a person who handled the whole state and because recently Vermont it had been New Hampshire before I mean I can think of another large cable company that would have you know 15 people uh 20 people handling that not one so I think you know they have their hands full and it's a good opportunity for us to say look uh there hamton has certain needs that need to be met uh here's what they are here's how we think it should be done here here's here's here's a a proposed uh provisions on those issues uh and and S and say you know you know let's the better part of wisdom is to get those done rather than have a a public fight about that so I think we have an opportunity here but the bad news is that Charter is looking as they see to the Future and as they see it streaming and internet based video so as a result of that and I you know I I I want to be fair to them but I want to be straightforward they do not have the same commitment to cable that the largest cable company in the state has and and so we're not alone but we want to make sure that uh that if they're if they're not going to do certain things in other places they need to do it inh handed uh in order to uh uh to to get to an agreement that's in their interest uh not just Stars my last question is the town of Holland switched to Cox Communications Cox cable services in 2000 they had the whole legal hearings and stuff like that what's how would the town of Hampton solicit another provider to want to come in is there is that even a possibility are we stuck with spectrum because they're here yeah no that's great question you know I I I I thought I I had heard that and C is in one other community in massachusett four adoro Holland and there's a couple other yeah not adbor I do but not adabor but but but the some right on the border you know they do the full as you know better than I uh they do the full state of I think Rhode Island I believe it is oh Connecticut right Connecticut sorry um so cable companies typically traditional cable companies don't overbuild uh they won't come in uh so I'll look with you with your help I'll look at the Holland my guess is that that they they were willing to do it because it borders Connecticut and and they Pro and and they may have even provided some of the infrastructure but typically unless there's you know there's something that's similar in hon and you don't remind do you border Connecticut I apologize yes I could throw a stone in hit Connecticut okay well you know like all things uh and this is a very proactive board uh there there's no harm in writing Connecticut writing Cox and let and telling Cox you'd be interested them coming in uh to Hampton and you know and then you know I I don't I don't think they'll say yes but you know if in life you don't try something you don't know so I I I think that's a good suggestion to do that apart from that Verizon is no longer building bios that has cable but they are building bios uh for purposes of uh they call that's what they call their fiber uh for for for internet and telephone purposes is so we could reach out and you know I know the players to Verizon to find out the status of their uh Service uh Fiber service in in hon and to see if they're interested in uh and expanding that that FiOS in in hampon to provide uh hopefully all three services but but certainly internet and telephone so I think that's also something that that has Maybe you know more more likely chance to success uh there's uh there's a new company that like the fourth largest in in the in the in the country it had been American cable I'm forgetting the name now and I did a license with them in havil they're building up there you know I I I think there's they're they're nowhere else um but you know again to show the public that you know you're looking at all options and you're trying hard you no harm in sending that company a letter and and and speaking with them and I know the the Gent govern Affairs person for the company and see we just need to do our diligence you know as a as a you know representative for the public we need to do our diligence to make sure we looked at other options because people are not happy with Spectrum in town and if we just re up a contract with them they're going be like what's this all about obviously we have to do the public hearings and stuff but as long as we say hey there are other options are they viable we don't know but you know we should search them that's exactly right and I should say you know you did the most you did the the best thing possible you looked into building fiber of the home I I I should say that my um full disclosure my wife is a Town Administrator in lever and Le Town lever did the first fiber of the home they have an amazing system and a lot of towns in western Mass you know that didn't have uh and most of them didn't have any fiber or they had have it extended if if they had a company so you took the best route possible doesn't mean you can't try it again it's unfortunate that um uh cable company put its AE in that fight that's typically uh you know other companies at least two other I can think of you know wouldn't do that um and so what that means uh as the board is making very clear here that uh Charter is a company that's like all companies is the business and it's not shy about trying to protect what it views is its interest and the town is clearly articulated here today by the board men have spoken the town also appreciates that that it's it's a municipal Corporation and it represents your residents and the taxpayers you don't represent their subscribers but as subscribers but you represent the residents and the taxpayers and you need as you are to look out for the interest of the town and it it residents and the same way as the company looks out for its and that's what you know I want to bring to the table uh and our biggest and at least my Approach is that you know these companies can do good you know do a lot of good things and Charter does a lot of good stuff and there're good people and we want to let them know that that that's the way we uh we anticipate and hope that they'll uh address the issues that that the town has there are some things we'll disagree on but there are other things that that are reasonable and fair and uh we'll be asking them to approach it in in that manner that it can be a win-win and if it if if if the town feels that it's not getting a fair answer or not getting an answer or is being bullied well you know the way we articulate that is at meetings and other ways so that the public understands that uh we live in a world where these things get on the newspaper get on the internet go across the state no company wants to be viewed as unfairly treating uh a a small town that's trying to do the best so I'm hopeful that uh that uh with the board's very strong interest in this as we'll Express to Charter that Charter is the kind of company that can come to the table and get things done and uh we'll we'll move uh cable ahead in town and we'll also Express the uh the other needs with respect to internet service that Charter provides so they they can be aware of what it is that hamen would like to see uh from from from Charter Communications anything else no motions move to authorize the chair to uh enter into negotiations for extension to execute an agreement for a short-term extension of the cable license the chairman is here author to negotiate with the supporter Town Administrator special counsel Bill Solomon as the chair May requ request the final short-term extension agreement is the intent of this vote that the agreement be finalized and fully executed honored before March 16 2024 the extension right the extension yes second any further discussion all in favor I I all right bill you got some direction okay oh thank you I look forward to working with you okay have a good day by by you Tobe anything else to come before the board yeah quickly I saw an email just come in about uh an extension to the murf program oh yeah and what they're saying is we were supposed to have a warrant article about this back in 2019 and I've been scaning through the minutes and I cannot find it on any town meeting and I swear this came up we did that's what I thought we authorized to do it I got I'll keep looking for okay we got we do yeah you recall it yeah before you Craig but I know this came up I wasn't here okay well let Craig didn't get it done that was the problem so I'm good so the the board authorized uh you's got to make the change before I sign it yeah and then we authorized Don to sign okay the only thing we held up last time we were looking for a kind of a guesstimate Bill how many hours do you think this and that's all we ever waiting for what you say 25 to start well we asked them for how many hours and then we also asked them you know how do we solicit other vendors we ask we asked Bob to facilitate all that right it happened a few years back that La metal all right so Cox was going to take over some communities in Mass but that was because of a national thing that Cox charge were and the FCC was going to require them to give up certain territories but it didn't happen at that point all motion to adjourn second all in favor well I said it earlier so it's all right thank you all thank you all for tuning in shut that thing up shut that thing yeah did you really yeah