Charles City Telecommunications Utility interviews potential managers, zeroes in on logo

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Members of the Charles City Telecommunications Utility board interviewed two finalists this week for the proposed community broadband system’s general manager position, but made no decisions.

The board members interviewed the two finalists separately in a teleconferencing session closed to the public, using an exemption allowed under the Iowa Open Meetings Law. Neither the names nor any other information has been released yet about the finalists.

“The interviews went well and now we want to take our time,” said utility board Chairwoman Cheryl Erb. “Both candidates are qualified. It’s just taking our time to try to sort all the information out.”

Asked if either of the two candidates was likely to receive a job offer, City Administrator Steve Diers said, “It’s a process we’re fully reviewing. We want to totally vet the candidates and make sure we make the right decision.”

Erb added, “It’s a good question. It’s just no easy answer.”

Also at the meeting, utility board members got a look at what will likely be the final version of the logo for Charles City Fiber, which will offer high-speed internet service, television programming and telephone service over fiber optic cable from the organization’s data center to every home and business within city limits that wants one or more of the services.

Board members briefly discussed proposed pricing for the services. The board was required to release potential prices to the public earlier this month as part of the process to secure financing, although members cautioned that the fees listed could change.

Some members talked at the board meeting Tuesday about discussions being held on social media regarding the prices, and others mentioned that competing services appear to be starting to offer bargain rates in return for signing longer contracts.

“We need to reinforce the messaging,” said Curtis Dean, president of SmartSource Consulting LLC of Grimes, a marketing consultant to the telecom group.

“We do need to reinforce the messaging to people that this will be worth waiting for. Don’t sign any long-term commitments. You’ll want to be able to have the opportunity to switch as soon as service is available,” Dean said. That will likely occur beginning next spring.

Board member Jeff Marty suggested the board look at a lower cost, lower speed internet service option than the 100 megabit per second download and upload speed for $70 a month that was listed in the proposed rates as the lowest-price residential option.

Diers said that was possible, but the board needed to make sure it fits in the service’s business model.

Asked when information would be available on the channel lineup for the television service, Dean said probably later this fall.
“Putting together a channel lineup is much more art than science. There’s some things we won’t know until we actually negotiate an agreement with these providers,” he said.

“The pricing that was announced was based on a lineup that is similar to what has been launched in other municipal telecom systems in Iowa over the past couple of years. It would be a lineup that would include the lion’s share of content that people are used to having. The board will still have the opportunity to make some changes to that, because they will want to make sure the channel selection fits the community’s needs,” he said.

Charles City Fiber plans to get most of its television signals through Cedar Falls Utilities (CFU), using that municipal utility’s “headend” rather than going to the considerable expense of building Charles City’s own group of satellite dishes, antennas and other equipment needed to capture and retransmit television signals.

“The headend (in Cedar Falls) is actually in a different TV market area, so Charles City is going to have to secure local signals from their market area, which is the Mason City-Rochester-Austin market,” Dean said.

“That’ll either be done by putting up antennas and installing equipment to receive and process those signals, or it will done through leasing those signals from another provider that has them,” he said.

Members of the utility board and others have said in the past that many potential customers would like to receive a Cedar Rapids or Waterloo-based local station rather than or in addition to those in the Mason City-Minnesota market.

Dean said it is difficult but not impossible to get a local station outside the market.

“If there is a willing seller there, a TV station willing to let you carry their signal, then you generally can get that signal, especially for small operators,” he said.

“A lot of times it comes down to cost, again, because each station you have is going to add to your programming bill, which adds to your consumer’s bill, and so you have to weigh the advantages of one versus the other,” he said.