 Well, good evening everybody. I think we are ready to get started Yeah, and for those of you who do not know me My name is Daniel Burke and I'm an attorney at the Department of Public Service And I will be representing the department in this case Which involves a proposed transfer of all the assets that are currently owned by Burlington telecom to a company known as Champlain broadband LLC, which is a new company For those of you who are unaware the Department of Public Service is an agency within the executive branch of state government Our role is to represent the interests of ratepayers and proceedings before the public utility commission The public utility commission is a separate agency and in regulated proceedings. They act like the judge and the Department of Public Service We act like attorneys and advocates on behalf of ratepayers. We will be participating in this case We will have witnesses and we will ultimately be making recommendations as to whether or not this proposed transaction should be approved Tonight the purpose of this meeting is twofold The first session which is starting now the information session is for us at the Department of Public Service to answer any questions from members of the Public that are procedural in nature or any information about what we do How we get involved in cases or any information we can give you as members of the public and how you can have your Voices heard or how you can participate in the proceedings before the public utility commission We're also hosting the joint petitioners in this case who are going to be making presentations to discuss what the actual Transaction involves their representatives from the city of Burlington who are going to give a brief presentation and then representatives from Shers Communications who is the parent company of Champlain broadband LLC So you can use this opportunity to ask me any of the other staff from the Department of Public Service We have Carol Flint and Christine Peterson from our consumer affairs direct or consumer affairs division Clay Pete Purvis Who is our director of telecommunications and Brian Prety who is in our finance division? We are more than willing to discuss any aspect of this Transaction with you and we are certainly help Certainly available to help you walk through the process and procedures and proceedings before the public utility commission If you have any questions on the substance of the transaction You should feel free to direct those directly to the petitioning parties. They're here today to answer those questions And then finally the second half of this meeting tonight will start at seven when the members of the Public Utility Commission will Be here the role for that or the purpose for that meeting is for you to be able to voice your opinions directly to the Public Utility Commission Members themselves who ultimately will decide whether or not to approve this transaction Your comments will not become part of the evidentiary record in the case But they will help us at the department form our review of how we're going to review this case and we'll help the Public Utility Commission members Understand any issues that have not been raised through testimony. That's already been filed So thank you very much everyone for coming out It is very helpful from us at the department to hear from all of you Miss Flint put together an information sheet that is sitting in the door in front of the door on a chair I would encourage you to take that before you go has helpful information on how you can file comments electronically either with us Or the Public Utility Commission and again if you have any questions feel free at this point You can ask us anything that you'd like when the Public Utility Commission members are here They really because of their role as a judge in the case cannot answer a lot of substantive questions So this is your opportunity to really kind of dive into any information you'd like to hear about the proposed transaction And now I think I'm going to ask mr. Phillips who's an attorney for the city to come and do a presentation Unless anybody has any immediate questions Mr. Phillips, I have a short PowerPoint. So if it's okay, I'll sit right here with the microphone Well, good evening and thanks everyone for coming out. My name is Paul Phillips. I am outside regulatory counsel for the city of Burlington Doing business as Burlington telecom in this proceeding and I am joined by my law partner Ralph, you know Rourke and Eileen Blackwood the city attorney is here as well We understand that David Provo Who is the former chair of BTab is parking his car as we speak and should be here momentarily? but in the meantime, I Just have a short overview of the transaction For you So they the joint petitioners filed Their petition with the Public Utility Commission on February 26th, two south two thousand eighteen The Commission assigned case number 18-0491- PET and that's an important number because if you want to file any written comments With the Commission you need to reference that number The joint petitioners are comprised of the sellers and the buyer The sellers are the city of Burlington and blue water holdings LLC and those two Petitioners have been operating Burlington telecom for the last several years The buyer is Champlain broadband LLC, which is the Vermont subsidiary of Shure's communications as Dan Burke mentioned the Department of Public Service is serving as public advocate in this case representing the public The full three member of Public Utility Commission is hearing the case And they will be here later this evening at seven o'clock Just a summary of the joint petition the petitioners have asked the PUC to approve the sale of Burlington telecoms assets To Champlain broadband issue new certificates of public good to Champlain Designate Champlain as a lifeline carrier under federal law, and I'll have a little bit more about that later on We've asked them to revoke the existing CPGs Which is required when you're issuing new CPGs to a new owner and then we've asked the Commission to authorize the city to exercise its rights under the asset purchase agreement to purchase a membership interest in Champlain After the closing occurs So just a review a quick review of the city's existing certificates of public good and a certificate a certificate of public good is A an authorization from the Public Utility Commission to operate a utility in the state of Vermont It's a a right that's given by statute and so The city currently has two of these One is a telecommunications CPG number 783-C which was issued back in 2003 the other is a CPG to operate a cable television system and that was renewed in Last year in docket number 8719 and that was issued jointly to the city and to blue water holdings As part of this transaction the petitioners are asking for New CPGs both in telecom and cable television to be issued to Champlain The city also has an existing federal lifeline designation. This is a designation that's issued under federal law By the State Utility Commission It was granted last year in PUC case number 8883 Lifeline is a an FCC supported program that provides discounts in Well discounts for voice and broadband service for qualifying low-income customers and As part of this transaction Champlain is asking The PUC to issue a new designation to Champlain for the same service Under the asset purchase agreement as I mentioned the city has a right to purchase membership interests in Champlain This would be a post-closing event It's expressly included as part of the APA in section 8.09 It allows the city to purchase a minority interest in Champlain broadband LLC What the APA actually does is it caps that membership interest at 33% On February 12th, 2018 the Burlington City Council adopted a resolution authorizing the city to explore that purchase And to seek PUC approval for that purchase What's important to note there is that the city council is exploring that purchase, right? They have not yet defined What level of purchase would occur or when it would occur? The city charter Burlington requires the PUC to review any investment in a telecom or broadband venture and so part of the Transaction that's before the PUC right now is a request for the PUC to make a finding under the city charter the city is Obviously supporting approval of the transaction. We've asked for that to be done as quickly as possible so that the employees of Burlington Telecom Don't have to Work and live under the cloud of Who's going to be in charge? We think it's important for them to have certainty as quickly as possible with that It's important to note that this transaction satisfies both the terms of the Mediated settlement agreement with Citibank as well as the blue water management and sale agreement both of which were entered into With the city in 2014 The transaction maximizes the city's portion of the sale proceeds and that's because the asset purchase agreement was signed before the end of this year and so The blue water management agreement required that in order to get the highest possible level of proceeds for the city Champlain and you'll hear more about this in in Champlain's presentation Will maintain all the existing local benefits of Burlington Telecom while allowing the new owner to make new investments in both the network and the services and Again the transaction allows the city if it elects to after the closing To acquire a minority ownership interest Which can include up to two seats on Champlain's governing board So there would actually be some governing Role that it happens with that Finally the PUC as part of this public input process Is also accepting written comments in addition to any oral comments that you might want to make tonight And there are three ways to do that one is by going to the Commission's website Which is up there? You can also email the Commission's clerk Or you can use snail mail and write directly to the Commission in Montpelier and again It's important to refer the by the refer to the case by its number So that they can properly file those comments Right so if you go to the Commission's website And then you enter in the case number 18-0491-pet there'll be a tab for public comment And there'll be a text box there and you can write your comments to your heart's content And submit them and they will then go automatically to all the parties in the case So thank you again for coming out This is an exercise in democracy and You're exercising good citizenship by coming out tonight, and I want to thank you for that I see that David Provo has come Into the room and so I would like to have David come up and David you can stand at the podium if you'd like And continue the city's presentation. So thank you. So good evening. I'm David Provo I'm the executive vice president of finance and administration at Middlebury College And I'm currently the B tab chair and have been since the B tabs inception and prior to that Excuse me. I was chair of the Blue Ribbon Commission So I'm going to take you back to 2009 how I got involved I Was working at Champlain College at the time Champlain College was a customer of Burlington telecom probably one of its top three customers and Burlington telecom was a critical part of our infrastructure at Champlain with programs in cybersecurity digital forensics game in the requirement for high-speed bandwidth and having a local municipal Municipal owned Fiber company was a great asset to us. So I was called at that time in this November 2009 while the city was contemplating Taking what was 51 million dollars in total debt Related to Burlington telecom and refinancing it to 61 million dollars And was asked to serve for three months to try to figure out what was going on The Blue Ribbon Commission was formed at that time. It was for public representatives volunteers to serve on this and three City counselors and so we set out our work in that three month period and We found due to's and due from's and the financial statements of the city and Burlington telecom and It was then identified that 16.9 million of taxpayer dollars had been used from the pooled cash fund To help with the expansion of Burlington telecom So the Blue Ribbon Commission was charged with recommending a path forward that recommended recommendation that came in February of 2010 to the city council Suggested that the Burlington telecom fiber system was a significant value to the citizens of Burlington But at the time we could place nowhere near any value of the 61 million that was being asked to leverage this asset So we had a recommendation that and at the time City Bank was looming and wondering what the deal was on the appropriation of the Payment to City Bank So fast forward after our recommendation, which was to figure out a way to find a partner Or a buyer of Burlington telecom To work to try to pay back the taxpayers as much as we could find and bring in an interim manager to run Burlington telecom To maximize in really focus on increasing the people that were buying the services and Over the last eight years that has happened The company remains very strong now Subscribers subscribers have increased every year during that period and we set out our course and the B tab was formed which then now includes four city counselors and Five citizens and players have changed other than two city counselors and I are the only original ones that started this now almost What will be nine years ago in November and we Began a process to establish criteria to find a buyer partner for Burlington telecom That work included a lot of public forms and really soliciting the public on the criteria What was important in finding that buyer and finding that partner? We set out with an RFP process and we were pleasantly were surprised we received eight written offers to for Burlington telecom including Shure's and including seven others the B tab Narrowed it down to five through the review of the proposals and we invited five firms to come in and make presentations in public form and We then narrowed it down to three Shure's ultimately was selected As what was recommended to the city council was a few buyers that could meet the criteria that we sent to City council this decision was ultimately the city council's decision and not be tabs City council did end up end up selecting on Shure's based on our evaluation and our due diligence I and a few other team members did visit Shure's Out in the Midwest and we visited one other of the finalists which was Ting and we were in communications with KBTL through that process we both from the charge original charge of blue ribbon commission And the B tab feel we have found the right partner Given Shure's background and role of being in small communities family owned business We think it's a very good match for Burlington to allow Burlington telecom to continue And be the resource that we see the value and that is this fiber to the home Burlington was ahead of its time What we probably didn't do appropriately is the due diligence on the cost to pull that fiber to every Residents, but we have it and it's here and we want to capitalize and use that fiber to the home For the next few decades. So Finding a partner who has the financial capacity and the telecom experience was really critical to in our criteria Ideally we would have found a local owner That was the one criteria that we probably fell short on we felt Shure's came to the table with a proposal and a background That most aligned with what we were looking for So I want to just talk a little bit about the numbers. So we owed $51 million 16.9 to the taxpayers and 33.5 million to city bank And we had less than 4,000 customers. We were forget about an Ibada producing of $10 million We weren't producing revenue of $10 million. So the contemplation of leveraging $61 million in debt really scared us. I'm a CFO CPA That made me very nervous And our fear was that the exposure to the taxpayers would only grow So the workout was city bank of taking the 33 and a half million and settling For significantly less and bringing in dormant and faucet allowed us the time to prop up Burlington telecom and get a fair value for it ensures and the other finalists gave us what Made offers of what Burlington telecoms is worth. It's well short of the 61 million that was contemplated back in 2009, but it is what Burlington telecom is worth today Could it ever get to that value if Burlington had not been in the position where it had was forced to do this by The city bank agreement Possibly but we're not in a position. We weren't in a position in this last eight years to gauge and and make that make that decision So we were searching someone who would pay that value would pay a fair value Would align well with our criteria and what the mission of Burlington telecom is and represents to its businesses and its citizens and its residents and we believe we found the right partner I know there's been a lot of Discussion about but David the deal that you're proposing doesn't fulfill the goal of returning the $16.9 million to the taxpayers And it can't that would have to be a number in the 60 millions to be able to achieve that And it's time that we move to the next chapter of Burlington telecom With this right partner Who does align well with with what we think in view as Burlington telecom in the value? We believe the work of the V-tab and the work of the city council and the team at Burlington Telecom prevented the taxpayers liability from growing from sixteen point nine to a number much larger If we had to settle with city bank at thirty three and a half million that would have been catastrophic to Burlington and its citizens so I'll stop there as I like I said, I've been involved in this eight going on nine years, so I am available for questions through this process and Would be glad to entertain. I've committed to to the city that as long as I'm in Vermont I'm committed to seeing this thing through And right now I'm in Vermont just a little further south down in Addison County Thanks Yeah Good afternoon. I'm Todd shares. I'm the president of Champlain broadband and the presidency of shares communications We have a longer deck than the city, but we will work quickly through it because we don't want to make certain you have time for questions You'll give me the signal at 10. Thank you. You're ready Chris Let me let me begin that a lot of what you'll be seeing in the slide deck is consistent with the testimony we filed with PUC as well as The b-tab criteria and if you go to the Burlington telecom site, there is a There's a lot in there about the sales process and and this is consistent with those commitments So quick executive summary and I will cover all of this in more detail We will Burlington telecom will continue local decision making authority under Champlain Which is the society of shares their commitments to public good, which is to multiple stakeholders Really what we want to do is we want to keep the best of a local Burlington telecom and then provide the assets and The expertise and really the collaboration of a larger group. That is the way we like to work Alignment of vision and values for multiple stakeholders Financial strength will cover and they'll cover other key elements of the petition Next slide Chris So how do we get interested in Burlington telecom and and I want to start with Hiawatha Broadband is based in Winona, Minnesota and Hiawatha had done a lot of consulting for BT in different times Gary Evans was the CEO of Hiawatha and did a lot of consulting for BT Hiawatha reached out to us and said we think you might be interested in BT and they're about to start a process We've long admired Hiawatha and actually in the middle of this process ended up acquiring them And we think it's that will actually enhance the value of BT. We look we look at that We're impressed by the staff. We're impressed by the technology. We're impressed by the community There's passion around Burlington telecom and we think that is a very good thing We think the local brand name has tremendous good will and so we as we looked more into this We liked it and we think the public-private partnership with the city We found that to be very attractive as well and let me just Focus on the last bullet point We know that there's much that we can learn from Burlington telecom and so we're looking forward to that We also think there are things that building to telecom can learn from our other local operations So we see this as mutually beneficial next one So here are the commitments and we've got a number of these slides So we commit to operate Burlington telecom as a turnkey business We'll utilize and build upon the technical technology infrastructure and to provide High-quality cable television telecommunications internet Services as well as PEG access We've made a commitment to all the employees That we we want them to continue with the company That we have made commitments to customer service in the area will also provide affordable broadband internet access including edgy net and internet essentials to decrease the digital divide and then we're also asking for the Permission to do the lifeline services and also to do the community Wi-Fi hotspots next one So let me specifically talk about the PEG access groups. It has been my honor Last couple trips for me to meet with those stakeholders. We had great conversations And these are the commitments that BT is made to those groups and the existing CPG and we have basically said we will honor and continue all those commitments in in our application next one We also committed to 60 months of no rate increase for broadband service That was a question that came up in the process and we made that commitment happy to do it We're also looking to expand and launch more advanced services I specifically mentioned the home Wi-Fi experience what we find in all of our companies is There are more and more devices now attached to the internet The national average is about 12 to 14. You can count in your own head what it is in your household And this is a key issue across the industry and and we we're looking a lot of things We because we want to make certain that that Is thoroughly addressed and we've given the city an option to purchase up to a third membership interest With the right to appoint one to two board members depending on the amount of interest that the city chooses to purchase and We will fully support the net new proud net neutrality principles of transparency Nondiscrimination and no blocking of internet services are paid prioritization. Let's do the next one So let me tell you who is this company that Champlain is going to be a part of because we haven't had a whole lot to do it And those are the four operating entities that we have today in the different communities and locations Where we are today and let's do the next slide too and you can see that it's a hundred and fifty thousand homes past 71,000 high-speed data customers 55,000 video voices 35,000 you can see the customer relationships and The miles of plants and fibers So we have some expertise in the organization and our companies Collaborate a great deal so the decision-making will be here But they'll have access to this expertise and that's really what our goal is if I had to summarize What we're really trying to do is let's combine the best of the local and the best of these shared resources To provide the best for the customers and community So that's really the commitment We have a decentralized management and local decision-making is a key value and I will run through the company's value shortly BT has a great reputation for service We don't want to lose that and so we made some commitments to to Continue things as they are as well as to look at ways to enhance that and so that is what we are trying to do We've made a commitment again to return the local workforce and leadership team We think that continuity is important to maintain the level of service to customers We'll leverage to the experience that are the broadband properties including HBC to help BT I will tell you the HBC team and the BT team are they've already started conversations and they've been Constructive and and we're delighted by that and we'll retain the name Burlington Telecom Let me just stop and say none of our local companies has the corporate name And that's not because we're ashamed of the corporate name And that's because we believe in the primacy of the local brands and out of best-serve customers So a quick history of the company our website Is fairly dry, so I'm not going to go through all that but we began in 1872 With a newspaper in South Bend Indiana Those are the two brothers-in-law who are the original entrepreneurs And then we got into radio when radio began and television when it began and we've been in broadband and cable For about 50 years. What's not on the slide is we actually built the original system in South Bend, Indiana So we've been around this for a long time in 2015 and 2016 we sold We got out of the broadcasting industry. We didn't like where it was going It was hard for a company our size to do the things that we wanted to do and we said we are going to spend more time in Broadband and really are committed there today We still on ten daily and six weekly papers, so we're still in publishing and content creation We have broadband systems and four markets a hybrid cloud services provider and Multiple digital properties, so we have a very broad view on media and telecommunications as a result of that And we're still a family business, so I'm fifth generation the business We have fourth members of the fourth still involved members of the sixth generation engaged So it is still a family business from the heirs of those two guys and that photo and kind of That's what we look like today As we've grown We're still privately held in a family business, and I want to talk about There's a place for public companies. It's very important. There's a place for private equity. That's very important We're a family business and and it operates a little differently and and when we talk about maximizing value we use the word maximizing values because there's multiple things that we want to do and so And I'll get to the values later and the mission there is Really all about next generation and it's not just next generation of owners its customers its employees its communities so it's multi stakeholder and multi generational by its very nature and We have we're patient capital with a long-term investment horizon What does that mean for local management? It means that there's less pressure on a quarterly basis I don't have to do earnings calls and things of that nature and they also get more access to top leadership So that's kind of how I would describe that So here's the company vision statement. I'm not going to spend a lot of time there since yeah, I'm not gonna spend Let's go the next one This if I have to spend a slide. This is what we really care about In our company We talked a lot about the values the employees know that they can hold me accountable to the values And these are the things what we're trying to do and stay true to within the organization and everything we do and So let me go the second from the bottom our roots are in journalism So we're now in businesses other than journalism But the values of integrity and honesty are really core to what we do and we basically say Those aren't gonna be a sacrifice for any of the other ones. Let's do the next one So as I as I do our values, they really begin first with a customer. You start there That's really where everything goes the next the values focus on the employees and what kind of environment we want to provide for them That we want to be a good corporate citizen We that's one of our core values and we tried to do that in all of our communities And we know that it's hard for us to thrive as a company and a community that's struggling So we want to have shared success How do we work together? We help each other out. We hold each other mutually accountable. We collaborate We think many decisions are made best when made closest to the customer and to the community Integrity is not for sale family businesses who we are next one. I'm gonna skip that one So let me chat a little bit about the financial strength because that was one of the issues that came up Before our offer for BT has no financing contingencies. We have over 75 million in capital available So we are ready as soon as the regulatory approval is done. We are ready to complete the transaction This city as part of this process had an independent CPA Assess a number of the bidders and they found us to be a very strong financial organization We've provided a three-year historical as well as an 11-year projection to the PUC and We are in a sound financial position to fulfill all of the financial commitments that we've made next one How are we doing on time? Yeah, let me just say that in the petition there a number of key elements, which were also the BTAP criteria This document will become public and we have slides that really address all of those more specifically the ones that are really here Let's go the last slide And we try to address those In summary, that's that's a good last slide. Let's start there We meet all the criteria sought by the city BT will join a larger localized and family-owned business with 50 years operating experience in these industries BT will make closely affiliated with HBC And I think that that will be very important as we finish the bill that in Burlington in the next year or two As well as come up with solutions to meet the people where it's more difficult to reach them We are fully committed to that neutrality and support the local public access elements you know really there was the original vision of BT and As we got into this process, we liked that original vision very much And so our goal is to finish that that the goal to finish the BT build in Burlington by 2019 will be a locally based company with local employees and local decision-making and We have the financial resources to make certain the BT meets its commitments. I'm going to stop there and Let that set and we'll provide the deck in public, but I think now's a good time for Q&A. Is that great? For those of you who showed up during this presentation, I'm Dan Burke I'm an attorney from the Department of Public Service this point I'd like to open this session up to questions either for me or any of the presenters from the city or sure as Communications and if you have any questions, I'd ask that you come up to the table to the microphone CCTV is currently broadcasting this live So if you're up here anyone who's watching at home would be able to hear your question and responses We might have so anybody who'd like to ask any questions. Feel free to come on Yes You eluded to the pressure that the it were under with the city to sell BT and you talked about the recent sale process in the Seven or eight bidders, but you didn't talk at all about where VTab fit into the selection of blue water That's really why we're here. That's the pressure I wonder if you sort of skip that piece of the history I wonder if you talk about that a little bit. Yeah, so Upon the recommendation from the Blue Ribbon Commission to really Was two pieces to one find a partner and to bring in someone who could stabilize BT and manage it for some period of time while we did that search for the partner As we came out of that process and started having the city started having conversations with city Bank It was clear that we we needed a interim Solution to help finance and bridge the financing from the time of Settling with city bank into where we are today finding a partner in shores so We had conversations with two maybe three through dormant and faucet who was the chosen group to help us Navigate through this BTab reviewed those choices and What the deals would be? Blue water was chosen at the time because it was it was believed to be the best deal Compared to the other bridge financiers that we met with So that was how the process in city council ultimately chose made that selection Of blue water in that agreement Anybody else have any other questions that you want to ask during the session before the commission My name is Solvee over being and my question is actually to Todd How are the ZRF investors involved in Champlain Rodman ensures communications? Yeah, that's a good question. So Fossil Nassar who is the Principal of ZRF he and I chatted Shares will be the only equity holder of BT plus whatever the city holds What we've done with ZRF is we have a partnership on the Community investments and the technology and the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the those commitments and the job training So that's really ZRF's position, but in terms of being an equity holder They do not have any equit they will not have any equity in BT And I would just clarify that ZRF was one of the other potential bidders of the eight that I mentioned earlier With with city financial it's a 10.5 million dollar settlement Blue water provided a loan for six million. Where did the rest of the? 10.5 or the 4.5 million dollars come from I I have that answer not in front of me But I can get that information. I don't want to miss speak to the actual dollars Mr. Goodkind that you're a party in the case and so it's a adjudicative proceeding before the public utility commission and you'll have an opportunity further on in the case to make formal discovery requests and get Answers under oath from the parties so that that might be a better way to answer that question Anybody else have any questions for the department or the petitioners that are here this evening all right? So that are you all unable to provide the slides sure? Well, thank you everybody the commission staff should be here within the next few minutes And that will be an opportunity for anybody to make comments directly to them about their opinions on this proposed Transaction and one thing I did want to address with all of you before we go I know there is mr. Phillips just mentioned party status in the case if you would like to be participating in this case as a Party meaning that you would have the opportunity to present testimony cross-examined witnesses You will need to file a motion to intervene in the deadline to file those as a week from today Otherwise the other option to participate has been discussed already feel free to file public comments I would encourage you to learn to use the epoch system and file and them into epochs that everybody who's participating sees the comments Also, if you want to follow what is going on in the case you can sign up for the epoch System you can track this case so any legal filings that are made you'll get an email when they're made and you'll be able to Download any of the filings anytime the commission issues in order which they did today You'll get an instant notification when that order is out So you'll be able to follow the case in real time if you have any questions about how to use the epoch system You can feel free to contact me my information is available on our website Carol Flint is from our consumer affairs division She also has a lot of experience helping customers through system through all of our utility systems including the epoch system So Carol's a great resource if you have any questions and do not hesitate to get in touch with me or other department staff So again, thank you all for coming out tonight. It's helpful for us to hear from all of you I think the commission staffs here, so I'll let them know that we're done Good evening Welcome This is a public hearing in case number 18-04 9-1-PET Which is the public utility commission's investigation Into the petition of Champlain broadband LLC the city of Burlington doing businesses Burlington telecom and Bluewater Holdings LLC for approval For approval pursuant to 30 VSA sections 109 231 and 504 47 USC section 214 E and Section 438 C1 of the city of Burlington charter of a transaction in which Champlain broadband proposes to acquire Burlington telecoms assets and There'll be a test later if you can read back the title of this case My name is Anthony Royceman, and I am chair of the Vermont Public Utility Commission with me today Our commissioners Margaret Cheney on my right and Sarah Hoffman as well as members of the Commission staff There are also representatives of the joint petitioners here as well as representatives from the Vermont Department of Public Service They conducted an information session just prior to this public hearing and are available for questions Late breaking news this afternoon the Commission granted the petition to intervene filed by Sandra Baird Jared Carter Dean Corrin Steven Goodkind Salve over me and Shea Toten. So they are now parties to this proceeding tonight's hearing is for the purpose of non parties to Raise issues that you would like the Commission to consider in the course of making its decision in this case We want to make sure that Any member of the public who has something to say has an opportunity to say it this evening and These public comments do not become part of the formal evidence in this case But they're helpful in raising new issues or perspectives that the Commission should consider this hearing is being transcribed by a court reporter and It will be available when we get the transcript on the Electronic database maintained by the Commission called EPUC It's the Commission's electronic case management system we've passed out information to all of you that describes how you can participate in this proceeding by watching through EPUC Every piece of paper that's filed by any party in the proceeding copies of transcripts of this proceeding and of any hearings that are held in this case if You wish to speak please write your name on one of the sign-up sheets that's circulating around the room This will assist the court reporter with the correct spelling of your name and to help make the process more orderly Today's hearing is not the only opportunity to submit comments You can provide written comments using EPUC or by mail or email to the Commission At our offices in Montpelier the contact information is also provided on the handout available to you Please reference the number of the case 18 dash 0491 Dash PET you need not repeat the full title of the case In addition to submitting public comments certain persons may wish to intervene in this case So that they may participate as formal parties as I mentioned at the outset a Number of individuals working together as a group have petitioned intervene and their intervention has been approved But further petitions to intervene may be filed with the Commission and the procedures for doing that are also Set out in the Commission's website where you can go to get information or even call the Commission's office The deadline for filing petitions to intervene is May the 16th at 430 in the afternoon and you can file that in paper or if you prefer and we do prefer You can use the EPUC system to file electronically if you use that Electronic system it automatically takes care of providing notice of any piece of paper that you file in the case To all the other parties in the case and you don't have to make a service of them through the mails or email The procedural schedule for this investigation is printed on the back of the Commission's handout That is a tentative schedule that we have set based upon the participation so far of the parties and Proposed parties that appeared at a pre-hearing conference that we held several weeks ago That schedule might be changed based upon input from others or new petitions to intervene or both Over the course of this investigation The Commission may direct the petitioners to Respond to the issues that you raise at this hearing at various points in this proceeding the Commission Will also ask questions that may be based on your comments when the Commission rules on whether to approve the proposed Transaction we will issue a written opinion that addresses the issues raised by the public and that explains the basis for the Commission's ruling We'll now open the floor to public comment If you would like to speak Please step forward to this microphone and I'm advised in order that you will be recorded properly You should speak close to the microphone There's two names here. All right, and we have two names already We do have two names already, but if you'd like to sign up Elizabeth Schilling over here has a clipboard that you can sign on All right, so Barbara. Is it why Roth? We're Roth. Okay. Thank you very much Burlington Telecom is really part of the wealth of this city and To ignore that is to be a Deficit to our city will lose it I Have just moved about a week ago, and I had Burlington Telecom for a year. I was very happy with it and I wanted it to stay that way and I know that it won't if a corporation takes over Because I've seen it many times over the many years For example, I Just called up Comcast to try and get a land phone and Whoever answered said oh, yes, we have that It's a $14 a month And I said $14 and she said oh no wait a minute because I have to ask Something from someone here, so she's gone for quite a while comes back and says oh, I'm terribly sorry But I quoted it wrong. It's $44 a month And I said okay The way I explained it before Is this the same as my explanation was that you're referring to and I said well Do plug it just in into an outlet and into your phone simply the way it has been done. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes Okay. Oh, sorry wait a minute. I have to speak to someone else Then she comes back and She says well It takes a modem to do that and there will be $44 plus ten dollars a month plus taxes And it amounts to $70 a month and so this was not the first person I spoke to because I got answers like oh Anything you want anything you want and I felt like saying yeah the Brooklyn Bridge Because you know, obviously, you know, I Didn't know too much about technology because I was asking for a land phone and so This is the response I got then I called another consolidated which is going to be down the street here. I Couldn't even get through Their doors were locked so I couldn't go over and present myself personally and then when I finally did they had no such thing So anyhow, and I even said well, this is I'm gonna start with a phone but I may take an internet too and So that perked up their ears But I got nowhere with anybody and I can see that happening here in Burlington Where we had something that was really good. I'd like to see it come back and To have it as a co-op So that we can all have a chance for something good and the city will have someone their wealth back by that Thank you very much. Thank you Our next Speaker is Stuart Warsaw the hi, I'm a resident of Burlington and I am a customer Burlington telecom The only thing that I would love to see is a current set of financial statements of Burlington telecom It has seemed like nobody can really has seen what the earnings are what the power Or what the financial condition of the company is the other thing is it? would be great if in Looking at this you take a look at the value of Burlington telecom Relative to the rest of the market value of a comparable company today and also consider what's happening Today and what its future value could really be because it is an incredible asset and it is great to keep it in this city And then there's the issue of net neutrality And I think that the city of Burlington certainly cares an enormous amount about keeping its independence Bless you. So that's my only request as you go through this process. Thank you. Thank you Next Louise Brill Good evening Good evening. Can you hear me? Yeah? Yeah, my name is Louise Brill. I'm a property owner in Burlington I pay more than $8,000 a year in property taxes and That $15 million figure That needs to come back to the citizens of Burlington I'm also a Burlington telecom customer highly satisfied When you call them up with any complaint or anything that needs fixing they have answers right away They're easy to reach and I've been quite impressed with them. I also am concerned about Utilities becoming monopolized across the United States. That's happening everywhere. There are bigger and bigger companies and We have a jewel right here in Burlington We have a real jewel. We own our own telephone company an internet company and To let that go for a song is a shame We need to keep Burlington telecom local. Thank you very much Thank you Louise Andrews Hello, I'm a resident of Burlington and a Burlington telecom customer and Actually, I was a Burlington telecom owner before This deal was made I was very proud that The company belonged to me and the other residents of the city of Burlington Local control is very important to me and I have the same pride in The Burlington community ownership of Burlington telecom that I do with the co-op Burlington Electric Department Local control is really important and I agree with a previous speaker in terms of being concerned of all the Combining of companies that concerned me a little bit with a presentation earlier that While they say they're local They like to work with local companies and keep the local names. Well, that's been the show game for many years in terms of companies You know having one name Big company and then all these other small names you find out belong to the same monopoly so I think I'm very upset that my ownership was given away And I didn't have a say Thank you Do we have any other people who would like to speak? Two people just came in Would you just check and see if either of them want to speak? Claire Leonard I've been a resident of Burlington since 2002 and a Burlington telecom customer for as long as I have been able to I Just wanted to say that when I talk to friends and family members and people about The benefits of living in Burlington. I do I say, you know, the lake is beautiful. The mountains beautiful. It's walkable It's wonderful, but one of the top things I mentioned is how lucky we we are we were I suppose to have a municipal telecom and people I Loved ones and friends and family from other places are astonished that we have or had a local broadband company and didn't have to deal with a duopoly or terrible customer service from a giant company and I'm going to mourn that loss and it Really does feel like a fundamental loss and I wish that there was something we could do to keep it local to keep a municipal telecom and if not get Real lasting assurances that principles Like net neutrality will be will be preserved I've read a number of number of What comes to mind is an op-ed written by I don't know exactly the official at in Concord, Massachusetts speaking about how the best bulwark to preserve net neutrality is local ownership and municipal telecom and I When I read that I really did mourn because that is something that Burlington has and not many places do and Really is a fundamental benefit to living here and I just I don't know if anything can be done to preserve Burlington telecom as it is and if there isn't anything that can be done I would just love to see some assurance that the values of a municipal telecom are still hell going forward in whatever form This takes but I really am in mourning for the loss of a municipal telecom that has been Wonderful, I think to the citizens of Burlington Thank you And Joanna Rankin Thank you for this opportunity to speak before you I think that I was one of the very first subscribers to Burlington telecom in our part of the city and we eagerly waited for the fiber to come down our street and and Once fiber was installed We slowly became prouder and prouder that Burlington had its own telecom company We have an electric department. Why shouldn't we have? local telecom services and And So it was later a shock when the City Council made the decision that it did It didn't seem to be a very well motivated or even proper decision to be sort of made Behind or offside or something of that sort and so and What led up to that? I found very disturbing that People were talking about Cooperatives as being unreliable and that if it didn't fall into the hands of a for-profit company Perhaps the city would be sued and all sorts of stuff like that was floating around It seemed to me from reading the press at the time of the decision. I would hope that the public service board would be very judicious in defending The idea that Vermont residents should have the prerogative to To Configure their affairs with utilities with local utilities other towns have local utilities. Why shouldn't Burlington have a local utility? I Strongly urge you to make that kind of decision and to help repair the But in my mind from reading the press was a bit of flawed process that got us to this point Thank you. Thank you Do you have anybody else who'd like to speak? Thank you all very much for coming and For the comments that you have made this evening as I mentioned at the outset The comments that you've made will be factored into the issues that the Commission explores They will be addressed in any final decision that the Commission makes we may pose questions to the petitioners in this proceeding to ask them to address the concerns that you've raised We take the public's point of view very seriously We we put great emphasis on the first name of our organization public utility Commission And so we will take everything that you've said to us very much to heart There will be a summary of your comments that will be posted on our website shortly Is that you can that you can see and show to others and as I mentioned at the outset if you have additional comments We are still welcome to provide those comments to us In writing either by mail email or using the EPUC system Just a reminder that all of the details on how to do that are on that sheet that Andrea Papiti has over there and Andrea does that also have the remaining the remaining Steps in this case. Yes. The schedule is on the back of that. Well. Thank you again. We will have Hearings in this case as you will see on the schedule and you're welcome to come to those hearings Thank you. Oh, this public hearing is adjourned