e e e e e e e e six time for meeting to begin I would ask everyone you to dve for the salute the flag because of the nature of the uh uh meeting tonight I don't believe a roll call is necessary as as it is not a public burough council meeting but a hearing or a meeting uh for the purposes of our community making any comments that they wish uh before the renewal of our cable uh television uh franchise agreement which is coming up for a vote on Monday this Monday April 29th it is something that has been discussed or at least been notified on uh several other meetings uh to make our community aware of it uh but there was discussion and a request to hold a public uh meeting for the opportunity for comments I do want to question uh and I'll just give you as a personal aside getting involved in this uh negotiating of this agreement initially was more of a consumer rather than as a council person when I first got involved and the reason for that is know sometimes we're nobody happy with the providers that we have whatever it might be uh but when I became involved in this negotiation what I learned is this is really more of a static process it was more of a legal process and making sure that or ensuring that our current cable provider was or at least meets the minimum standards necessary to be able to issue another uh uh franchise agreement which will be coming for the vote on um on Monday understand that we printed out and we also had online what the agreement looks like much of it is terms and conditions that are very much standard legal lease on every franchise agreement there were a few items in there that we were able to uh negotiate further that appear on the final page uh but by and large these are the same um I would say uh achievements that every municipality will get uh through cable vision and in addition the uh and most importantly the franchise fee which is very uh very productive for the community itself uh today we have Marilyn Davis who is representative of cable vision or Alti corporation which is the parent Corporation um she is available to go over any of those items that appear in that franchise agreement I will say that if your comments are related to service bills and invoices that's not necessarily why Marilyn is here today uh but obviously if there is a comment she'll take it back to uh to her headquarters um if there aren't any other questions um Marilyn just turn it over to you as to um as to the agreement and U kind of ballpark the items that are important for uh SVO sure good good evening I am Marilyn Davis I'm the state director for government Affairs for Alti I've been with the company seven years I have been um um doing franchise renewals from the beginning um we have been uh truth be told uh engaging with SVO since 2016 to renew our frch so it's taken us a long time to get here through various administrations and I want to commend both um the councilman as well as Glenn for their due diligence on behalf of the community I'm advocating for things for the community so I'm I'm happy to take any questions um this is a 10-year contract uh agreement and just want to clarify this agreement does not mean no other provider can come in we do not have exclusivity it's like a license a license to operate that is it anyone who desires to come into the town can still come into the town another issue that may arise ining this conversation is rates rates are not controlled by the municipality rates are controlled by the by the FCC by the federal government this is a cable franchise not a Broadband franchise Broadband also is controlled by the federal government so that which the town can negotiate we have negotiated those terms and again this is very baller plate language the language that you will see here will be the language you will see probably in um the town in town uh Dunellen or matachin or Edison's the same language in those towns as well there's a turn period there's um providing basic cable to Municipal on buildings those things will happen we negotiate a few items outside of that that is not boiler plate language um but to to give some concessions to the town yeah so as far as servic is concerned uh to free services to the remember I just wanted to point out again is this is not about internet service this is about specifically cable television and the operation of cable television within cbal um that's what this agreement is all about uh what what was in the agreement from prior is what was moved forward and some of which is the ability to have um free cable TV uh to our elementary as well as our High School uh to our library we also have that to our volunteer services which is our fire departments as well as Emergency Services believe we also to our public through the Public Works fog as well sorry any Municipal owned property can have free free free basic cable because the negotiations did take some time and it was sometimes convoluted over the last couple of months we were able to negotiate some issues that I think are different and are exclusive to Sera one is that uh we will get free basic internet service internet service an account for the B hole itself also provide Wi-Fi at the burall football field which is the Veterans Field if for some reason technologically that's not possible and it may not be possible mapping shows it at this point but it's not possible WT or um cable vision has agreed to a a grant of $5,000 in L doing that in addition there will be two biannual meetings to occur at the burrow Hall uh the purpose of which is to hear comment in this particular case to hear comment not on the franchise agreement but to hear your comments about how your cable service is and what you're looking for in your cable product in addition um there are two grants that are issued they're onetime grants one for $10,000 is a technology Grant and the second is a 5,000 onetime Grant as well to be used exclusively at the Burrow's discretion these were not ordinary negotiated items that you'll see and anybody else's agreement we worked exclusively with with all East and Maryland to be able to come up with with these concessions we're very happy and pleased they were able to do that and just to um expound on what you just said regarding the Broadband Broadband is not part of a cable franchise that is a give back that that the company is giv to the community now I don't want to take any more time if on those explanations uh I'm here to we're here for comments from the public on on the uh cable franchise agreement and if you have concerns regarding service I'm happy to address those concerns on the side and take your information back we have a unit called corporate executive customer relations that will handle any service issues so I can provide that to them this evening they'll respond to you [Music] tomorrow okay again okay thank you now is there anyone that would like to come up from the public Steven levenson five Telegraph Lane saille so if I heard you correct we haven't had a franchise agreement from them since 2016 yes so when a franchise expires the expired franchise continues until it's renewed yes I know so in 1996 the town negotiate a franchise agreement with tkr and then that one ended in um 06 and then there was a new agreement that was done in ' 07 and that's the last agreement that we have in place correct 2016 expired in 2016 March 23st 2016 right November 6 2016 is when it expired and we haven't had one since correct okay so in the last two cable franchise agreements this town negotiated and got from cable vision and tkr that they would maintain an office within the burrow I do not see that in this new agreement I'm wondering why is it being taken out when it's actually been in forest for 30 years an office an office do you have an office in a a store you have a uh at Shop Right you have a store it used to be in the mini mall on ernston Road and then it moved to shop rate years ago on off arston Washington that's correct so what in last year uh there was a request by Altis to be able to move that building over to the Gateway according to the agreement it says it's a local area so local the agreement says within the burrow the last two agreements say within the world so let me say this the location that the Gateway project we had secure space that we thought was in um sville Parlin and we realized that once we finalized with the the Le the LEC that is in Oldbridge but it's it was going to be that same Plaza so um as a result of that we asked to move the location to where it is now yeah well then somebody should have did some research before you signed the lease realizing that it's not within the burrow and I also take issue with this being changed in the contract okay because this was actually fought for over like I said probably 30 years ago I was on the cable franch uh cable Advisory Board back then I was involved in the 1996 negotiation and we fought for it and it was something that we got and it's very sad and upsetting to me to see it go and if you take the language out now and you say local office how are you going to define local what is local is local piscato is local the def then Define local in here make the change make a local office be sville Oldbridge or South Amoy make it more restrictive than it is now put some V better verbiage in here so that 10 years from now or two years from now when you want to give up the lease and Gateway and move to Piscataway at your other facility and just have that be it now we have to travel that much further to exchange things to pay bills to you know get new boxes or whatever I will say this through technology and Innovation even in five years you may not be going to the store one you can send and receive your equipment overnight you can you can return equipment through the post office or through FedEx right you can pay bills online in in five years the stores may be obsolete all all together I mean I can't say that but I'm saying like we're evolving through technology the I mean you you like you said 1996 you were here 1996 no we were all here right and and the world has evolved since 1996 who knows what's going to happen in 20 in 2034 right we don't know what the world's gonna look like see yeah I I yes you can overnight me to box but if the store is open and my box is broken I can go go and get it and bring it home and boom I'm good to go I don't have you can go right now you can go down the street to Oldbridge and get a boxing retirement right I understand that but what's to stop you from a year and now from closing the orridge office I don't that's not going to because there's a lease right so it's not going to close in a in a year because there's not a oneye lease and right right how long did you lease it for I mean I can get back to you with that information on how long the lease is I think also uh because of the agreement I think there it still has to be approval by Council because this is this is not an exclusive this is not a one person or one entity agreement right it's with the burrow as well so if the building was or the office was to be moved they have to come to us first for approval not no not in it not the way it's written now I don't I'm not going to argue with you but I will tell you that they that they would come to us at the discretion that they've had before they it says cable vision shall establish and maintain during the entire term of the consent a local area business office or agent for the purpose of receiving investigating resolving complaints regarding quality service equipment malfunctions similar matter set office shall be open daily during the normal business hours and in no event less than 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday with the exceptional holidays that's in the agreement that's in that agreement so the question is let's define local in the agreement let's not just leave the word local because local could have a different meaning for you and a different meaning for me it can also be Challen Loca can also be challenged if the company were say Okay Piscataway is local the the town can go to BPU and fight and say no no no local is local to Seria right the scway is not local and that's the verbiage we had for the last 30 years in our agreement and that's the verbage that I have issued with being taken out it clearly defined what local Wass local WS within the boundaries of the town all right and it clearly spread it out a local office in the burrow for the purpose of receiving all right if you look at the agreement that ended in 2019 it's number seven it clearly says burrow it doesn't say local so what I would like is I would like local to be defined rather than just local make it be local as in Oldbridge cille or South Amway and then that way you're fine with your gateway but you're not a year from now when your lease is up going to turn around and then move the office 10 15 20 miles away from cille and then that's your definitional local oh it's within the county it's local that qualifies all right thank you thank you do have to give my address and everything well you don't have to give your last name because it's on Bob Duffy 111 Avenue listen uh he has a valid point the gentlemen and I understand it but a contract is all gobbly G to the normal people like me okay and uh I have basically all common sense that's how I operate now I don't know I have a lot of questions but I don't know if you can answer them the 30-year contract that you had before what were you pay in the township 30-year contract I don't think we had a 30-y year contract 10 year it's 10 it's in 10 year increments it's what 10 year increments okay but what would they pay in the franchise to the township let me see if I have that it's I don't know if I gave you the number the actual number and it's every 10 years correct and that stated at 2% correct okay and that's by that's by um statute now 10 30 years ago we were paying 1980 for basic or 980 for basic cable today that's not there's no basic cable you're paying in the hundreds today and I understand it benefits the township because of the 2% they're getting more money because of the raise that you people give to your customers do you think and I know you negotiated this do you think after 30 years maybe you should give the township 4% so it's by Statute so there's two two franchise agreements there's a local franchise agreement LFA that's 2% and if a systemwide is 3.5% the 2% gives a town negotiating author which is the things that we discussed here the three the 3.5% which is negotiated with the Board of Public Utilities takes out all negotiations you get more money you get less Services you get you get basic cable and and I think some some internet in C certain places and that is it you get the additional money but there's no negotiating power okay stat I'll go back I'll go back to the Common Sense part 20 even 10 years ago so it's by Statute years ago you were paying x amount of money for any kind of a product uhuh okay my taxes were at a certain point 10 years later my taxes are up high and yet you're paying the same 2.5% don't you think that the township should be be giving more money now that's a a negotiated contract even Mr Jeffy statute the problem is is that that's not a negotiable number it's set by statutes so it's not something that we I would love to be able I would love to be able to say that we could negotiate that stand the state the state legislature has that a public utility it is goes for the BPU actually yes but also keep in mind this that 2% is still important to us it's greatly important to us because it's based on the gross revenue you receive so that number does go up but I understand your argument and quite frankly when I first sat down I went you're kidding me but it is by Statute and we can't divert for we can't okay all right don't have the ability to do that I learned I thought 2% 30 years ago maybe it should have raised a little bit you know what I mean agre now another question I don't know if you have this number in the last five years how many customers have you lost in town I I don't have that number I'm happy to provide that too okay now it's Glen the other thing the other thing is I know you give the township free internet the cameras you know the schools it's free right cable Cable cable to not cable internet not internet just cable although the burrow hole is getting internet that was part of this this you think you can negotiate that in there or something let me tell you something okay and the other thing well I they make a lot of money they're not poor okay and they're paying I would say not their fair share okay they're paying what they can get away with okay do understand this and I'm not sticking up for them in any way shape or form but they don't have to sign this franchise agreement no I understand that so so when we do say that you we are in in a certain position where we do feel that the franchise agreement is more important to have because it gives us more uh more abilities and obviously more concessions there is the other Spectre of cable vision basically saying you know what we're we're just going to continue to give you service yeah without a franchise agreement or we can give you the systemwide franchise agreement which takes you all takes the local community out of the mix and we just deal with the Board of Public Utilities right that's a 4% 3 and a half% goes to the town. five goes to the BPU and then the community will see higher rates on top of that for the for that okay now the last question okay do you think it would be nice a nice suggestion to take care of the citizens I mean the senior citizens in this town they get a discount for their water they get a discount for this do you think you can approach the board at the cable company uh that maybe they should give a 5% or 10% discount for seniors 90% of them are living on a fixed income I'm going to respond to you one moment I just wanted to check and see if it was in there already us only on basic cable and you have verify every year that you were still sen I know they give away they they try to get you to fill out uh for $30 discount on the internet for low income but I'm saying as a senior period you know what I mean it's so it's not g be it's it's not gonna go across the board I don't I'm just double check I just want to double check because I thought uh this is not one hold on give me a second sorry hit me with one I wasn't expecting and someone double check um so I would say this we and I was sharing this with a lady in the audience whose name I I did not capture we do have a product that's coming out in May I don't have the definitive date like when it's coming out but we had a product called Altis advantage and we're reimagine that program um for lowincome um uh consumers I mean that's coming out in May um and that product the last time we had it the the rate was like $49.99 a month I'm not sure what the new product is going to look like the last product was like 25 megabytes I think dson is going to be a little higher um we haven't gone public yet so I can't disclose what that's going to look like but that's coming out in March I mean in May and I'm happy to communicate to Glenn what that is when it comes out for the community the key is senior citizen not just lowincome well Bob the presumption is is that a senior citizen on a fixed income should should more than likely meet the income restrictions for a program like that but also also a regular a single mom would qualify for that correct but I'm no I'm just saying for seniors there there could be some seniors there that are just over the threshold or even above the threshold and they do they how can I say they plan their retirement a lot better than other people why should they get penalized when it's in the group because we have and I'm not saying they're getting penalized but there are just there I just want to say there are products that are available depending on your range right so um I want say called care per se but if there's a senior who's looking for a particular to lower their bill for instance we get these all the time people come to call me or they go go to Glenn and say my bill and he'll send it to me and then we'll send it to that unit CCR to see if there's a package that's more conducive for that particular Comm uh uh customer so we have a range of products um that could be applicable for that particular an individual who needs that just just asking you don't ask I'm taking notes all right thank you very much Mr Duffy anybody else from the public that would wish to speak or make comment yeah hello hi I'm Sharon Wells from 11 Hendrick Court um so I was just wondering so why did it take so long to come up with an agreement I wasn't here in 2016 um I just so I'm not sure what transpired I know that um the the administration that was here probably in 2018 I think it was a different I don't think you were here then none of us none of us were here but we worked over the we we worked the better part of the last six or eight months getting this ironed out to get it done you know once we became aware of the shortcoming we acted on it immediately I can't speak to why it wasn't addressed before that and I will say during that period of when Co hit in 2020 and 2021 that was a period where there was you know some issues right and so kind of delayed um but as the two can attest this is not one of those like TurnKey we meet two times and it's done this is a process this is a back and forth and also like understanding how the industry operates and where things are in the industry and understanding the state laws and how some certain things are are formulate or temp the template for it so it was a a long process to get here this was not we started in June I think June May or June last year um and with regard to the office at least with it being in the town a local building owner would benefit from the we understand that the least so that that would be that argument was made by the members of council right um so yeah I guess that's all I have um but does it have to be 10 years do we have to go 10 years typically they're like around 15 10 years um wow you know if it's everything is by Statute right and if we sign a 5 year agreement technically within a year you'd have to start the renegotiation process again right so basically when you were saying that if we didn't have a franchise agreement um cable vision would still be here because you guys have the lines and all of that so we can't because of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 we cannot kick cable vision out which also causes the problem that we can't get uh Comcast to come that's not true that's not truec Comcast won't won't wire the do the capital expense to wire the whole town right to get half 50% of the population so that is not true the world has changed since 1996 there are so there is this um in the industry and you'll if you do the research you'll you'll know what I'm talking about um but the industry is at a point where everyone has kind of maxed out when it comes to customers right and so um I'll say also postco where the state the federal government um passed the arpa arpa bill as well as the infrastructure Bill both bills contain um funding for broadband and so they're both even in New Jersey New Jersey has received over $300 million for broadband and I know that most people still holding on to hardwire cable but a lot of people are streaming right and so because of these two things these two bills and these pots of money that's available to New Jersey that's created a climate where um there um fiber and fiber providers are now in um um infiltrating or coming into communities to provide fiber optic um Broadband services so that those things were happening but there is overbuilding occurring within the Legacy provider communities so others can come in they are making the capital Investments to go into communities where they see the ROI but does cable vision intend to do fiber you guys we are we have came in we came in here Mr Dey were you here then I think it was probably before Co we came here to meet with the town to get permission to do um overlash in which we did I think 2018 2019 I think it was before Co though so there's fiber here this F in part of the town it's not 100% okay no underground Community but over um underground and MD MDU community did not get get fiber optic but a real community did get fiber optic I'm sorry in what community aiel Aras with aiel with no okay so the communities with underground cannot get it is that what not yet so the newer communities no the under oh okay not necessarily newer I'm in a house from 1974 and I am waiting with eager anticipation for the underground CA uh fiber to roll out but it it's just the nature of they're doing the overhead first aeriel is cheaper right so you you use you start with aeriel um and then you raise capital and then you then migrate over to underground because it's more expensive okay one more last thing okay um so with Xfinity because my daughter lives in East Brunswick and with Xfinity you have you have one major one major cable box in your house and then you can get a smaller just streaming box um from Xfinity and you don't have to pay for extra cable boxes for each TV you want a cable box on um do you guys see yourselves moving to that absolutely it's coming it's coming won't have to pay for like each like I paid for five boxes I think so streaming is coming this is part of the Innovation conversation um we were having earlier like the most of most of us of a certain age where we saw the flat screen TV right on the floor the big old boxes we have evolved from that we now have TVs about this then right so the world is changing and we are moving into the streaming area I know that we're again talking to the young lady earlier in the audience most people I don't have cable and I work for a cable company I have I stream right but I can't do without it I don't why well you know I like HTV I mean I know you can stream that too but I just like cable I like news2 you know but so they're coming out with products that will um smaller boxes in some cases you can use Apple TV device to stream from that um so right now sorry so right now I can use an Apple TV box to actually stream cable vision instead of paying for a box okay all look into that but you can call you can either give me information I give to CC I have them call you or you can call K and they can share with you different products stop by the store oh you can stop by the store and I haven't been to the store here but the store in Edison is like it's like a it's like a Apple Store so they can walk through you through all the products I haven't been to the one here yet so I'm not sure how advanced that one is but they're like a Apple Store so they can show you all the different products and all the streaming services you're welcome Miss Wales any additional comments from the public if not I want to thank you all for coming um I appreciate all the great information I know Marilyn will take back a lot of that to try to work things as best as possible for our burrow um wish you a good rest of the evening and thank you very much