Jackson, Minnesota April 3, 2018 The Jackson City Council met in regular session in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 with the meeting called to order by Mayor Wayne Walter. On the roll call, the following persons were present: Mayor Wayne Walter, Aldermen Matt Madden, Larry Anderson, Brandon Finck, Ken Temple, Donnie Schoenrock and Dave Cushman, City Attorney Brad Anderson, Jackson Fire Chief Mark Temple, Southwest Minnesota Broadband General Manager Travis Thies, Jan Fransen, Steve Fransen, Street Superintendent Phil Markman, Engineer Greg Mitchell of Bolton and Menk, City Clerk/Council Secretary Dave Maschoff, Justin Lessman of the Jackson County t and Dave Schmidt of KKOJ/KUXX Radio. (Interim City Administrator ard Almich was absent.) (A quorum of the City Council was present.) CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Walter called the regular meeting of the Jackson City Council to order. He said the roll call showed all Council members present. Mayor Walter noted Interim City Administrator Richard Almich was absent. There were no Public Hearings, Bid Lettings or Open Forum. There were no Unscheduled Guests who attended the meeting. CONSENT AGENDA SCHOENROCK/TEMPLE moved and it was unanimously carried to approve the Consent Agenda as presented.Council Discussion Items WATER TREATMENT PLANT IMPROVEMENTS — MARIA. TIEGS, SEH, INCORPORATED — PROJECT OVERVIEW (COSTS, SCHEDULES, ETC.) - APPROVE PLANS AND SET BID DATE FOR APRIL 26, 2018 - APPROVE AGREEMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES — COMPLETE “CERTIFICATE OF SURVEY” FOR VET’S OIL/CITY LANDS ~ ESTIMATED COST - $5,000 Mayor Water noted that SEH, Incorporated was unable to get their representative to the April 3" Council meeting. He asked the Council if they wanted to approve the project plans and set the bid date for April 26"” or wait until the next Council meeting. Schoenrock said he received the emailed information about the project, but he would feel more comfortable having the project explained to him first unless there is a time deadline that has to be met. Mayor Walter said he was unaware of any time deadlines. Mayor Walter entertained a motion to table action on the Water Treatment Plant Improvements. ANDERSON/FINCK moved and it was unanimously carried to table action regarding the Water Treatment Plant Improvements. Cushman asked about seeing if Maria Tiegs of SEH, Incorporated could attend the next City Council meeting to explain the project. He noted the Water Treatment Plant improvements have been in the works for about a year and doesn’t think the City wants to delay it any further. CITY ADMINISTRATOR RECRUITMENT ~ ANNOUNCE FINALISTS FOR THE POSITION OF CITY ADMINISTRATOR — REVIEW REMAINING SCHEDULE FOR THE SELECTION PROCESS Mayor Walter thanked Consultant Jan Fransen for all the hard work she has done in the recruitment of a new City Administrator. Fransen provided a brief overview of the recruitment process. She noted Interim City Administrator Rick Almich has also been updating the Personnel Committee, Mayor and Council through the process.Fransen said advertising of the City Administrator's position started in February. She said advertising was done locally on the City’s website and Facebook page and through the Jackson County Pilot. On-line, Fransen said the position was advertised through the League of Minnesota Cities, Association of Minnesota Counties, Minnesota City/County Managers Association's list serve and the International City and County Managers Association. She said they also posted the City Administrator's position at several colleges and universities both within Minnesota and also regionally. She said the position was advertised over a broad area. Fransen said 21 resumes were received. She said the City Council’s Personnel Committee interviewed four candidates. Fransen added there was a fifth candidate that was offered an interview and accepted, but declined the offer the next day. She said two of the candidates that were interviewed withdrew due to salary concerns. Fransen said she thinks it has more to do with those two candidate’s experience compared to the salary that the City of Jackson was able to offer. Fransen noted she doesn’t think it’s a matter of the City of Jackson being out of line in the salary that they’re offering; it’s just matching that offer. Fransen reported there is one finalist that the Personnel Committee is Presenting to the City Council. She said that person is Matthew Skaret. Fransen provided the Mayor and Councilmembers a summary of Skaret’s background. Fransen said she would ask the City Council to certify Skaret as a finalist for the position of City Administrator at their April 3° meeting. She said it was hoped that there would be two finalists brought to the Council, but she said the Personnel Committee does believe that they have a good solid finalist here. Fransen said Skaret will be interviewed at 5:45 p.m. on April 12". She noted the City Council already approved setting that special meeting at 5:30 p.m. on April 12" as listed in the Council’s Consent Agenda. Fransen said meeting at 5:30 p.m. will allow the Mayor and Council to get ready for the interview. She said the Council is scheduled to deliberate after the interview if they choose to, but don’t have to. Fransen said the Council can discuss it afterwards and make a decision that night, or if they want to wait until the next Council meeting they can do that as well.Fransen reported she has done some preliminary reference checks of all the semi-finalists. She said they have checked out good so far. Fransen said assuming that the City Council will certify Skaret as finalist; she can do a criminal background check. She explained she can't do criminal background checks until the candidate is certified by the City Council as a finalist. Fransen said she will also verify Skaret’s education throughout the rest of the background checks. Temple thanked Fransen for her work. Fransen thanked the Mayor and Council and also thanked the Selection Committee for all the work they've done. Fransen said the Committee held several meetings and appreciates that the Committee worked with her at a distance allowing her to do that by phone. Personnel Committee member Finck said it's been a good process. He said he thinks the Committee has been pleased with the quality of candidates they've received. Finck said it’s surprising the interest that was shown in this position by some of the experienced people that applied. He added it’s been a long process to get where they are at, but a good process and it’s time to move forward now. Cushman commented both the top two candidates were the top two candidates. He said he feels they lost one candidate strictly on the wages. Cushman said he doesn’t think we're settling by any means. He said that’s the gist of this whole conversation. Cushman thinks the City Council will be very pleased if they can come to an agreement with Skaret. He said he thinks the Council will all be impressed with him. Schoenrock thanked Fransen and said it’s exciting. FINCK/SCHOENROCK moved and it was unanimously carried to certify Matthew Skaret as a finalist for the position of City Administrator. Councilmembers thanked Fransen. DEMONSTRATION OF SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA BROADBAND’S IPTV — SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA BROADBAND GENERAL MANAGER TRAVIS THIES AND COUNCILMAN DONNIE SCHOENROCK Schoenrock said what they're going to talk about with the Council is the new Internet Protocal Television (IPTV) that Southwest Minnesota Broadband is launching. He said the new IPTV is called “Southwest Stream”.Schoenrock explained Southwest Stream is an IP based video service. He said it’s what Southwest Minnesota Broadband is completely switching over to from the video service it currently has. Schoenrock said the traditional coax cable that runs into homes and screws into the back of televisions will be gone. He said you will no longer be able to access video that way in your home or anywhere in the City of Jackson unless you have Dish or Direct TV into your house. Schoenrock explained the reason Southwest Minnesota Broadband is making the switch. He said basically the future of television was really in question for Southwest Broadband. Schoenrock said Southwest Broadband knew they had to make some upgrades and make some changes, but they didn’t really know what todo. Schoenrock noted he serves as the Mayor's appointed representative from Jackson to serve on the Southwest Minnesota Broadband Board of Directors. Schoenrock said the reason Southwest Broadband is switching to IPTV is because they knew they had to make a change. He pointed out about a year and a half ago, Southwest Broadband talked about a really expensive change estimated to cost upwards of $2 million and whether they would have to bond for the upgrade or seek some other type of financing. Schoenrock said Thies found the IPTV solution which was extremely less expensive. Schoenrock explained Southwest Broadband is working with a company called Southern Fibernet which is based in Atlanta, Georgia. He said Thies toured Southern Fibernet’s plant and facilities in Atlanta. Schoenrock said Southern Fibernet has been really great to work with. Schoenrock said the reason Southwest Broadband is switching to IPTV is because the current video service you get in the back of your television with a regular coax is eventually going away. Schoenrock explained one of the reasons why is because it’s becoming more and more expensive to maintain traditional coaxial cable systems and a lot more people are streaming programming over the internet whether it be through Hulu or Netflix or apps like Southwest Stream. He said people are getting away from regular cable systems in their house.Schoenrock pointed out Southwest Broadband customers that currently have @ package of internet and television are paying $128.85 a month for a 50 megabit internet and video service into their home. Schoenrock said Thies estimates Southwest Broadband’s video service was $73.90 of that total cost. He pointed out if Southwest Broadband would have remained with regular video, the cost would have gone to an estimated $95 a month. Schoenrock said in fact, as Southwest Broadband is making this change, they are losing money on their current video service because the rates have gone up and they just haven’t passed it on to the consumer. He said Southwest Broadband is just absorbing the rate increase until they make the switch to IPTV. Schoenrock explained with the new IPTV, the expanded basic package that most customers probably have right now will be reduced in price. He said the new IPTV expanded basic television package and 50 Meg internet service will cost a total of $109.95 compared to the current price of $128.85, so there will be a decrease in the rates. Schoenrock said the cost will be better for the consumer and the channels will virtually be the same. He said consumers will still receive the local channels. Thies explained with IPTV, the basic television package will include KSFY from Sioux Falls as well as the Minneapolis-St. Paul channels. He said currently Southwest Broadband customers have access to all the Minneapolis as well as the Sioux Falls local television stations. Thies explained all of the customers that are within Southwest Broadband’s service areas, besides Round Lake and Brewster, reside in the Minneapolis DMA. He said technically, those customers are not supposed to be receiving any of the South Dakota channels. Moving forward, Thies said what Southwest Broadband is going to do is carry one South Dakota channel for all those cities in Southwest Broadband’s service territory that are in the Minneapolis DMA with the ability to upgrade and receive all the other South Dakota channels for an additional fee. Thies explained the reason they chose to do that is because it’s all duplicate programming from the big four networks. He said the only thing that’s really different between the Minneapolis and Sioux Falls stations is the news. Thies said considering the cost for those additional channels, Southwest Broadband didn’t feel it was fair to pass that along to all the customers.Thies said Southwest Broadband felt they would include one Sioux Falls channel in the base price. Thies said if somebody wants to pay for the extra Sioux Falls channels they can pay for it on an ala carte basis rather than spread that cost out to all of Southwest Broadband’s customers. He said in Round Lake and Brewster, Southwest Broadband will carry one Minneapolis channel in the basic package along with all the Sioux Falls channels. Thies said if a customer in Round Lake or Brewster wants the extra Minneapolis channels, they will also pay for those extra channels on an ala carte basis. Schoenrock said nothing essentially is going to change in the channel packages except that the price is going to go down. He said the other caveat to IPTV is that the customer will have to have Southwest Broadband’s internet service. Schoenrock pointed out a customer can’t have the IPTV service without the internet because that’s how the IPTV service is distributed to your home. Schoenrock also explained for every television in a customer's house that you want to access IPTV; a customer will need to purchase either a RoKu box or an android box. He said the box recommended by Southern Fibernet and Southwest Broadband is a Roku Ultra box. Schoenrock pointed out in the information distributed to the Mayor and Council the types of boxes Southwest Broadband is recommending and not recommending. He said the Roku boxes can be purchased at retailers or on-line. Schoenrock said a Roku box will be needed for each television in a customer’s home. Thies explained the Roku box Southwest Broadband is recommending is the Roku Ultra that currently retails at $99.95. He noted there are other inexpensive Roku devices or streaming sticks. Thies said they have tested all those devices and they work, however Southwest Broadband is not going to recommend them to any of their customers simply based on the fact that Southwest Broadband’s video partner, Southern Fibernet, does not recommend them. Thies explained if Southwest Broadband recommends a device not recommended by Southern Fibernet and an issue develops down the road, they don’t really have any support they can offer. He said the only thing Southwest Broadband can offer support on are the devices recommended to them by Southern Fibernet. Thies said they have tried every model device and they do function.Schoenrock noted a customer will be able to access five devices with their IPTV account, unless a customer upgrades from there. He said if a customer has five televisions in their house, you can activate all five RoKu boxes and watch then all simultaneously with the account the customer has. He said additionally, if you have three televisions in your house, your cell-phone and your spouse's cell- phone and you want to activate the IPTV on your cell-phone, there will also be an app for that. Schoenrock said for example, you could be watching a softball game in Jackson and want to get an update on the Twins Game. He explained you could access FS1 and watch live television on your cellphone that’s included as part of the IPTV service. Schoenrock pointed out another feature of the IPTV is the DVR service that will be included without any additional cost. He explained customers will be able to record television programs to watch later. Thies said the DVR storage allows customers to record as much television content as they want which will be stored for up to five days to be viewed at the customer's convenience. He said the DVR storage will just come complimentary with the IPTV service without any charge. Schoenrock noted when a customer purchases a Roku Box, they will own it. He pointed out Southwest Broadband is not a contract service like other satellite services. Schoenrock said if a customer discontinued Southwest Broadband IPTV service, they would still own the Roku boxes which are still very functional and can be used for many other things. Using the City Council Chamber’s Smart Screen television, Schoenrock demonstrated the features of the IPTV Southwest Stream service for the Mayor, Council and those attending the Council meeting. He noted the Roku apps and features are easy to navigate. Thies mentioned updated information about Southwest Stream along with a how-to video is now available at Southwest Broadband’s website.Thies explained the Southwest Stream service was set up the way it was because it gives it more of a traditional TV type feel. He said Southwest Broadband is using other streaming services and that’s why it was attractive to roll the IPTV Southwest Stream into a device that everybody is using. Thies said right now the Roku is the most popular device that people are using to stream content on their TV. He noted Southwest Stream was set up so it would have that traditional TV type appeal. Schoenrock noted the loading time of the channels is superfast. He said the channel guide tells about each program ona particular channel. Schoenrock also pointed out the clarity of the picture. He noted every channel received through Southwest Stream is HD quality. Schoenrock said there will be a little bit of growing pains with the switchover to the new Southwest Stream. He said Southwest Broadband will extensively work with the elderly who may have difficultly when they switch over to Southwest Stream. Schoenrock said a Southwest Broadband technician will come to their home if they need help. Also, Schoenrock said those receiving Southwest Stream will need to have internet service if they don’t have it already and a Roku box. He said Southwest Broadband’s technicians will help customers with that as much as they possibly can. Schoenrock said Southwest Broadband will have RoKu boxes available for sale if a customer can’t travel to a retailer to purchase one. Schoenrock noted unlike a rental piece of equipment, the Roku box will belong to the customer when they purchase it even if they discontinue service from Southwest Broadband. He said the money that Southwest Stream customers will save in their monthly bills will pay for the cost of a Roku box ina year. Schoenrock added the Roku boxes will automatically update themselves if a customer chooses that option. Thies and Schoenrock answered questions from the Council and those attending the meeting about the new Southwest Stream television service.Thies explained the trend for traditional television is declining and essentially the demand for it is going away. He said Southwest Broadband looked at IPTV as a very, very low cost monthly expense to maintain and therefore it was easy for Southwest Broadband to offer it to the customer. Thies said IPTV will be a service that’s available for customers. He said Southwest Broadband doesn’t need to completely rely on it if it isn’t as successful or they don’t maintain the customers that they have now. Thies said it’s a good quality offering for customers who still want to have access to quality television service. Thies explained upgrading to the Southwest Stream IPTV cost approximately $15,000 compared to approximately $2 million dollars to upgrade the current coax delivered cable television. Schoenrock explained between internet and phone service, Southwest Broadband would stay very, very healthy in generating revenue. He said television service is not where Southwest Broadband generates most of its revenue. Schoenrock said the IPTV television service would not affect Southwest Broadband’s internet or phone service revenue. Schoenrock explained in the past Southwest Broadband purchased internet service in bulk from Windomnet, but now Southwest Broadband has become their own internet generator which generates more revenue and makes Southwest Broadband financially stronger. He explained Southwest Broadband receives their entire internet service from the 511/DOT building in Minneapolis and another line from Omaha. Schoenrock said that creates a redundancy if one of the lines would be cut. Schoenrock said IPTV is the top of the line in technology. Thies explained all the television providers are trying to transition to IPTV service. He said for the satellite television providers, IPTV eliminates the need for having the satellite dish. Thies said the new Southwest Stream service is now available to customers. He said the service became available on April 2", 2018. Thies explained Southwest Broadband is currently looking at July 14°”, 2018 to transition all television customers over to the new Southwest Stream service. He said that transition date may have to be extended depending on how things go. Thies said information about Southwest Stream will be included in the April 14" billing that will be sent to Southwest Broadband customers. 10Thies explained if a customer already has internet service; it doesn’t require a technician to even come to their home to install the Southwest Stream television service. He said all a customer has to do is call Southwest Broadband to receive the code and set of credentials to have the Southwest Stream service installed. Thies also explained the use of the android boxes in order to receive Southwest Stream. Cushman asked what other options customers would have if they decide not to subscribe to Southwest Stream. Schoenrock said there is no other cable television service provider in the area, so the only other option would be to subscribe to a satellite television service. Thies went on to demonstrate and explain the features available through Southwest Stream. He said a television has to be able to accommodate a HDMI hookup in order to use a Roku box. If anyone has further questions about Southwest Stream, Schoenrock said information and how-to videos are available at Southwest Minnesota Broadband’s website or call Southwest Broadband’s customer service. Thies said they will also be meeting and giving demonstrations in the next two weeks with the other City Councils in the communities that Southwest Broadband serves. Thies said they have put a lot of time and effort into the Southwest Stream television service. He said they realize it’s going to be a change and it will take some time to get used to it. Thies said their goal was to provide a great quality product for the dollars. Mayor Walter and the Council thanked Thies and Schoenrock for their presentation. Other: Temple extended congratulations to Jackson County Central High School junior Hailey Handevidt who recently received the ExCEL Award from the Minnesota State High School League. The award recognizes juniors for their excellence in community, education and leadership. 1ADJOURNMENT With no further business, ANDERSON/FINCK moved and it was unanimously carried to adjourn the meeting. David ree foe re 12