EDA MEETING PACKET 05-12-2014CITY OF SCANDIA
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
Monday, May 12, 2014
6:30 P.M.
Scandia Community Center Board Room
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of Minutes (April 14, 2014)
3. Approval of Agenda
4. Public Forum
5. Old Business
a) Broadband Survey Results
6. New Business
a) 2015 Budget
7. Commissioner Reports
a) Status update on BRE
8. Executive Director's Report
9. Date and Agenda Items for Next Meeting
10. Adjournment
***Note: A Quorum of the City Council May be Present at this Meeting. However, the City
Council does not intend to conduct any official business ***
The Scandia Economic Development Authority met in the Board Room at the Scandia
Community Center on Monday, April 14, 2014 beginning at 6:30pm. Commissioners Present:
Tom Triplett, Bruce Swenson, Sally Swanson, Greg Isaacson and Dan Lee. Staff Present:
Kristina Handt.
The meeting was called to order at 6:30pm by Swanson.
Motion by Lee, seconded by Swenson to approve the March 3, 2014 minutes. Motion carried.
Motion by Lee, seconded by Isaacson to approve the agenda. Motion carried.
Colette Jurek and Michael Mayerchak from Xcel Energy introduced themselves again.
Mayerchak went over a power point presentation that showed an area around Oren/Ogilvie,
Novak/236/237th, Pilar/Perkins and north to 240th that could include 100 homes. If 80 homes
agreed to connect by the May 15th deadline, each would pay $4,550 up front then their service
connection charges at the time of construction. The remaining shortfall would be financed with a
$25/month charge for the next 15 years. In the future if new homes wanted to connect they
would also have to pay the $4,550 charge and connection fees. This could shorten the 15 year
surcharge period. If 80 people commit by May 15th, construction could begin this fall.
Mayercheck offered to hold neighborhood meetings, draft a letter to be sent to folks and sit down
with people to look at their specific property costs. Xcel is not aware of any grant funding to
help. They will allow folks to pay by credit card. Mayercheck will have a letter out by Friday
that residents can use when talking to their neighbors.
Board reviewed the draft BRE survey and discussed business listings. Motion by Lee, seconded
by Swenson to approve BRE Survey, business listings, and assign businesses to Commissioners.
Motion carried. Isaacson will choose nine businesses and send the list to Handt who will assign
the rest of the businesses to commissioners. A press release will be drafted explaining the BRE.
Triplett also suggested all ask the same verbal question when picking up the survey.
Commissioners will ask what the business' most important concern is and what the EDA can do
to have the greatest impact.
Board reviewed the County's Economic Development Work Plan. Triplett noted that there
seemed to be a lack of focus on housing costs and how that impacts economic development.
The Board discussed the Rural Center and Diversified Rural classifications under the Thrive
2040 plan and expressed interest in holding a joint meeting with the Planning Commission and
inviting a Met Council rep to provide more information.
Commissioner Reports: Swanson mentioned the League of Local Governments meeting and the
networking value she saw in it.
Handt provided a verbal update: over 100 survey responses to the broadband survey so far.
Providers and residents are invited to the May 12t' meeting.
The next meeting will be Monday, May 12, 2014 at 6:30pm to review Broadband survey
responses and progress on BRE surveys.
Motion by Swenson, seconded by Isaacson to adjourn. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at
7:46pm.
Respectfully Submitted, Kristina Handt, Secretary
SCANDIA
Slu11' Report
Date of Meeting: May 12, 2014
To: Economic Development Authority
From: Kristina Handt, Executive Director
Re: Broadband Survey results
Background:
At the March meeting the EDA authorized a survey of broadband services. The survey was promoted
through local media, the spring newsletter, City's website, facebook and emails. The survey closed the
first week in May and the results are presented in the attachment.
Representatives from Midcontinent and Frontier were invited to attend this meeting as well as members
of the public who contacted me with specific interests in getting better service to their homes/businesses.
Issue:
What steps should be taken next to improve service? What areas of the City should receive focus?
Proposal Details:
A summary of the results are included in your packet. There were 128 responses to the survey and a few
highlights to point out include:
➢ 62.5% (10 respondents)of those who do not subscribe to broadband do not have it available at
their home/business
➢ 84% of those responding have their service through Frontier
➢ Internet speed, reliability and price rate low while customer service ratings are across the board.
➢ More than 75% would be willing to spend something in order to have broadband installed (61 %
would be willing to pay $100 or less)
➢ Over 50% have a home business or work from home and their Internet service causes them
problems. Jeff Singer, Scandia resident who works from home, has been invited to the meeting.
➢ Three fourths of respondents would never or only occasionally use a subscription based location
for Internet services.
➢ One quarter of respondents didn't meet the state goal for download speed (1 Ombps) and 88% did
not meet the state goal for upload speed (6mbps).
A map included in your packet identifies where the surveys came from. There is a large cluster in the
Wyldewood Acres development just west of the school. Eric Tryon, the President of that association has
been invited to the meeting.
The Pomroy Ave area also had a concentrated number of respondents so the EDA may want to look
further into that area and meet with neighbors.
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
1 Do you have braodband Internet service at your home?
86.72% Yes
13.28% No
2 If no, why don't you subscribe?
18.75% Don't want it
0.00% Can't afford it
18.75% Available services too slow
62.50% Not available at my home/business
3 From which provider do you purchase broadband Internet service? (Check all that apply)
84.00% Frontier
6.40% Midcontinent
4.00% One of the satellite internet providers
5.60% One fo the cellular internet providers
4 How often do you have to restart (unplug and plug back in) your modem/router to get you internet working?
24.41% Every Couple Days
27.56% Every 1-2 Weeks
15.75% Once per Month
21.26% Almost Never
11.02% Other: Several times a day, Daily, Every 2-3 Months
5 Please rate your primary Internet provider on these characteristics on a scale of 5 to 1 with S=Great and 1= Poor
1-Poor
2
3
4 5-Great
Internet Speed
40.00%
36.80%
9.60%
11.20% 2.40%
Reliability
26.61%
24.19%
29.03%
16.94% 3.23%
Price
39.02%
27.64%
25.20%
7.32% 0.81%
Customer Service
20.16%
20.97%
22.58%
21.77% 14.52%
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
6 If broadband is unavailable or too slow at your home,
how much would you be willing to pay for installation
of better Internet (upto 40 Mbps) service to your
home?
16.00% Nothing
60.80% $100 or less
15.20% Up to $500
1.60% Up to $1,000
0.00% More than $1,000
6.40% 1 already have this speed service at my home/business
7 Which of these statements best fits your situation?
21.77% 1 do not have a home business or work from home and do not care to do either
13.71% 1 have a home business or work from home and my Internet works well for this purpose
51.61% 1 have a home business or work from home and my Internet service causes me problems
12.90% 1 would work from home and/or start or operate a home business if my Internet service ws adequate for that purpose
8
If there was a subscription -based location for small
business and teleworkers with equipment and high
speed Internet in downtown Scandia, I would use it...
59.52% Never
23.02% Occasionally (bad weather, special occasions, etc)
7.14% Regularly (weekly)
10.32% Every day
9 Average Speeds
Ping 89ms (median 83ms)
Download 3,398 kbps (median 2198kbps) 25% below state goal of 10mbps
Upload 776 kbps (median 331kbps) 88% below state goal of 6mbps
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
10 Other Comments
* Thanks for survey. Nice.
* I do not like that I have to rent their equipment. I
would prefer to own my hardware and only pay for the
service. I also would like a more up front answer on
what the charges are after the introdcutory period is
up. None of the providers are very forthcoming about
pricing.
* Broadband was late in coming because there were too
fe potential subscribers in our area to justify the
expense of installation. When it finally became
available, the speed at first was excellent. However,
within the last year the speed has deteriorated to an
unacceptable crawl.
* The speed test does not reflect a realistic evaluation of
the internet access in our home. We are sometimes so
slow we cannot even use the internet. Other times it
cuts in and out and we find ourselves resetting the
modem / routers often. It is not uncommon for me to
go into Forest Lake to upload a large work document
that needs to be to a clients in a timely manner. I am
very excited that you are looking into this!
* The only option I have now is Frontier and their
horrible. The Cable line stops at the fire station and is
unavailable for me. I want fiber optic Internet so bad,
but will settle for cable. DSL is worthless and will
continue to be, the phone line cannot handle the load
that Internet requires.
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
* We had frontier and if someone in house was streaming
Netflix,no one else could pull up a web page, now we
have dish sat internet with data limits and you can not
stream video due to high ping latency.
* We would we be absolutely thrilled if faster broadband
was available to us. I am a computer programmer,
working from home (on a large desktop system, hence
my inability to work occasionally from another
downtown business center location as per your inquiry
above). Our Frontier DSL connection is quite poor, and
despite intermittent promises from this provider,
we've seen no improvement in service or speed over
the past 6 years. A faster connection would provide us
a much needed productivity boost. Thank you for
taking time to consider this issue in our community!
* our service is t000000 slow
* Would be a huge boost to Scandia - live 1/4 mile from
broadband service boundary in a 27 home
development that is stuck with a horrible service from
Frontier.
* I have been stuck with Frontier since I moved to
Scandia permanently 6 years ago, and it has been the
absolute worst I've ever experienced. They charge a
premium price for a sub -par broadband service due to
the lack of competition.lt would be a god -send to have
Century Link and Comcast make it into the area, and
I'd be willing to pay substantially for installation of
speeds in excess of 20Mbps.
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
* "My wife and I do work from home at times but
cannot work at home at the same time due to the very
poor internet speeds. We both have opportunities to
telecommute more often from home but do not take
advantage of it due to our internet speeds.
I need a connection that can handle HD video
conferencing and many devices connected at once.
If Scandia is serious about updating the internet
service in the area then please invest in an
infrastructure that will last 10 + years or more. My
cabin up in Cushing, MN just got internet service last
year and they ran fiber cable right into the cabin and
can get 30 + Mbps service.
* I did the test in the morning, when the speed is usually ok. The internet really lags after 3pm during the week.
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
* My main issue is reliability and consistency of service.
Often, at peak local usage times (ie. Evenings and
Weekends), my service slows to a crawl and/or
becomes unresponsive. Also, I really really want more
upload bandwidth as I work with large data sets and
audio files that need to be transferred to others.
Gold standard for me was/is the City of Minneapolis
fiber to the home from US Internet. I was routinely
logging speeds of 60 Mbps up and 50 down for
40.95/month. $100 installation fee. (100/100
Advertised bandwidth) Bring me something even close
and I'll be happy, but currently paying $50+ for
unreliable 3.5Mbps/600kbps from Frontier with no
other realistic options leaves me an unhappy
consumer.
* Internet service is terrible. Avoid using it due to speed.
* frontier sucks and we want broadband cable in our
neighborhood
* I would LOVE better internet options in Scandia! Please
make this happen!!
* We have DSL through Frontier. I am not sure if this is
considered Broadband, so not sure I answered the first
questions correctly. Our speed is extremely slow. We
cannot use our "Smart TV" because the internet is too
slow.
* thanks for doing this!
* "There are many options besides broadband wireline
internet.
Have been for years. Why is Scandia chasing a dead
horse?"
Mav 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
* "There is a big disparity I believe across Scandia on
Internet speed.
Up until the last few weeks my download speed was
only 1 mbps,
recently changed to a bit over 4 mbps now. I think it
should be 15 mbps minimum for the type of content
that is being developed for internet viewers of
content."
* Frontier charges me for high speed max but can't
supply the speed. They told me to quit if I wasn't
satisfied. There is no other option in my area.
* What ever can be done to increase the speed and
band width would be appreciated. Frontier states that
the low performance is due to a "switching
connection" point.
* "We are paying Frontier for high speed service yet
have never had a time when speed would allow
streaming of video. It feels like we are being cheated.
But without their (not very) high speed option, service
would be REALLY slow.
When I say above that we'd be willing to pay only $100
toward high-speed, that is $100 on top of what we
already pay which is $600 a year. "
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
* Frontier charges a mandatory monthly fee for their
modems/routers/wireless which are poor quality
units. They also don't provide a way or the customer
service to bridge the modems so that you can use your
own router/wireless access point. I have also heard
numerous people complain that Frontier said that the
customer has a contract with Frontier, and can't cancel
there service. The customer had no idea that they had
a contract with them.
* "Very happy with Midcontinent service. Not sure if I
mentioned this or not, but Sprint has unlimited data
for businesses through a 4G LTE connection. I have
put in several of these. The cost is $50/month.
the speed ranges from not available to 20 down and
20 up in some locations. The 2 locations that I have
are about 6 down and 2 up though. I have also done a
couple locations that have multiple Internet Service
Providers. IE both Sprint and Frontier. This provides
redundancy and bundles the speeds together. The
router will manage the connections automatically. Of
course this requires paying for 2 internet connections,
but can still be worthwhile if high availability is
important. "
* "it is usually slower than today's results. It would be
great to have someone other than Frontier. Although I
don't usually have internet problems, I have had
numerous phone problems.
They want way too much for the speeds they offer.
We definitely need competition out here."
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
* Broadband from Frontier is just barely acceptable for
general Internet use, but is too slow for video
streaming or any other bandwidth intensive use. Price
is double what it should be given the very low (about 2
Mbps) speed. I can get speeds nearly 10 times faster
from my smart phone connected to Verizon and have
considered dropping Frontier completely if they don't
make improvements soon to service in Scandia.
* I am very glad that the city of Scandia is looking into
the poor broadband in this area. It is ridiculous that we
cannot use Netflix or iTunes to stream a movie with
the low quality internet access that we have without
having to wait 4 to 5 hours before we can begin to
watch it. The minimum should be 25 mbps not the 2 or
3 mbps that we currently have to put up with. I would
very much support and buy faster broadband should it
be offered. The available service is far too slow and in
2014 it should be much faster.
* streaming video is completely hopeless, but I try to
stream Minnesota Public Radio, since our reception is
poor down in a low area. An audio stream rarely
works for more than an hour before there is some
glitch that requires it to be restarted.
* Perfectly happy with current service.
* Varies at different times. Sat 4/5 was poor, better
today.
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
* I would like to see another provider, comparable to
Frontier, available in my area, to provide competition
to Frontier and compete for price.
* This is the slowest Internet I have had in years, and the
only option unless I add a satellite service which I don't
want. There is no cable in my area for a second
option.
* Uptime for Frontier's service has been very poor for
most of the years we've had it. When taken along with
their even poorer customer service, it was not a good
experience. Uptime has been t better in the last year,
so customer service has not been an issue (we've been
thankful we have not had to call as much). Their price
is outrageous for the speed and quality of service they
provide. We would like other options and/or
reasonable speed and good uptime for the premium
cost charged by Frontier.
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
* This ping test is not reflective of my problem. I have
DSL and Satellite internet but when I VPN from home
the VPN tunnel kills the satellite ping numbers. Secure
tunneling over satellite is NOT possible. I need a hard
wire that has broadband capabilities and I would be
willing to pay to have it brought to my house to allow
me better ability to work from home.
My current solution is to remotely connect to my
laptop in the office via a RDP connection over a 800K
DSL. I just need screen 1/0 sent over the 880K line. This
is a horrible way to connect and allow me to work
from home. I need a land line.
Good luck, I hope that you get this service delivered to
my home!
I was unable to perform the Ping test. Speeds are slow
after our usage re -sets each month, and after our data
limit is reached, the speed is incredibly slow - and we
have the highest data plan available. Would pay up to
$150/mo. for fast internet!!
* Being retired, we do not use the internet for work -
based telecommuting. This was true when we were
working. Having a reliable fast service for this would
have been a great asset in transferring files and
conference calling needs.
* I used to work from home and have since retired, But
we use the computers alot and alway experiencce
slowness and have to discconnect the modem real
often. Am is best speed results.
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
Neighbors not too far away have broadband thru
Frontier.
When I contacted Frontier, they indicated they tested
our line and we are still too far away."
* "I have access to either Frontier DSL or Cellular. Both
are extremely expensive for what I need for work at
home. We need cable which seems to be more
competitive. Also at times both can be very slow
depending on time of day and both require constant
resetting.
While you're at it, please look into getting natural gas
out this way and when doing this please fix the roads
they are in really bad shape.
Thanks,"
* We would be thrilled to have adequate internet! Right
now it is very poor. So disappointing. It affects our cell
phone service as well, as our booster won't work with
our upload speed.
* I've already contacted MidContinent last fall, but I was
too far from their mainline at that time.
* anything to get rid of Frontier they are the worst.
* We have interment service and are currently unhappy
with our services.
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
* "speedtest.midco.net results are quite different:
download speed = 64.74 Mbps
upload speed = 6.24 Mbps
latency = 14 ms"
* Please disregard my previous survey submission
wherein I reported the speed test to be non-
functioning.
* I have had the technical support staff of my DSL
provider, Frontier, lead me through speed tests in the
past. The results have consistently been
disappointingly slow - far less than the service
provider's advertised upload/download and ping
response times.
* I feel that Frontier could better utilize the new fiber
run that is on Olinda. But they do not. They still use
copper to run WAN connects on long distance runs.
Soon wireless technology such as LTE will overtake
what they have to offer. My speed result is higher that
what should be 2.2mbps because I have 2 DSL
modems.
* I take internet access very seriously and I am very
happy to see that you do as well. If you need any
assistance with this project I would like to make my
self available as a volunteer. I have quite a bit of
experience as a network engineer and network
administrator. Feel free to give me a call at 651-433-
1467.
May 2014 Scandia Broadband Survey Summary Results
* NOTE - a friend in New Richmond, WI also gets
broadband from Frontier, but gets 3 times my speed.
What's wrong? (I'm near Scandia, though the address
is Marine.). I've asked Frontier repeatedly and they say
"You're too faraway from the junction..." My speed
has been the same for several years. Technology
marches on, but Frontier refuses to budge.
* We tried getting faster speed and once again Frontier
couldn't handle it they were at our house for days and
we finally had to abandon the idea. They said their
equipment couldn't handle it as we "were on the
fringe" and once they got the equipment installed they
would contact us ... that was 1 1/2 years ago now. Let
another provider into the area and watch them
scramble thenH
* Frontier has a monopoly in my area, so their service is
lousy.
* To have Midcontinent available would be very nice.
Frontier is very overpriced for speeds that are far to
slow.
* Highest speed Frontier offers is 2.5 and it's not great
for streaming/downloading movies, etc.
* Frontier has been charging me the maximum amount
and was promised up to 50 mbs when I actually only
get 1.2 to 1.4.
* Frontier is a lousy provider. I would like to have
Midcontinent
May 2014 Scandia Broadband SurveV Summary Results
* Competition would be a great motivator for Frontier.
They told me 3 years ago that they were upgrading
their service, and I am still waiting but have been
paying for "up to" 12MB service and I consistently get
about 1- 1.5 MB service...
* Its great living in a small town, but not to nice having
to pay the same price for internet that is 30 times
slower than in a city just larger than Scandia. As for
paying a certain dollar amount on installation of faster
internet service, the internet company should be more
than willing to speed it up on there own dollar if they
want to stay in the market and not loose customers.
Most people that I know get there service upgraded
and didn't even know until they rand a speed test
because there was no extra fee.
* "We need better service in the scandia area.
Thanks!!!!"
* Currently using Frontier DSL
* I dislike frontier based on past performace or lack
of.....
* please make this an affordable service.
* it would be greclat to have other options than Frontier!
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SCANDIA
StaffRenort
Date of Meeting: May 12, 2014
To: Economic Development Authority
From: Kristina Handt, Executive Director
Re: 2015 Budget
Background:
The City Council will be starting the budget process soon. The EDA should begin thinking about their
2015 budget request so it can be presented to the Council with the other departments. No revenue budget
has been included in your packet because the only source of funds for EDA at this point in time is planned
to be tax levy dollars.
Issue:
What should the EDA's 2015 budget include?
Proposal Details:
A draft 2015 expense budget is included in your packet. I'm proposing $400 in the operating supplies
budget as we've talked about wanting to invite the businesses in for some discussion and feedback and
having food increases participation. I've also included funding for some of the U of in Extension
programs we heard about earlier this year. This includes $5,000 for the Tourism Assessment Program,
$1,500 for a Market Area Profile and funds for workshops and webinars. The budget also includes $1,000
for conferences and seminars -similar to other budgets (i.e. Planning and Council) in case any events come
up that members or staff want to attend.
Fiscal Impact:
A $10,000 levy request represents about 0.05% of the total City tax levy.
Options:
1) Approve 2015 budget as present
2) Amend and then approve 2015 budget
3) Table until next meeting
4) Do not ask for a tax levy in 2015
2015 Draft Budget
EDA EXPENSE FUNDS
2014 6/30/2014 2014 2015 Change
Adopted YTD Estimated Proposed 14215
Account Description Budget Expdts Expdtrs Budaet Budaet Notes
Materials & Supplies
200 Office Supplies 50
203 Printed Forms & Papers 50
210 Operating Supplies & Equipment 400
Total Materials & Suoolies 500 #DIV/0!
Contractual Services
302 Surveying
303 Engineering Services
304 Legal Services
500
250
308 Other Professional Services
7,500
312 Planning Services
313 Committee & Commission Reimburs
316 Conference & Seminars
1,000
317 Employee Training
319 Other Services
322 Postage
500
100
331 Travel Expenses
400
433 Dues & Subscriptions
438 Misc Contractual
250
Total Contractual Services
1000
9,500 850.00%
Total Dept. Fund
1000
10,000 900.00%
Notes 1. Business community meetings (food)
2. Tourism Assessment, Market Area Profile, U of M Ext Workshops and Webinar Series
2
EDA 12:55 PM5/6/2014