Rockville Telecommunications Policy and Plan

TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY & PLAN FOR THE CITY OF ROCKVILLE Approved: March 8, 1999 Prepared By: River Oaks Communications Corporation TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary. .i Telecommunications Policy. .1 Telecommunications Plan. 7 Appendices Navigation List Appendix 1 – Impact of, and Current Issues Related to, Federal Law Appendix 2 – Impact of, and Current Issues Related to, State Law Appendix 3 – Proactive Management of the Public Right-of-Way Appendix 4 – Personal Wireless Services Overview Appendix 5 – Voice Telecommunications System Report Appendix 6 – Data, Voice and Other Communications Systems Review Appendix 7 – Institutional Network (I-Net) Use for the City of Rockville Appendix 8 – Rockville Departmental Telecommunications Needs Assessment Appendix 9 – Overview of New Telecommunications Technologies and Services Appendix 10 – Residential Telecommunications Needs Assessment Report Appendix 11 – Rockville Business Telecommunications Needs Assessment Appendix 12 – Overview of the Competitive Telecommunications Climate in Rockville Telecommunications Glossary i Executive Summary Telecommunications development emerged as one of the community’s priority concerns for the future of the City of Rockville, Maryland (“City”) through “Imagine Rockville,” the community visioning process. Shortly after the most recent municipal election, the Mayor and Council conducted a retreat and designated the development of a Telecommunications Policy and Plan for the City as one of their four priority policy initiatives for the current term. Funding was made available to hire a consultant, and the Technology Action Team, one of the “Imagine Rockville” citizen action groups, along with staff, developed a Request for Proposals (RFP). The scope of services included: · An assessment of laws and regulations · An assessment of existing telecommunications service providers and facilities in Rockville · An assessment of the City’s existing telecommunications systems and facilities · An assessment of possible alternatives for the City of Rockville · An assessment, analysis, and forecast of telecommunications trends · An assessment of the City’s process dealing with the entry and development of telecommunications services · A public information dissemination and public information obtainment process In response to the RFP, the City received proposals from ten firms, including some of the most highly regarded in the field of municipal telecommunications consulting. After a thorough review of the proposals, the Technology Action Team and staff recommended that the Mayor and Council accept the proposal of River Oaks Communications Corporation (“River Oaks”) and award a contract. The Mayor and Council agreed and awarded the contract. Since June of 1998, River Oaks has been conducting a study and analysis with input from the Technology Action Team, other Rockville residents, businesses, the Mayor and Council, the Planning Commission, staff, and technical and legal subcontractors with expertise in telecommunications. The public was kept apprised of the nature, scope, and direction of the project through articles in the City’s monthly newsletter, “Rockville Reports”; through a public forum that was televised live and replayed several times on the City’s cable television station; through other programs, news stories, and bulletin board announcements on the City’s cable television station; through information on the City’s Web site; and through news releases. A very important part of the information gathering was a residential survey that was mailed in “Rockville Reports” to every address in Rockville. More than 1,400 completed surveys were returned by the deadline. ii A separate survey was mailed to Rockville businesses, and a business focus group was conducted. Since part of the project involved an assessment of the City government telecommunications systems and services, a third survey was distributed to City department heads. River Oaks also conducted in-person interviews and site visits. Partway through the study, the consultants met with the Mayor and Council in work session to brief them and to receive direction. In early January 1999, River Oaks presented a draft Proposed Telecommunications Policy and Plan to the Technology Action Team and to the Planning Commission. Comments, suggestions, and questions from those two groups were incorporated in the drafting of the Proposed Telecommunications Policy and Plan that was presented to the Mayor and Council on January 25, 1999. The complete document was posted on the City’s website; copies were distributed to the Technology Action Team; and a review copy was placed at the Rockville public library. In Rockville Reports and on Rockville Cable 53, the City announced where complete copies were available. Additionally, some people picked up copies at the January 25 meeting. Copies of the policy and plan sections were made available at the January 25 meeting and at City Hall after the meeting. At the January 25th meeting, Council members Marrinan and Harrison raised as areas of concern, the privacy and integrity of information provided electronically, and a privacy statement for the City’s website. Those matters have been addressed by new language proposed and reviewed by City staff, River Oaks, and the City’s Legal Department, and discussed with Mayor and Council in Work Session on March 1, 1999. The final Telecommunications Policy and Plan was approved on March 8, 1999 and consists of the following: · Policy—Issue statements followed by policies · Plan—Each policy statement followed by action steps for implementation · Appendices—detailed supporting material, recommendations and options 1 TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY FOR THE CITY OF ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND Policy Issues and Statements Introduction Since the early 1980’s, the pace of development of telecommunications infrastructure and services has been staggering. This the result of many factors, among them: the break up of AT&T in 1984 into a number of regional telephone companies and the ensuing competition in the long distance market; the deployment of broadband technologies in major markets by cable television companies; the evolution of competitors in the telecommunications services marketplace from Alternative Local Telecommunications (ALT) Providers and Competitive Access Providers (CAPs) into Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) and the associated infrastructure development that continues to be required; the development of Personal Communications Services (PCS) and the significant new wireless tower and antenna deployment that has been required; the rapid advancement in telecommunications technologies and services for both the business and residential marketplace; and landmark regulatory initiatives, especially the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“the Act”). All of this has created both opportunities and challenges for local governments. The opportunities come in the form of access to higher quality, higher capability, lower cost telecommunications technologies and services which can help enhance economic development, increase the efficiency and effectiveness of services delivered by local government, and provide overall benefits to the citizenry both at home and at their workplaces. The challenges come in the form of a significant increase in infrastructure and an ever-increasing impact on the public Right-Of-Way (ROW) that require careful and thoughtful responses by the local government, weighing the needs and interests of all the affected parties, while dealing with constraints at both the State and Federal levels. Accordingly, the City of Rockville, Maryland (“City”), like many other jurisdictions, determined that the most appropriate way to approach both the challenges and opportunities presented in the current and anticipated telecommunications climate is to develop a Telecommunications Policy and Plan which addresses all the pertinent issues that confront the City. This Telecommunications Policy and Plan initiative is a priority of the Mayor and Council and was previously identified as a priority by the Rockville community during the visioning process. The Policy and Plan detailed in this document is a collective effort, which includes input from citizens, the Mayor and Council, businesses, City staff, the Technology Action Team (a citizen advisory group), the Planning Commission, and the City’s telecommunications consultant, River Oaks Communications Corporation (“River Oaks”). 2 Supporting Study Methodology In the course of assisting the City in the development of its Telecommunications Policy and Plan, River Oaks performed a supporting study to review a number of issues ultimately addressed by the policy statements below and, during the review process, to obtain input from a variety of Communities of Interest (“Communities”). The study began in June 1998 and concluded in December of 1998. It was designed to gather, review, and analyze information in both a qualitative and quantitative manner regarding the following project elements: · An assessment of legislative, regulatory and other legal factors that affect telecommunications planning and policy development in Rockville. · An assessment of the external telecommunications service providers and facilities climate in Rockville. · An assessment of the City’s internal telecommunications service and facilities environment, including alternatives for the future. · An assessment of synergies between the City and Montgomery County regarding telecommunications matters. · An assessment,

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