107PUC.docx

1 PAYETTE, IDAHO, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1998, 7:00 P.M.
2
3
4 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Welcome to, I would
5 say, one of the nicest facilities we've traveled to for a
6 public hearing over the last -- gosh, I go back ten years,
7 and I see a guy in the audience who goes back ten before
8 that. We could tell you a lot of stories about being in
9 the back of an Elks club in Council, so this is pretty
10 nice.
11 This is the time and place set for Idaho
12 Public Utilities Commission Case USW-T-96-6, which is in
13 the matter of the petition from Weiser, Payette, and New
14 Plymouth residents requesting Extended Area Service between
15 Weiser, Payette, New Plymouth, and Boise.
16 A couple of weeks ago we had a technical
17 hearing in Boise on this matter in which members of our
18 Commission Staff and U S WEST and intervenors presented
19 their testimony. And our purpose tonight is to hear from
20 the people of this area about how they feel about this
21 petition.
22 My name is Ralph Nelson. I'm the Chairman of
23 tonight's hearing and one of the three members of the Idaho
24 Public Utilities Commission. On my right is Commissioner
25 Dennis Hansen, who is the president of the Commission. The
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1 third Commissioner is Marsha Smith, and she was not able to
2 be here tonight.
3 We can start with you, Ms. Copsey.
4 MS. COPSEY: My name is Cheri Copsey. I'm
5 the Deputy Attorney General representing Staff in this
6 proceeding.
7 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you.
8 Ms. Hobson.
9 MS. HOBSON: I'm Mary Hobson. I'm the
10 attorney for U S WEST Communications, and I'm from the
11 Stoel, Rives law firm in Boise.
12 COMMISSIONER NELSON: That appears to be all
13 the parties appearing tonight. Do we have anything we need
14 to take care of before we start calling the people who have
15 signed up to testify?
16 MS. COPSEY: No, not as far as I know.
17 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Our procedure tonight
18 is we will call you in the order in which you signed up.
19 When we call your name, I'll ask you to come forward to the
20 table here. Commissioner Hansen will swear you in, and
21 then we'll ask you one or two questions to get you on the
22 record. Since all of our proceedings are transcribed by a
23 court reporter here, we will need your name and address and
24 your sworn testimony.
25 The first person on our list is Ryan Kerby.
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1 Would you come forward, sir. I might say that, as
2 Mr. Kerby is coming forward, as we go through our people
3 who are testifying tonight and maybe some questions are
4 raised in your mind, while we don't really take questions
5 from the audience, when we take a break in an hour or so,
6 why, we have two people here from Commission Staff and a
7 representative from U S WEST who would be happy to talk to
8 you at that time and answer any questions that they can.
9
10 RYAN KERBY,
11 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
12 sworn, testified as follows:
13
14 EXAMINATION
15
16 BY MS. COPSEY:
17 Q Do you want to state your name for the
18 record, and spell it, and also give us your address.
19 A Okay. Ryan Kerby, R-y-a-n, K-e-r-b-y. I
20 reside at 5470 Highway 52 in New Plymouth.
21 Q Do you want to proceed with your testimony.
22 A As I said, my name is Ryan Kerby. I am the
23 superintendent of the New Plymouth School District. I'm
24 here to speak on behalf of the school district, a few
25 patrons and business persons around the community that I
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CSB REPORTING KERBY
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 visited with, and on behalf of my family. We favor making
2 the Treasure Valley one local calling area. We estimate
3 the school district of New Plymouth will save about $350 a
4 month if the Weiser area, the southern part of Payette
5 County, and Ada and Canyon Counties become a local call.
6 It is presently a long-distance phone call to
7 the southern part of our School District. Approximately
8 one-fifth of our students reside in that area. When
9 teachers call these parents for conferencing on grades,
10 discipline, or guidance, when the offices call home for
11 birth certificates, immunization records, transportation
12 issues, when kids are sick or injured, when kids call home
13 because Scouts is canceled, practice time has been changed,
14 they forget their band uniform, they left their project or
15 lunch at home, these calls are long distance. It is long
16 distance for me to call my school board chairman who lives
17 in that zone.
18 We are dealing with about 19 school districts
19 in the calling area under discussion. Only one, Payette,
20 is a local call. When students transfer to or from the
21 other 18, we have to call each other or Fax grades, class
22 schedules, transcripts, immunization records, other medical
23 records, and so on.
24 When our middle school or high schools make
25 calls to do sports scheduling or to take care of problems
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1 involving our 30-or-so boys' and girls' teams, it's a
2 long-distance call. Clubs such as FFA, FHA, Business
3 Professionals of America, and others that have leadership
4 or other conferences to set up, band or choir schedules, or
5 competitions to set up, the calls are long distance.
6 Our administrators, directors, and teachers
7 call our districts trying to figure out how to build a
8 better mousetrap, how to improve reading instruction and
9 improve test scores in math, how to handle various
10 discipline issues, how we can go together to save money
11 using economy of scale, again, long-distance phone calls.
12 We have numerous dealings with the four
13 colleges and universities represented in Canyon and Ada
14 Counties. We call Albertson's College in Caldwell,
15 NNC in Nampa, BSU in Boise, and the U of I extension in
16 Boise on frequent issues, setting up in-services, getting
17 transcripts, taking classes, career and scholarship
18 information, college entrance questions, getting ideas on
19 how to solve various issues. The calls are all long
20 distance.
21 The businesses our schools or maintenance
22 people work with are mostly in Canyon and Ada Counties.
23 Checking prices, calling orders for library books or
24 textbooks, school supplies, furniture such as tables,
25 chairs, or desks, computer hardware/software infrastructure
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1 and maintenance, purchasing and maintaining copy machines,
2 psychological services, resolving billing issues, or all of
3 the above, again, the calls are all long distance.
4 The State Department of Education, who we
5 have to deal with on a regular basis, is in Boise and so is
6 long distance. We call them on issues in areas such as
7 attendance, certification, finance, accreditation,
8 curriculum, transportation, Special Ed, Federal programs,
9 food services, legal issues, district policies, and
10 proposed legislation, all long-distance calls.
11 Residents of the New Plymouth area have
12 relatives scattered around the Treasure Valley. When we
13 call our parents, siblings, children, aunts and uncles,
14 cousins, unless they are practically next door, it is long
15 distance. I have about 100 signatures here from people who
16 support what I'm saying. I only had a little bit of time
17 to run around and get signatures, and nearly everyone we
18 talked to practically grabbed the paper out of our hands
19 and insisted on signing it.
20 Personally, I'm representing my family. My
21 wife works in the hospital in Weiser, and part-time for a
22 company in Boise. We have phone calls to them. I have
23 family in Weiser and Boise. We have business calls for
24 Canyon and Ada County. So making this area a local call
25 would save our family about $60 a month.
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1 It is hard for us to understand how it can be
2 that eastern Idaho is a local call to the Montana and Utah
3 borders, and for us it is long distance to many families in
4 our own school district. We have no interest in a smaller
5 calling region. We need Ada and Canyon Counties for this
6 to be of some significant help.
7 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you,
8 Mr. Kerby.
9 The other thing we would like to do is, when
10 you're through with your statement, we will ask the parties
11 if they have any questions.
12 Ms. Copsey.
13 MS. COPSEY: I have no questions.
14 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Ms. Hobson.
15 MS. HOBSON: No questions. Thank you.
16 COMMISSIONER HANSEN: I just have a few
17 questions.
18
19 EXAMINATION
20
21 BY COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
22 Q You mentioned that the school district could
23 save about $350 a month; is that correct?
24 A Roughly. That's probably conservative lots
25 of months.
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CSB REPORTING KERBY (Com)
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 Q If it was all a local calling area, do you
2 see the amount of calls or the time increasing and more
3 calls being made if it was local than if it remained toll?
4 A It's probably not a great deal of difference,
5 except for maybe the kids calling home.
6 Q As far as the school --
7 A Not a tremendous difference. We make the
8 calls we have to make and that's about it.
9 COMMISSIONER HANSEN: Thank you, sir.
10 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you for coming
11 up, Mr. Kerby.
12 The next person who signed up didn't give his
13 last name, but it's Jim, 309 East Ash. Did he wish to
14 testify? Perhaps not.
15 The next lady is Kathie Bergquist.
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CSB REPORTING KERBY (Com)
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1 KATHIE BERGQUIST,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
3 sworn, testified as follows:
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY MS. COPSEY:
8 Q Ms. Bergquist, would you state your name, and
9 also spell it, and state your address.
10 A I'm Kathie Bergquist, K-a-t-h-i-e,
11 B-e-r-g-q-u-i-s-t. My address is 124 Hill Road in Weiser.
12 Q You can go ahead with your testimony.
13 A We moved to Weiser from Boise in 1993. We
14 bought property in Weiser. And where we were, it gave us a
15 Payette telephone exchange. And we could see homes just
16 from our place that we had to place a long-distance call
17 to. There was a definite line right between Weiser and
18 Payette that was a toll call. And our phone bill went up
19 dramatically.
20 At the time I called the Public Utilities
21 Commission and they told me the process to go through, you
22 know, to try and do something about this. So we did gather
23 a bunch of petitions. Those were turned in to Myrna
24 Walters. And I turned in more tonight. We had a lot of
25 people who were interested in trying to get this changed.
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CSB REPORTING BERGQUIST
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 I think over the years people didn't live out
2 that close to each other. But as the communities have
3 grown together, the line has remained there, but people --
4 so people still have to make those toll calls, but right
5 now they live across the street from each other as the
6 community has grown out and grown together. And I just
7 wanted to see it changed. That would be my feelings.
8 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Does that complete your
9 statement?
10 THE WITNESS: Yes.
11 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Do we have any
12 questions for Ms. Bergquist?
13 MS. COPSEY: I have none.
14 COMMISSIONER HANSEN: I have one.
15
16 EXAMINATION
17
18 BY COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
19 Q The question I have is: The people that
20 signed the petition, did they realize that it could cost
21 them anywhere from $5.50 to $6 more a month for this
22 service?
23 A I don't think they knew how much it would go
24 up. I think they realize that their rates could go up
25 some. Most of them are from Weiser. That's where my kids
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CSB REPORTING BERGQUIST (Com)
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 go to school. That's where we do a lot of our business.
2 And they have had the problem, I guess, for years, and they
3 are willing, I think, to pay some. I don't know if they
4 realize how much it would be, but they knew it would
5 probably raise them.
6 Q Would you be willing to pay $6 more a month
7 to be able to call a larger region, say, clear into Boise?
8 A I would, myself. Now, you know, this was my
9 other concern. When we first started this petition, we
10 thought -- we were just kind of thinking from Weiser to New
11 Plymouth, and didn't realize it was going to go clear to
12 Boise.
13 If we were to get from Weiser to
14 New Plymouth, rather than nothing, I would prefer that.
15 But if it's going all the way to Boise, personally, myself,
16 I would like it, but I don't know how other people feel
17 about that.
18 Q So the petition that people signed, that
19 petition was just for calling between New Plymouth and
20 Weiser and Payette. And this little area of valley right
21 here, were they under the understanding that this was to be
22 able to call Boise and Caldwell and Nampa and places like
23 that?
24 A I think they thought it was just to
25 New Plymouth, just personally. I can't answer for each
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CSB REPORTING BERGQUIST (Com)
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 person individually. I would think that they thought it
2 was to New Plymouth. That's what I envisioned. I had no
3 idea we could maybe get it clear to Boise.
4 COMMISSIONER HANSEN: Thank you.
5 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you.
6 Lucille Bergquist, do you wish to testify?
7 MS. BERGQUIST: No. I wish to decline. I
8 thought I was signing a roster.
9 COMMISSIONER NELSON: The next person who has
10 signed is Robert Haggerty.
11
12 ROBERT M. HAGGERTY,
13 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
14 sworn, testified as follows:
15
16 EXAMINATION
17
18 BY MS. COPSEY:
19 Q Mr. Haggerty, would you state your full name,
20 and spell it, and give us your address.
21 A My name is Robert, R-o-b-e-r-t, middle
22 initial M, last name Haggerty, H-a-g-g-e-r-t-y. I live at
23 307 East Park Avenue in New Plymouth, Idaho. I have been a
24 resident there since 1993.
25 Q Go ahead and give your testimony.
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Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 A In the matter of toll-free calling between
2 Weiser, New Plymouth, Payette, and Boise, there is a
3 real need for toll-free calling. I'm in emergency
4 communications; U.S. Air Force MARS. Also, I'm in
5 civil defense. I'm an emergency coordinator for Payette
6 County. I do a lot of in-state calling. If we had an area
7 wide toll-free calling area, it would be an asset for
8 myself due to the amount of calling that I do passing
9 messages to military or civilian personnel at Mountain Home
10 Air Force Base and other people within the state of Idaho.
11 In fact, if there's any traffic on any of these military
12 networks, I have to pick up the traffic because I'm the
13 only person on-line in the state of Idaho. So I do a lot
14 of local calling.
15 Also, I'm a retired Federal employee. I do a
16 lot of calling into Boise. I have severe medical
17 problems. I'm 100 percent disabled. My cardiologist and
18 other doctors are in Boise, Nampa, and Caldwell, so I spend
19 a lot of time calling for medical and dental work in that
20 area. Also, the hospitals, St. Luke's and St. Al's, your
21 better hospitals, are in Boise.
22 This is an added increase to my telephone
23 bill each month to have to make several phone calls into
24 that area. In my estimation, the amount of the fee that
25 would increase my telephone bill would be much less than my
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CSB REPORTING HAGGERTY
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 other telephone bills that I have to pay right at this
2 moment. That's about all I have to say.
3 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you,
4 Mr. Haggerty. Any questions?
5 MS. COPSEY: No.
6 MS. HOBSON: No.
7 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you for your
8 testimony.
9 Our next witness is Kaye Miller.
10
11 KAYE MILLER,
12 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
13 sworn, testified as follows:
14
15 EXAMINATION
16
17 BY MS. COPSEY:
18 Q Ms. Miller, do you want to state your name,
19 and spell it, and give us your address for the record,
20 please.
21 A My name is Kaye Miller, K-a-y-e, M-i-l-l-e-r,
22 960 Pioneer Road, Weiser, Idaho.
23 Q Do you want to go ahead and give us your
24 testimony.
25 A All right. I have been a resident of Weiser
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CSB REPORTING MILLER
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 for 24 years. I have children living from Cambridge to
2 Boise. So I have a vested interest at being able to call
3 them. I have managed to keep my long-distance telephone
4 bill very low by using e-mail, but sometimes it would sure
5 be nice to talk to them more often.
6 We do business with businesses in the
7 Treasure Valley. We often make medical calls and those
8 sorts of things to the Treasure Valley area. My husband is
9 a district officer for the Seven River Scout District and
10 often has to make long-distance telephone calls because of
11 his work with the Scouts.
12 I have a leadership position in our church
13 which requires me to make long-distance telephone calls.
14 That would be within this area that's covered. I also have
15 this vision that perhaps an expanded calling area would
16 help the competition of our businesses, and maybe make it
17 more reasonable to shop closer to home, because maybe the
18 businesses wouldn't have such large telephone bills and
19 perhaps they would see the Treasure Valley as a real
20 competition area and would make it easier for us to do
21 business at home.
22 We are on a fixed income. We haven't seen a
23 raise in our salary in over seven years, and we're nearing
24 retirement. But for me, even though my bill might go up a
25 little bit, I would rather know exactly what I'm going to
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Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 pay each month than have it vary from month to month
2 depending on what kinds of emergencies we have in the
3 family, medical emergencies.
4 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Does that complete your
5 statement, ma'am?
6 THE WITNESS: That does.
7 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you.
8 Are there any questions?
9 Commissioner Hansen.
10
11 EXAMINATION
12
13 BY COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
14 Q If this became just a local calling area
15 clear into Boise, do you think the amount of time --
16 minutes used on the phone would be about the same, or would
17 it double or triple or be ten times as much? Could you
18 just give me an idea what you think would happen?
19 A Well, if you take out the time I spent on the
20 e-mail, it probably would close to double, because I do
21 have seven children and they're spread, like I said, within
22 this area. So there would be no doubt that it would go up
23 some.
24 COMMISSIONER HANSEN: Thank you.
25 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you.
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CSB REPORTING MILLER (Com)
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 Next, we have Ned Law.
2
3 NED LAW,
4 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
5 sworn, testified as follows:
6
7 EXAMINATION
8
9 BY MS. COPSEY:
10 Q Mr. Law, would you state your name, spell it,
11 and also give us your address.
12 A Ned Law. First name is Ned, N-e-d, Law,
13 L-a-w. I live at 967 Olds Ferry Road in Weiser.
14 Q You can go ahead and give your testimony.
15 A I am a real estate agent. It seems like I'm
16 on the phone to either the Nampa, Caldwell, Boise, Payette,
17 New Plymouth areas about 75 percent of the time. It would
18 help me immensely in my business, as well as in our
19 personal. Our doctors are in Boise. We have family in
20 Boise. Our daughter is expecting a child and, of course,
21 you know what that means. We're on the phone all the
22 time.
23 We would really be grateful to have the
24 expanded area into Boise, and I would be more than willing
25 to increase the phone bill to $6 or even higher than that
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CSB REPORTING LAW
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 if it was necessary. We also have family in Emmett, so it
2 would really be a savings to us.
3 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay. Thank you. Any
4 questions for Mr. Law?
5 MS. COPSEY: No.
6 MS. HOBSON: No.
7
8 EXAMINATION
9
10 BY COMMISSIONER NELSON:
11 Q You feel your area of interest extends clear
12 to Boise?
13 A Very much so. The only place we can call out
14 of Weiser and it's not long distance is the Oregon Slope,
15 and that is a pretty small area. Everything we call is
16 long distance. That's it.
17 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you for coming
18 tonight.
19 Our next witness is Paul Bowers. Is
20 Mr. Bowers here?
21 How about Christi Townsend.
22 MS. TOWNSEND: May we speak as a group, three
23 people?
24 COMMISSIONER NELSON: You want to speak as a
25 panel?
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Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 MS. TOWNSEND: If you insist. Please.
2 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Come on up.
3
4 CHRISTI TOWNSEND,
5 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
6 sworn, testified as follows:
7
8 EXAMINATION
9
10 BY MS. COPSEY:
11 Q Even though you're speaking as a panel, I
12 still will have each of you individually state your name,
13 and spell it, and then give us your address.
14 A Kristi Townsend, K-r-i-s-t-i,
15 T-o-w-n-s-e-n-d. I'm representing Payette School District,
16 so their address is 20 North 12th Street, Payette. Mostly
17 our arguments would be the same as Mr. Kerby gave first
18 from the New Plymouth School District.
19 Like I say, most of our business is from
20 Payette all the way up to Boise, for the same reasons that
21 he has given. The three of us would like to -- we broke
22 down one month's bill from May 1998. That would be a
23 regular school month. I think it would be an average
24 three months out of the year, summertime wouldn't be
25 as high, but this would be average, and we broke it
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Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 down into the different groups and the different
2 schools.
3 Like, for instance, our Special Ed
4 department in one month would have -- if we went from the
5 long-distance calls that would be local if this proposal
6 went through, we would save 71 percent in a month. Our
7 preschool in that month would save 100 percent. Our
8 alternative school would save 60 percent. And the district
9 office would save 74 percent.
10 I think Holly has some more.
11
12 HOLLY CUSHMAN,
13 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
14 sworn, testified as follows:
15
16 EXAMINATION
17
18 BY MS. COPSEY:
19 Q Could you state your name, and spell it, and
20 also give us your address.
21 A Holly Cushman, H-o-l-l-y, C-u-s-h-m-a-n,
22 Payette School District, 20 North 12th.
23 Q Go ahead with your testimony.
24 A I represent the Food Service department. For
25 May 1998, we would save 98 percent on our long-distance
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CSB REPORTING CUSHMAN
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1 calling. Speaking for transportation, 92 percent; in
2 maintenance, 100 percent. Our calling area is from Weiser
3 to Boise and beyond, so that would be a savings for us.
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY COMMISSIONER NELSON:
8 Q Ms. Cushman, do you have any idea what that
9 dollar amount would come to?
10 A Our Food Service amount for that month was
11 $11.65, which would cut $11.46 from that. And, of course,
12 we use all the 800 numbers that we can.
13
14 CROSS-EXAMINATION
15
16 BY MS. COPSEY:
17 Q Can I ask a further question? When you said
18 $11.65, is that the total bill?
19 A That's for my Food Service department in long
20 distance.
21 Q That's the amount in long distance. When you
22 looked at the percentages, have you figured into that the
23 increased charges that will be charged if EAS is granted?
24 A I have not looked into that yet. For myself,
25 it would still be a savings.
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CSB REPORTING CUSHMAN (X)
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 PAULINE KING,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
3 sworn, testified as follows:
4
5 THE WITNESS: Pauline King, P-a-u-l-i-n-e,
6 last name King, K-i-n-g. I don't have to read my first
7 three pages because Mr. Kerby has really well articulated
8 the numerous reasons why the Payette School District is in
9 favor of the Treasure Valley becoming a local phone calling
10 area.
11 Although virtually all of our students aren't
12 in the local calling area, it's still very necessary to be
13 in constant communication with the numerous other schools
14 and agencies. We have four buildings within our school
15 district, four schools, and savings from these schools
16 would amount to approximately $350. Would you like a
17 breakdown school by school?
18 MS. COPSEY: That's not necessary for me.
19 THE WITNESS: Averaging about a 77 percent
20 savings to the school district.
21 In the context of my job, I'm in charge of
22 professional development. And as I make arrangements for
23 the staff of the Payette School District, it's very
24 necessary to be in constant communication with the other
25 universities and nearby universities. In fact, over 20
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CSB REPORTING KING
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 phone calls that I personally made to the universities in
2 the month of September were necessary to set up the various
3 in-services that I did for the 1st and 2nd.
4 Most of these phone calls were to Boise State
5 University. We're part of several regional consortiums,
6 which include the long-distance areas of Weiser and Emmett,
7 and other long-distance areas, so this would be very
8 helpful in this area.
9 Speaking for my family, I have, today, called
10 my daughter's dermatologist in Meridian and my husband's
11 cardiac specialist in Boise. So that's very necessary for
12 our family also. Our business hours seem to match their
13 business hours, so the low evening rates don't apply to our
14 family for this.
15 I would like to speak for my husband's real
16 estate business. Many of his lending institutions that he
17 uses, and also the Real Estate Commission are located in
18 Boise.
19 I forgot to give my address. My home address
20 is 2455 First Avenue South in Payette.
21 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you. Does that
22 conclude your statement?
23 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
24 MS. TOWNSEND: Just for the --
25 MS. COPSEY: Please indicate who you are.
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1 MS. TOWNSEND: Chrisi Townsend. Just on the
2 total long-distance bills, I have that for the whole
3 district. The whole district long distance for that month
4 would have been $620. The long-distance calls we made,
5 which would be local if this went through, were $527, which
6 would be a total district savings of about 85 percent. I
7 would say this would be pretty average out of nine months
8 of the year. This is not including the rate increase in
9 the lines, but I know it could not be more than 85
10 percent.
11 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay. Thank you. Do
12 we have any questions that haven't been asked?
13 MS. COPSEY: No.
14 MS. HOBSON: No questions.
15 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you for coming.
16 I'm having a little trouble with the next
17 name. I think it's Dion Saito.
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CSB REPORTING KING
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 DIAN SAITO,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
3 sworn, testified as follows:
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY MS. COPSEY:
8 Q Ms. Saito, do you want to go ahead and state
9 your name, and spell it, and give your address for the
10 record.
11 A Dian Saito, D-i-a-n, S-a-i-t-o. I'm
12 representing the Weiser School District which is Pioneer
13 Route, Weiser, Idaho. As well as personally, 1087 Olds
14 Ferry Road in Weiser. I think the PUC has Mr. Reed's --
15 who is our superintendent, his letter. But I want to just
16 read it. It's brief. It basically reiterates Mr. Kerby's
17 position.
18 "The Weiser School District is in the course
19 of petition seeking extension of a toll-free calling area
20 for the Payette, Weiser, and New Plymouth exchanges to join
21 the Boise area's EAS region. The Weiser School District's
22 most frequently used calling area is the Boise Valley.
23 Approximately 60 percent of the long-distance calls that
24 our schools make are in this area. This amounts to at
25 least $3,600 per year in toll costs."
209
CSB REPORTING SAITO
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 I need to add to that because I'm from the
2 high school. The high school pays their own. It's just
3 the administrative office.
4 "The State Department of Education and the
5 Idaho High School Activities Association, both governing
6 bodies of the school, are located in Boise. With the
7 exception of Caldwell High School, all the extracurricular
8 activities of our middle school and high school take place
9 in conjunction with schools located in the Boise, Nampa,
10 Caldwell area, including Bishop Kelly, New Plymouth,
11 Fruitland, and Payette. Every call the Weiser School
12 District makes out of the Weiser School District boundaries
13 includes calls to Midvale and Cambridge, which are in the
14 same county, which are toll calls.
15 "The additional options of measured service
16 rates, if we are allowed to local call, and low-income
17 assistance can protect those on fixed incomes and limited
18 incomes who may not benefit directly from a larger
19 toll-free calling area."
20 Personally, my long-distance bill is $80 a
21 month. That's 800 minutes at ten cents a minute. And
22 personally, our calling area extends to Mountain Home. My
23 husband calls Mountain Home, Boise, at least once a day.
24 So it would benefit us greatly. The
25 same as other people, we have doctors, dentists,
210
CSB REPORTING SAITO
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 orthodontists outside of Weiser, so every phone call we
2 make basically is long distance.
3 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you. Do we have
4 any questions?
5 MS. COPSEY: No.
6 MS. HOBSON: No.
7 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you for coming.
8 We will take Mr. Bowers.
9
10 PAUL BOWERS,
11 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
12 sworn, testified as follows:
13
14 EXAMINATION
15
16 BY MS. COPSEY:
17 Q Mr. Bowers, would you state your name for the
18 record, please.
19 A I'm Paul Bowers from Weiser, at 424 West
20 Main.
21 Q Is your name spelled B-o-w-e-r-s?
22 A Pardon?
23 Q Is your last name spelled B-o-w-e-r-s?
24 A B-o-w-e-r-s.
25 Q Thank you. Go ahead and testify now.
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CSB REPORTING BOWERS
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Go ahead, sir, with
2 your statement.
3 A The only thing wrong with me, I'm a little
4 hard hearing, I guess. But we've lived in the same house
5 for 44 years and we live on West Main. And I think that a
6 few thousand dollars would probably cover the calls we've
7 made to Council and Twin Falls, mostly to Payette. And
8 being entirely isolated ever since the phone company began
9 in Weiser, the only place I could call was the Oregon Slope
10 which was a recent development.
11 My wife makes lots of calls and, of course, I
12 make her pay the bill. We have a sister-in-law and
13 brother-in-law and several nieces and nephews in Caldwell
14 and the lines are pretty well melted between those two
15 towns.
16 Also, we've got quite a lot of calls in
17 Midvale and Cambridge. And even in Idaho City we have
18 friends. And, well, I just think it would be very good for
19 everybody to have this approved. My wife said that the
20 extra charges would be more than welcome because they would
21 save us lots of money.
22 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Does that complete your
23 statement, sir?
24 THE WITNESS: Pardon?
25 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Does that complete your
212
CSB REPORTING BOWERS
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 statement?
2 THE WITNESS: I guess so.
3 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Do you ever get to use
4 the phone?
5 THE WITNESS: I can't use the phone too good
6 because -- only to talk. This, I can't do.
7 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Well, thank you for
8 coming tonight.
9 THE WITNESS: Okay.
10 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Our next witness is
11 Loren Fisher.
12
13 LOREN FISHER,
14 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
15 sworn, testified as follows:
16
17 EXAMINATION
18
19 BY MS. COPSEY:
20 Q Mr. Fisher, could you state your name, and
21 spell it, and give us your address.
22 A My name is Loren Fisher. I live at 250
23 Southeast Locust Street in New Plymouth.
24 Q Could you spell your name for us, please.
25 A L-o-r-e-n, F-i-s-h-e-r.
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CSB REPORTING FISHER
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 Q Thank you. Go ahead and make your
2 statement.
3 A My concern this evening is the fact that
4 toll -- having to pay toll calls outside of our area. We
5 are pretty much strictly agricultural. All of our farmers
6 have to make -- if they call equipment people and the like,
7 it's always a toll call. There's no equipment dealers in
8 the area of any kind, any mechanics or -- to get any parts
9 houses or anything, these guys are stuck with phone calls
10 to Nampa, Caldwell, Boise. And there are construction
11 people that come with calls to Boise for heavy equipment
12 repairs.
13 And I think it's -- in order for our people
14 to be able to survive and come along like they should be --
15 I think it's kind of unfair for us to be sitting there and
16 kind of like our hearts sitting in the middle of our body
17 and it can't work. I think it's time we became able to get
18 turned loose a little bit so we can communicate in a better
19 sense and be able to be a little more prosperous program.
20 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay. Thank you. It
21 says here that you're a member of the New Plymouth City
22 Council?
23 THE WITNESS: Yes.
24 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Are you representing
25 the Council?
214
CSB REPORTING FISHER
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 THE WITNESS: No. We have got other people
2 here to do that for me. I'm going to let the other ones do
3 that.
4 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Any questions for
5 Mr. Fisher?
6 MS. COPSEY: No.
7 MS. HOBSON: I have none.
8 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you.
9 Dale Williamson.
10
11 DALE WILLIAMSON,
12 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
13 sworn, testified as follows:
14
15 EXAMINATION
16
17 BY MS. COPSEY:
18 Q Mr. Williamson, can you state your name, and
19 spell it, and give your address.
20 A Dale, D-a-l-e, first name; B, middle name.
21 Last name is Williamson, W-i-l-l-i-a-m-s-o-n. I live at
22 121 West Idaho, New Plymouth.
23 Q Thank you. You can go ahead and make your
24 statement.
25 A I'm here tonight for two reasons. First of
215
CSB REPORTING WILLIAMSON
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 all, I'm here as the mayor of the city of New Plymouth and,
2 hopefully, it is part of my responsibility as mayor to look
3 out for the best interests of our citizens when it comes to
4 spending money.
5 I've lived in New Plymouth for over 50 years,
6 so everything that happens in New Plymouth on the telephone
7 that goes outside of a 11-mile radius in New Plymouth is
8 normally a long-distance telephone call. On the city side,
9 our Police Department, Fire Department, Library, City
10 Clerk's office, everything -- when they call to Boise, it
11 runs right in the neighborhood of $250 a month for
12 long-distance telephone calls. That's costing the
13 taxpayers. That's the cost of running the city. Because
14 that's where most of our communication is, is into Boise.
15 All your Federal agencies, State agencies are located in
16 Boise and outside of Payette, most of them.
17 On the personal side, as a business owner we
18 make many telephone calls outside of our area which are all
19 long distance. I have a business partner in Weiser.
20 Everything to Weiser is long distance. We make many
21 telephone calls to the Boise area. It's one of those costs
22 that most people don't see. It's called the cost that hits
23 you over the head. Most people never think about it. It
24 amounts to hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars a
25 year just to make telephone calls to your suppliers, your
216
CSB REPORTING WILLIAMSON
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 customers, anybody out of the New Plymouth area.
2 That's one of the reasons I'm here.
3 Basically I think it would be very good for especially
4 high-volume users. It would save them quite a bit of
5 money. The downside, I think it would be good for our
6 low-income people in New Plymouth and our senior citizens
7 providing they take advantage of some of the programs that
8 are available. I could see where if you're not a
9 high-volume user, a senior citizen, unless you took
10 advantage of those programs it would not be a good program
11 for you. You would have to take advantage of what's out
12 there. Thank you.
13 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you. Any
14 questions, Ms. Copsey?
15 MS. COPSEY: No.
16 MS. HOBSON: No.
17 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you,
18 Mr. Williamson.
19 Ed Huckfeldt.
20
21
22
23
24
25
217
CSB REPORTING WILLIAMSON
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 EDWIN L. HUCKFELDT,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
3 sworn, testified as follows:
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY MS. COPSEY:
8 Q Mr. Huckfeldt, would you please state your
9 name, spell it, and give us your address for the record.
10 A My name is Edwin L. Huckfeldt, E-d-w-i-n, L,
11 H-u-c-k-f-e-l-d-t.
12 Q And could I have you state your address,
13 also.
14 A Oh, I'm sorry. 4041 Northwest 1st Avenue,
15 New Plymouth, Idaho.
16 Q Go ahead with your testimony.
17 A Thank you. As I said, my name is
18 Ed Huckfeldt. I'm the president of the New Plymouth
19 Chamber of Commerce. We believe that growth and progress
20 is the issue. We believe that the importance of good
21 communications go hand in hand with growth and progress.
22 In order for us to grow as a solid community where people
23 live and new people want to live, good communication is
24 important.
25 Now, however, cost-of-living, good-living
218
CSB REPORTING HUCKFELDT
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 standards come into play. If you were to hit I-84 between
2 6:30 and 8:00 a.m., you would see a lot of people headed to
3 Boise from Payette County to work. If you would check I-84
4 during the rest of the day, you would note others going to
5 Boise for other reasons. Because of these people
6 traveling, it creates more communication by telephone with
7 their families and with other people that they have to talk
8 to as it relates to their well-being. And it does become a
9 costly effect.
10 The people are going into the cities for
11 various reasons: Work, doctors' appointments, dentist
12 appointments, shopping for items they can't get in their
13 own communities. Senior citizens, for all of their medical
14 needs and the other things they may not have, and this list
15 could go on and on.
16 However, the highways aren't the problem we
17 are here to discuss. It's foll-free communications and the
18 cost of not having it. The citizens in our county, in
19 small communities such at Payette, Weiser, New Plymouth,
20 must pay a premium to set appointments in Boise, and it is
21 an added cost of living others do not have to pay.
22 If you were to check, you would find not only
23 low-income working families who must call Boise for various
24 reasons, but retired and senior citizens who must call
25 Boise for medical, government, and other various needs.
219
CSB REPORTING HUCKFELDT
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 These citizens have Social Security and fixed incomes. And
2 I see nothing social or secure about Social Security.
3 Businesses must call Boise, and this adds to the citizen's
4 cost of living as well.
5 We ask that you take these communities and
6 their people's needs into consideration regarding toll-free
7 service. Help us to grow and prosper. The result is you
8 will also grow and prosper, and that's what this is all
9 about. Thank you very much.
10 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you, sir. Any
11 questions?
12 MS. COPSEY: No.
13 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you very much.
14 Our next witness is Jerry Foster.
15
16 JERRY FOSTER,
17 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
18 sworn, testified as follows:
19
20 EXAMINATION
21 BY MS. COPSEY:
22 Q Mr. Foster, could you state your name, spell
23 it, and give us your address for the record.
24 A Jerry Foster, J-e-r-r-y, F-o-s-t-e-r, 710
25 Peach Lane, New Plymouth.
220
CSB REPORTING FOSTER
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 Q Thank you. You can go ahead with your
2 statement.
3 A Thank you. I was both disappointed and
4 angered when Canyon County received toll-free service to
5 Boise a year or two ago. The exclusion of Malheur,
6 Payette, and Washington Counties seemed like a slap in the
7 face, because it seemed like we didn't matter over here.
8 And I guess we felt like perhaps we did
9 matter because we also are ratepayers and taxpayers. The
10 fact that you're here tonight is very gratifying. Malheur,
11 Payette, and Washington Counties should receive toll-free
12 telephone service between all of the points in those three
13 counties, and between these counties and the Boise area.
14 I now realize, after arriving here tonight,
15 that Ontario, unfortunately, is not included in these
16 proceedings, but perhaps that can be considered at another
17 time. Nevertheless, Malheur, Payette, and Washington
18 Counties are part of the Boise standard metropolitan
19 statistical area. I drive from New Plymouth to Boise every
20 day, so I can testify to the tremendous number of local
21 cars which commute to Boise. Like it or not, we are
22 economically tied to Boise.
23 Now, my monthly long-distance charges for my
24 business range from $50 to about $200 per month, none of
25 which goes to U S WEST. In addition to these long-distance
221
CSB REPORTING FOSTER
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 charges, I pay $39.95 for a cellular telephone to reduce my
2 long-distance fees. And toll-free service between our area
3 and Boise would save me a considerable amount of money
4 every month. But the savings would not impact U S WEST.
5 So I wonder why we're talking about a rate
6 increase for all citizens, with the basic monthly fees to
7 benefit this monopoly, when there are other long-distance
8 companies independent of the basic telephone company of
9 U S WEST that are not being benefitted by a rate increase?
10 I support the Public Utilities Commission's
11 inquiry into reducing the -- or making this area a
12 toll-free zone. And I appreciate your interest in looking
13 into that. I ask that you would approve that change. That
14 concludes my comments.
15 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you.
16 Ms. Copsey, do you have any questions?
17 MS. COPSEY: No.
18 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Ms. Hobson.
19
20 CROSS-EXAMINATION
21
22 BY MS. HOBSON:
23 Q Excuse me, Mr. Foster. Would you still
24 support the expansion of local calling as described here if
25 the Commission were to determine that the rate increase was
222
CSB REPORTING FOSTER (X)
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 appropriate, despite your comments?
2 A Yes, of course.
3 MS. HOBSON: Thank you. That's all I have.
4 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay. Thank you for
5 your testimony, sir.
6 Our next witness is James Johnson.
7
8 JAMES R. JOHNSON,
9 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
10 sworn, testified as follows:
11
12 EXAMINATION
13
14 BY MS. COPSEY:
15 Q Mr. Johnson, do you want to state your name,
16 spell it, and also give us an address for the record.
17 A Yes. My name is James, initial R, Johnson,
18 J-o-h-n-s-o-n. And I live at 1184 Power Avenue in
19 Payette.
20 Q Go ahead with your statement.
21 A I have to preface my prepared remarks with
22 the statement that they were written in ignorance of what
23 the proposal -- the details were. So if it doesn't make a
24 lot of sense, that's the problem.
25 My name is James R. Johnson. My wife and I
223
CSB REPORTING JOHNSON
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 live at 1184 Power Avenue in Payette. I'm a retired
2 teacher. My teaching assignments from the field of science
3 include: Chemistry, physics, electronics, mathematics, a
4 computer program. I understand this proposal would
5 increase the local dialing area to include Boise, Nampa,
6 Caldwell, and Weiser, and probably some other towns served
7 by U S WEST.
8 I speak only for Mrs. Johnson and myself.
9 Although, I think I know what my friends and neighbors
10 think about this proposal. Some oppose it, and have very
11 good arguments to support their stand. I hope they're here
12 tonight to make their voice heard. But I support the
13 proposal with some reservations.
14 I sat down the other day and dug out my
15 telephone bills for the last year, less two months during
16 which we were not at home and made no long-distance calls
17 within the calling area. During those ten months our calls
18 to Boise, Caldwell, and Weiser amounted to 379 minutes at a
19 total cost of $84.98, which, by the way, figures out to be
20 22.4 cents a minute.
21 If we used one of the alternative services
22 such as 10-10-321, the cost would have been $37.90. So,
23 you could say that the average cost of access to the other
24 parts of the valley is either $3.79 a month or $8.50 a
25 month, depending on which way you go. On the basics of
224
CSB REPORTING JOHNSON
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 cost alone, the desirability of our being able to have
2 local-type services to those areas will depend on whether
3 or not U S WEST is able to provide it at a rate less than
4 I'm paying now.
5 As to convenience, the changeover would be
6 very desirable to me. My sister and many of my friends
7 live in Boise and Nampa. I was raised in Emmett and have
8 many friends and colleagues there as well. Also, many of
9 our older citizens in the community have Boise doctors.
10 Many hard-to-get consumer and production items could be
11 located more cheaply and easily if a phone call wouldn't
12 result in a toll charge.
13 Weiser is now a stepchild so far as isolation
14 is concerned, as Emmett used to be before the recent change
15 in the service area. I hope that there are some Weiser
16 residents here tonight to speak to their needs. And,
17 fortunately, there have been.
18 Unequivocally, whatever else is done so far
19 as their proposal is concerned, Weiser should have free
20 access to the Payette/Ontario area. On balance, I would
21 have to say that I'm in favor of the proposal to enlarge
22 our telephone service area, but I also realize that our
23 town has a lot of low-income families who can barely afford
24 telephone service as it is, and for whom a raise of rates
25 would be a definite hardship. I would hope that if this
225
CSB REPORTING JOHNSON
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 proposal is accepted, a lower class price of service would
2 be made available where the ratepayer is satisfied with
3 their present level of service. I thank you for hearing
4 me.
5 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you,
6 Mr. Johnson.
7 Do we have any questions?
8 MS. COPSEY: No.
9 MS. HOBSON: No.
10 COMMISSIONER NELSON: With that, I thank you
11 for coming.
12 Our next witness is Sue Margrave.
13 MS. MARGRAVE: I would be just repeating
14 everything what everybody else said. Thank you very much.
15 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay. Thank you.
16 Joanne Schneider.
17 MS. SCHNEIDER: I guess I'm a little bit
18 unprepared, because I was unaware of the fact that we would
19 have to get up and speak this evening.
20 COMMISSIONER NELSON: It's your option
21 whether you would like to come up and speak.
22 MS. SCHNEIDER: Well, I have some pretty
23 strong feelings, but I -- I guess I'm just going to go for
24 it. I'm totally unprepared.
25 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Come on up.
226
CSB REPORTING JOHNSON
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 JOANNE SCHNEIDER,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
3 sworn, testified as follows:
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY MS. COPSEY:
8 Q Ms. Schneider, do you want to go ahead and
9 state your name for the record, and spell it, and give us
10 your address.
11 A My name is Joanne M. Schneider, J-o-a-n-n-e,
12 M, S-c-h-n-e-i-d-e-r. My physical address is 4193
13 Southwest 2nd Avenue in New Plymouth, Idaho.
14 Q You can go ahead and make your statement.
15 A As I said, I was a little taken aback by all
16 of this, but I took the time to come over here this evening
17 and have really learned a lot since I've been here.
18 I'm a little disappointed that I wasn't more
19 prepared. I remember signing a petition several months ago
20 and really haven't heard anything about it since maybe like
21 a day before this. I was not really aware of what was
22 going on. But I do have some personal feelings about
23 this. They probably go back to a long time ago.
24 I grew up in Portland, Oregon. When I got
25 married, we moved to a small community up at Madras called
227
CSB REPORTING SCHNEIDER
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 Welches, Oregon, just outside of the Madras area. We were
2 kind of in a little block. We lived in this little area
3 called Welches and we couldn't call anywhere. We couldn't
4 call Gresham. We couldn't call Sandy, Oregon. We couldn't
5 call Government Camp. And here we were in this like a
6 little -- it was a recreational area.
7 So I guess I kind of always grew up with this
8 idea of having these horrible long-distance phone bills.
9 It was just a way of survival. So I guess it hasn't been a
10 real priority of mine, you know, in my earlier years of
11 life.
12 Now that I'm getting older -- I have raised
13 two children, and I'm now raising the third. A lot of -- I
14 raise purebred swine. And I would probably say 90 percent
15 of my business was that of the Payette area. I do a lot of
16 like work with the 4-H and FFA people, so I do have a lot
17 of people call me and ask me questions. I try to help
18 people.
19 I do sell animals. But I also have a lot of
20 people just call me like wanting information "Where do I do
21 this? Where do I find this?" And a lot pertaining to 4-H
22 and FFA and youth programs. It's very costly to make all
23 these calls to people.
24 But I realize that if I want to do what I'm
25 doing, you have to kind of communicate with people. And I
228
CSB REPORTING SCHNEIDER
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 think it's important to help people like they're your
2 customer. If somebody calls you, you help them.
3 I have children that live in Sun Valley and
4 Eagle. Almost every call I make is long distance. We
5 don't have any relatives close by. We live on a farm.
6 Like I said, these are tough times for people that live on
7 a farm. I'm a single mom. It's a tough year for us. And
8 raising pigs this year is not a good thing.
9 I just feel like -- I'm hoping that all these
10 people that are here tonight are probably a little bit
11 better prepared to think about this in total than I was.
12 Because I do realize there are other options available for
13 people. But I feel like we're in, like I say, kind of like
14 the hub.
15 In order to get the best services and
16 everything that we need like for our children and for our
17 mothers, our fathers, or whatever, we need to be able to
18 reach out to these other communities and have all this
19 available information. I think it's really important that
20 people have an opportunity to make -- I guess what I'm
21 saying is the correct choice.
22 For me, I would love to see these charges be
23 discontinued, because you can't believe how many people
24 call me and I have to call back. It's very, very
25 expensive. And I know there's a lot of people who don't
229
CSB REPORTING SCHNEIDER
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 have answering machines because they're terrified of the
2 fact that someone will leave a message and they will have
3 to call them back and it's long distance. This is the
4 biggest fear of, I would say, anybody over 50. Everybody
5 is on some kind of a fixed income. I don't know what my
6 income is going to be monthly. I'm a farmer. We try to do
7 the best we can.
8 I hope that you will take into consideration
9 the fact that we have professional people, you know,
10 farmers, retired people, every kind of person in our
11 community, but that's why we live in New Plymouth and this
12 area, because it's a good place to raise kids. I have
13 raised two that have been outstanding, and I'm working on
14 the third. That's where I want to live. I'm sorry I
15 wasn't better prepared.
16
17 EXAMINATION
18
19 BY COMMISSIONER NELSON:
20 Q Can you give us an idea what your monthly
21 phone bill is?
22 A Various times of the year, like when I'm
23 doing the project pigs, it can be well over $200 a month.
24 Q Most of that is in-state toll in the area?
25 A A lot of it is in-state, but a lot of it
230
CSB REPORTING SCHNEIDER (Com)
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 could be like out of state, too. But the majority is like
2 kids will just call you up and say, "I want to be in 4-H.
3 I want to know about this. Do you have pigs? Can we come
4 and look at them?"
5 It takes a lot -- kids and families today are
6 so busy, people don't realize the amount of days that are
7 required to accommodate all these people that call you.
8 You can't just say, "I'm going to have everybody come on
9 one day." It ends up being like maybe 30 or 40 days and
10 you have all these people coming, and they call back and
11 they've got soccor or they're in a tournament. It's almost
12 a full-time job just keeping track of who is calling who.
13 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay. Thank you. Does
14 that complete what you wanted to say?
15 THE WITNESS: I think so. Like I said, I
16 really hope that we can do something that's going to help
17 the whole community, not just myself.
18 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you for coming
19 tonight.
20 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
21 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Ellen Webster.
22
23
24
25
231
CSB REPORTING SCHNEIDER (Com)
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 ELLEN WEBSTER,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
3 sworn, testified as follows:
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY MS. COPSEY:
8 Q Ms. Webster, can you state your full name,
9 and spell it, and also give us an address for the record,
10 please.
11 A My name is Ellen, E-l-l-e-n, Webster,
12 W-e-b-s-t-e-r. I'm here on behalf of the City of
13 New Plymouth, so I'll give you their address, 301 North
14 Plymouth Avenue.
15 Q You can give your statement.
16 A On behalf of the city of New Plymouth we
17 would like to thank Grace Lingel, who is a long-time
18 resident of our city, for spearheading this project in our
19 area. She brought this to all of our attentions. She was
20 in constant contact with Donna Jones.
21 Out of the three cities in Payette County,
22 New Plymouth is isolated in the area where phone service is
23 concerned. We are allowed only to call Payette without a
24 toll charge. Of course, we can call Fruitland, but they
25 are serviced by a private company. Copies of the petitions
232
CSB REPORTING WEBSTER
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 were distributed to the local businesses and the Senior
2 Center, and then gathered up, and Donna Jones came to our
3 office and picked them up and presented them to the PUC.
4 Our children can't call their schoolmates,
5 who live in the Sand Hollow area, without a toll charge.
6 Most medical specialists and hospitals are out of our
7 calling range. And a lot of other comments that I have
8 heard in the office were sporting events, the local arts in
9 the Boise area. We can't even get tickets unless we make a
10 toll call.
11 Our county is growing by leaps and bounds,
12 and the opportunity to extend our calling area would
13 benefit not only the citizens of New Plymouth but the
14 Treasure Valley as a whole. The city would like to thank
15 Donna Jones for all her help in this matter, and the Public
16 Utilities Commission for the opportunity to speak on our
17 behalf.
18 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you. Are there
19 questions?
20 MS. HOBSON: No.
21 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you for coming.
22 Next, we have Janet Warnke.
23 MS. WARNKE: You did pretty good on the
24 name. I waive my right to testify. All the concerns and
25 the opinions that I had have been expressed, so I will
233
CSB REPORTING WEBSTER
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 gladly give my time to the next person.
2 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you.
3 The next person is Ginger Birch.
4
5 GINGER BIRCH,
6 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
7 sworn, testified as follows:
8
9 EXAMINATION
10
11 BY MS. COPSEY:
12 Q Would you state your name, and spell it, and
13 give us your address.
14 A My name is Ginger, G-i-n-g-e-r, Birch,
15 B-i-r-c-h, 2330 Center Avenue. My husband has a business
16 at 39 South Main in Payette. I would like to agree with
17 what everyone said and not go on about everything else.
18 But the main thing I want to address is the 800 numbers.
19 And U S WEST did not get any of my toll because I have
20 another long-distance company that is cheaper, so it would
21 be a raise for them.
22 My husband's business spends $250 a month
23 average on 800 numbers. We have a home. My long distance
24 total home -- I just got my bill yesterday. I don't even
25 want to talk about it. We have several doctors and
234
CSB REPORTING BIRCH
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 hospitals in Boise that have 800 numbers. That would be a
2 cost-effective change for the businesses there, as long as
3 with us.
4 I feel sad to think it is not going to
5 include Ontario. My husband practices law in Oregon and
6 Idaho. He, many times, travels to Boise, Adams County, and
7 all through -- Fruitvale, and has long distance all the
8 time. That's one of the reasons why we have the 800
9 number. Therefore, it would be very beneficial for our
10 business and to our personal. I wish you could extend it
11 to Idaho Falls, and I wouldn't have any long distance.
12 That's all I have to say.
13 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay.
14 Commissioner Hansen has a question.
15
16 EXAMINATION
17
18 COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
19 Q You have got me curious. Do you have
20 relatives in Idaho Falls?
21 A A mother. I have a son.
22 Q Are you willing, then, to pay the $6? You do
23 feel that's reasonable?
24 A I do feel it is. It would save me a lot of
25 money. I could see how it would be a hardship for others.
235
CSB REPORTING BIRCH (Com)
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 But in today's technology, with e-mail and the satellite
2 things, I'm not sure I understand why there needs to be
3 that large of a rate increase, because the cell phone
4 people can put their money out the way they do with the
5 satellite.
6 The way I understand technology -- I used to
7 be with the phone company. I worked in it for nine years.
8 Everything has changed tremendously. I was a homemaker for
9 18 years since then, but everything has changed
10 tremendously. When I worked as a telephone operator in
11 Pocatello, it was long distance to American Falls and
12 Montpelier, and we had to plug in the lights. I know the
13 business a little bit. It's changed trememdously.
14 And I know that with the satellite and all
15 the stuff in place it just seems rather a large amount to
16 charge every household in the area when they can put in a
17 911 for $1 a month for our county. I can't see why they
18 couldn't do it for a little bit less with as many people
19 that they involve. Although I, myself, in my business
20 would save tremendously even paying $6 a month.
21 MS. COPSEY: Just for the record, we didn't
22 quite catch your address.
23 THE WITNESS: My business or my home? You
24 want both?
25 MS. COPSEY: Both.
236
CSB REPORTING BIRCH (Com)
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 THE WITNESS: My home address is 2330 Center
2 Avenue. My husband had another meeting tonight and
3 couldn't be here. I guess you could put down the Birch Law
4 Office at 39 South Main.
5 MS. COPSEY: Both of these are in Payette?
6 THE WITNESS: Yes. Both are in Payette.
7 MS. COPSEY: Thank you.
8 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you,
9 Ms. Birch.
10 Our next witness is John Baird.
11
12 JOHN BAIRD,
13 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
14 sworn, testified as follows:
15
16 THE WITNESS: My name is John Baird, J-o-h-n,
17 B-a-i-r-d. I represent Payette County Juvenile Probation
18 whose office is at 828 Center Avenue here in Payette.
19 MS. COPSEY: You can make your statement.
20 THE WITNESS: Pretty simply, today, myself, I
21 made ten calls to Nampa which is where Juvenile Corrections
22 is located. This would save the taxpayers in Payette
23 County a significant amount of money from our department
24 alone, considering most of our juveniles, when we have to
25 commit them, go to either Caldwell, Nampa, or into the
237
CSB REPORTING BAIRD
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 Boise area. This would save us a great deal of money -- or
2 the taxpayers a great deal of money. It would also open up
3 resources for us probation officers in the area where we
4 could call when we have questions about what we can do and
5 what should be done.
6 I'm a transplant from southeast Idaho. I
7 know when they opened the big calling area over there, it
8 sure saved us a lot of money as a family. My wife and I
9 worked in Idaho Falls and we lived in the Pocatello area.
10 This is a great idea for this area also. That's all I
11 have.
12 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you,
13 Mr. Baird.
14 Next is Beau Burk.
15
16 BEAU BURK,
17 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
18 sworn, testified as follows:
19
20 EXAMINATION
21
22 BY MS. COPSEY:
23 Q Ms. Burk, would you state your name, and
24 spell it for us, and state your address for the record.
25 A I am Beau Burk, B-e-a-u, B-u-r-k. I live at
238
CSB REPORTING BURK
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 2000 County Line Road, Emmett. So I represent a group of
2 people that hasn't been represented tonight, although it is
3 unofficial, because I live in Emmett and I have a New
4 Plymouth telephone number. And I also -- I live in Gem
5 County. There's a whole section of people that live over
6 there that have New Plymouth telephone numbers.
7 My husband is a physician. He works in
8 Emmett and Nampa and Boise. He makes himself available to
9 his patients. All of his patients have to call us collect
10 because it's a toll call. We are in the Emmett School
11 District, so everything is long distance. The only places
12 we can call are places that we have no business. We have
13 nothing to do with Payette. We have nothing to do with
14 Fruitland, and very little in New Plymouth.
15 Our calls, a good month, are $250. We share
16 a ditch on our property with a neighbor, and it's long
17 distance just to call the people that we share the ditch
18 with. It doesn't seem fair that we would have an Emmett
19 address, a New Plymouth phone, and all we have access to
20 are the places we really don't need to call which aren't
21 long distance. I'm happy to have this opportunity to voice
22 my concerns. Thank you.
23 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Does that complete your
24 statement?
25 THE WITNESS: It does.
239
CSB REPORTING BURK
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Any questions? If not,
2 why, thank you for coming.
3 Myrna Johnson. Is Ms. Johnson not here?
4 Ron Johnson.
5 Jeanne O'Hara.
6
7 JEANNE O'HARA,
8 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
9 sworn, testified as follows:
10
11 THE WITNESS: My name is Jeanne O'Hara,
12 J-e-a-n-n-e, O'-H-a-r-a.
13
14 EXAMINATION
15
16 BY MS. COPSEY:
17 Q Where do you live?
18 A 10 Highway 95, Payette.
19 Q Thank you. Go ahead.
20 A I live very similar as the lady that was just
21 before me. We live on the Payette/Washington County line.
22 All of our services are in Weiser and Washington County.
23 And they're all long-distance calls. We have a Payette
24 phone number, but all of our services are in Weiser. We
25 can call the Oregon Slope, the cross river on the way to
240
CSB REPORTING O'HARA
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 Weiser, but we have to call long distance in the town. We
2 have to call long distance one mile down the road.
3 We have family in Boise. My husband works at
4 the Weiser Hospital six to seven miles into town, and
5 everything is long distance. Our phone bill runs an
6 average of $120 a month, but sometimes it's been up to
7 $200.
8 We also have family that's out of state, so
9 that would not affect that portion of our long-distance
10 phone bill, but the minimum has been $25 and up to $200
11 for -- within that zone would be no toll.
12 We have two lines into our home; one we use
13 for Internet access, and the other line we use for the
14 phone only so we can keep the phone line open for
15 emergencies. The zoning change would just be a tremendous
16 savings for the phone bill.
17 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Does that complete your
18 statement?
19 THE WITNESS: That's my statement.
20 MS. COPSEY: I'm sorry, I do have to verify
21 your address again.
22 THE WITNESS: 10 Highway 95.
23 MS. COPSEY: Thank you.
24 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Duane Youngberg.
25
241
CSB REPORTING O'HARA
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 DUANE YOUNGBERG,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
3 sworn, testified as follows:
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY MS. COPSEY:
8 Q Mr. Youngberg, could you state your name,
9 spell it, and give us your address for the record.
10 A My name is Duane Youngberg, D-u-a-n-e,
11 Y-o-u-n-g-b-e-r-g. I live at 11175 Payette Heights. I
12 also own a business in Weiser at 510 East 1st.
13 Q Go ahead and make your statement.
14 A For about ten years we've owned a
15 business in Weiser. We live in Payette. It's a
16 service-oriented business. We service the entire Treasure
17 Valley area here. Communications has been a definite
18 concern.
19 At the time we began, we paid $600 to have a
20 foreign exchange line brought to our business and currently
21 pay $100 a month to have a Payette telephone number at our
22 business in Weiser so we can communicate with other people.
23 This would definitely be a savings to us.
24 We try to use a call collect. I think in two
25 years we had two collect calls from out of the area.
242
CSB REPORTING YOUNGBERG
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 People would not do it. They won't spend the money to do
2 that. With toll free, I think it would be a considerable
3 increase in people who were willing to call other numbers.
4 It would also have an impact on many of my
5 suppliers that are in the Boise area who currently have to
6 maintain 1-800 numbers. We have to do business with them,
7 which takes some of the cost out for us, but it still comes
8 back to us in costs of doing business. We would very
9 definitely be in favor of extended area.
10 I, too, would like to say that I think we
11 only go part way if we don't include the Malheur County
12 area and the rest of Washington County. Thank you.
13 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay. Thank you,
14 Mr. Youngberg.
15 Shelly Mann. Ms. Mann here?
16 Cheryl Packard.
17 If I miss anybody, I'll give you a chance at
18 the end. If you didn't sign up or you have something you
19 feel you can add, why, we will give you a chance at the end
20 of the hearing to speak.
21 Pat Werner.
22 MS. WERNER: I decline. Thank you.
23 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay. Thank you.
24 Earl Kane.
25 Lynn Kane.
243
CSB REPORTING YOUNGBERG
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 Randy Freitas.
2 MR. FREITAS: I think it's been said.
3 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay. Thank you, sir.
4 Geneva Thomas.
5 James Kress.
6 Loretta Cochran.
7
8 LORETTA COCHRAN,
9 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
10 sworn, testified as follows:
11
12 EXAMINATION
13
14 BY MS. COPSEY:
15 Q Ms. Cochran, do you want to state your name,
16 spell it, and give us your address, please.
17 A Loretta Cochran, L-o-r-e-t-t-a,
18 C-o-c-h-r-a-n, 1210 2nd Avenue South, Payette.
19 Q Go ahead and give your statement.
20 A I am very much -- how can I say this? -- in
21 agreement with what is going on here. I would really like
22 to see this go through. I, too, felt left out when Emmett
23 and everybody else got wide-area calling, because all my
24 family is over there. My bill is anywhere from $150 to
25 $200 a month just to call Emmett, and that's the truth.
244
CSB REPORTING COCHRAN
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 And I'm not ashamed of that, because I had a father that
2 was very ill and required a lot of calling and checking on
3 prior to his death. And now I have a widowed mother that I
4 have to check on a lot. So it would just be nice to have
5 that.
6 And I kind of feel sorry for Ontario. It's
7 too bad they're not in this. They should be included.
8 Thank you very much.
9 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you,
10 Ms. Cochran.
11 Heidi Tanner.
12 Felicia Martin.
13 That's the end of our list. Is there anybody
14 who would like to testify who I didn't call? I see a
15 couple of hands back there. Maybe the lady behind you,
16 sir, if you would like to come forward.
17
18 JUDITH UHRIG,
19 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
20 sworn, testified as follows:
21
22 EXAMINATION
23
24 BY MS. COPSEY:
25 Q Do you want to go ahead and state your name,
245
CSB REPORTING UHRIG
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 and spell it, and give us an address, please.
2 A Judith Uhrig, J-u-d-i-t-h, U-h-r-i-g.
3 My home address is 1810 Cole Road, Weiser. I'm here also
4 to represent the Washington County Senior Center. I'm
5 coordinator there. Their address is 115 East Main. And I
6 am not a public speaker, so please excuse me if I fall on
7 the floor.
8 Q Just keep seated.
9 A Okay. Personally, my long-distance phone
10 calls run from $30 to $70 a month. I would really like to
11 see this happen. I make a lot of long-distance calls
12 regarding the Senior Center. I had to ask
13 U S WEST to take the long-distance calls off of my phone,
14 because all the seniors were coming down to my place and
15 using the public phone there to make their long-distance
16 calls for calls to the Boise Hawks ballgame, and I had to
17 stop that.
18 I don't, for business reasons, make a lot of
19 phone calls. Most of my suppliers have
20 800 numbers. But I would like to be able to, because a lot
21 of the services that I offer the seniors, a lot of them are
22 long distance. If I want to call Fifty-five Alive for a
23 driving class, I have to call long distance.
24 There just are a lot of things that I shuffle
25 off to, actually. The Ageing Council. There used to be an
246
CSB REPORTING UHRIG
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 Adult Protection representative in Weiser. As of the 1st
2 of October there no longer is. So that door is shut to
3 me. If people come to me for help and the help is out of
4 town and they don't have a long-distance -- an 800 number,
5 I'm kind of up a creek because my budget cannot stand a lot
6 of long-distance calls.
7 Now, about -- before the seniors, a lot --
8 excuse me, I'm scared to death. Can't you tell? A lot of
9 the petitions that came to Donna from Weiser came through
10 the Senior Center. I was accused yesterday of just shoving
11 this in front of people and saying, "Hey, guys, this is a
12 good idea. Sign it."
13 I explained it very carefully to everyone,
14 and I asked the Board "What do I do? Do I sit there and
15 talk to people individually if they ask about this?" And
16 they said, "No. Put it on the table. These people are
17 aware. They're alert and they're intelligent. You don't
18 have to babysit them." And I agree. Out of the almost 100
19 people that signed the petition, there were maybe two whose
20 wives said "Sign it." But the rest of them, I think, were
21 fully capable of making a decision.
22 They were also asked how much could they
23 afford. They said between $3 and $5. $6 isn't going too
24 far for the service that they will render. There was a
25 rumor going around Weiser as late as yesterday that it is
247
CSB REPORTING UHRIG
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 going to be $7, $8, $9. So somebody was upset and called
2 me and said, "Well, you better tell people to come here and
3 say they're against it." And I said, "I'm not going to
4 doing it. They knew what they were signing." And if they
5 can't read the papers, then whatever. I'm not going to
6 push it.
7 Most of my people, and there are 199 members,
8 and a lot of people who are not members of the Senior
9 Center who come there are aware of what they signed. So
10 I'm not too concerned about that. It will cause a hardship
11 for some people, but there is help. And it's my
12 responsibility, if they're having trouble to pay their
13 phone bill, to find help, and I will do so to the best of
14 my ability. That is why I'm there is to help them.
15 Okay. The advantages. I would like to just
16 put a picture in front of you. Grandma lives in Weiser.
17 The kids live in Boise. Grandma is not feeling good.
18 She's not going to pick up the phone and call long distance
19 to tell the kids "I'm not feeling good." And the kids are
20 going to think, "Well, I should call grandma, but I'm busy
21 today. I'll do it tomorrow." And you can't depend on
22 writing letters, because grandma isn't going to tell
23 anybody she's sick. I think it's extremely important for
24 our senior citizens and our seniors in Weiser that they
25 have this advantage.
248
CSB REPORTING UHRIG
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 Weiser is all by itself. And they keep
2 themselves that way. I'm sorry to criticize Weiser, but
3 they do. They keep themselves to themselves. And they
4 need to join the rest of the state. That's my opinion.
5 Maybe not everybodys, but it's mine.
6 There was another problem I would like to
7 discuss. Last year, December 2, 1997, we had a flood.
8 Some of you may remember it. Well, all of FEMA, the Red
9 Cross, and the local disaster people ended up in my
10 Center. They all had cell phones. Well, the cell phones
11 don't work there. They just simply can't get out. So my
12 telephone bill skyrocketed.
13 And they said, "Well, keep track and we will
14 pay you back." Well, it was a disaster. I had a huge
15 telephone bill and it took me five days to get it
16 straightened out who called where. They'd just walk in and
17 say, "May I use your phone?" Most of it could have been
18 solved.
19 We served as the disaster center there. We
20 served meals to Payette and Midvale and Cambridge, as well
21 as Weiser. Weiser actually wasn't hit as hard peoplewise
22 as the other people were, but the meals all went out of the
23 Weiser Senior Center. And everybody was there. And I put
24 in 60 hours overtime in ten days. So I'm a little confused
25 about the time, too.
249
CSB REPORTING UHRIG
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 I think we had most of the Red Cross that was
2 in Boise. Cambridge and Midvale called me at least two or
3 three times a day and I had to call them back with the
4 information.
5 Somebody asked me, "Are you the
6 representative for Red Cross?" And I said, "No. I'm just
7 here and everybody is calling me." It was a disaster. And
8 it would have been a big advantage if we had had the long
9 distance into the other areas at that time.
10 I, too, am disappointed Ontario is not being
11 included. I really wish Midvale and Cambridge could be,
12 but I understand the problem. I used to live in Midvale.
13 But Ontario would be a big advantage to everybody, I
14 think. That's basically all I have to say.
15 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay. Thank you. You
16 did very well.
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
250
CSB REPORTING UHRIG
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 JAY GARRETT,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
3 sworn, testified as follows:
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY MS. COPSEY:
8 Q Do you want to state your full name for the
9 record, and spell it, and give us an address.
10 A Jay Garrett, J-a-y, G-a-r-r-e-t-t. I
11 represent Farmers Mutual Telephone Company, Fruitland,
12 Idaho. 209 Iowa Street. I'm the general manager.
13 Q Thank you. Give your statement.
14 A First, some comments that were made earlier
15 this evening and before the official testimony began,
16 several people were asking if Fruitland would be involved
17 in this. I think it's very obvious in the testimony that's
18 been given tonight that Fruitland -- the telephone company
19 itself would have no other choice but to allow the
20 customers to have the same calling area that would be
21 granted in this petition and in this hearing.
22 I have done some study work of some of our
23 calling patterns, and I can see a definite need in doing
24 some sampling of our customers, a definite need of the
25 volume of calling. We are not a telephone company that is
251
CSB REPORTING GARRETT
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 willing to hold back any of our customers in any business
2 development. That's part of our existence in the
3 community, particularly as a cooperative, which means we
4 are owned by everyone, the customers in Fruitland and New
5 Bakers exchange. And, as a result, should answer to their
6 requests, which is very apparent to the Board and myself
7 that they would want to be involved in the same area.
8 What does that do to the company? Looking at
9 the calls, some samples of calls for customers, I would
10 estimate that 22 percent of our income would be lost due to
11 a decrease in intrastate access revenue and associated
12 collection revenue. That would result in a -- if you took
13 a bi-access line in the company, that would result in a
14 $13.96 increase per line in the company. That would put
15 our local -- base local rate at $23.71.
16 I'll be the first to recognize that, as a
17 cooperative, we can't do things of that nature. We can't
18 just flat rate increase everybody. And we need to find
19 ways to decrease operating expenses and increase revenues
20 from other types of services, because our customers just
21 will not support those kinds of local services. They're
22 not used to it, which is obvious, and, as a result, will
23 not support it.
24 The first, probably most obvious, cut in
25 expenses would be to decrease our investment in future
252
CSB REPORTING GARRETT
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 technology. And that might possibly put us in violation of
2 the 1996 Telecommunications Act. In Section 706 it
3 commands that everybody is required to deploy advanced
4 telecommunication services. We see a definite need to
5 provide as much band work as possible to our customers, and
6 this requires a substantial capital investment.
7 With the decrease of revenue for capital
8 business, our customers are going to have to make some
9 decisions. It's going to be their decisions. It's not
10 going to be ours particularly. We see additional increase
11 of local rates from another area, not only from this
12 petition itself. I see an increase of local rates coming
13 from the interstate portion of all business.
14 The FCC is just proposing a mandate. This
15 would be, in addition, to increase -- this would be, in
16 addition, over and above anything that's been stated
17 tonight, and it's unknowing what this would be at this
18 time.
19 Some of the proposals that they're making at
20 this time is, if you have a second line, they will increase
21 what we call a slick charge, which is just a $3.50 charge,
22 if you want to correlate to your own telephone bill. The
23 proposal is to decrease those and raise the process to $9.
24 It depends if it's business or residential. We see lots of
25 pressure from that side, in the theory that your toll rates
253
CSB REPORTING GARRETT
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 should go down.
2 So, by the same token, this is not proven to
3 have happened with a lot of the IC, that being the
4 interstate carriers, at this point. I think probably the
5 most obvious one to myself, because I paid a lot of those
6 rates, was the northern Idaho rate which is carried by
7 primary ICs. The access charges were low with the help of
8 the Commission and the companies involved. We have not
9 seen a rate decrease on behalf of the IC at this point in
10 northern Idaho. Anybody that happens to have a student in
11 northern Idaho might well understand those rates.
12 My main concern is what is a toll rate that
13 the customers are willing to pay for the local telephone
14 service? I see many pressures coming to increase their
15 local telephone service. And when you consider what you
16 pay for your water bill, you pay for your power bill, and
17 some of those other types of utilities, maybe those rates
18 are justified. But people are not used to paying those
19 rates and, as a result, there may become a point of
20 whatever arises.
21 We anticipate this being approved and are not
22 going to back up and say that this is not in our best
23 interests. Our interests are to be an upstanding and go
24 forward, ahead company. And provide the best possible
25 service we can provide to our customers. And as a result,
254
CSB REPORTING GARRETT
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 we've gone in to ask U S WEST what we would have to do to
2 make the connection. We see an investment of approximately
3 $40,000 of equipment in our own Central Office. Plus, we
4 anticipate that U S WEST will have to make some additional
5 investment to provide a toll line to each one of these
6 communities to find out what the configuration is prior to
7 today.
8 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Thank you,
9 Mr. Garrett. Do we have any brief questions?
10 MS. COPSEY: I don't have any questions.
11 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Commissioner Hansen.
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13 EXAMINATION
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15 BY MR. HANSEN:
16 Q Could you tell me what your current
17 residential rate is right now?
18 A Our current residential rate for our current
19 customers is $9.75 per month.
20 Q Do any of your customers receive any refund
21 or dividends each year?
22 A Our customers, for the last -- I don't
23 remember how many years, have received credits back in the
24 form of capital credits, which we were required to do as in
25 the operation of the cooperative.
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1 Q I just want to verify, did I understand
2 correctly that you stated earlier that you thought the rate
3 would go up to $23.71 if you were to implement this EAS
4 calling area or participate in that, was that correct?
5 A That is correct, if you did it complete just
6 spread across per line. We do not see that that's a
7 feasible rate, and would do everything in our effort to
8 devise plans where customers could look at their calling
9 volume and determine what kind of a rate they need to pay.
10 Q One last question. Are you aware that in
11 some of the areas people are paying over $24 a month to
12 have a large local calling area?
13 A Yes, I am.
14 COMMISSIONER HANSEN: Thank you.
15 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Mr. Garrett, thanks for
16 your testimony. I don't think I have any questions to ask
17 you.
18 Is there anyone else here tonight who has not
19 had a chance to testify, who feels that they would have
20 something to add, who would like to come forward and make a
21 statement? If not, why, I would like to thank you for
22 sticking with us.
23 Excuse me. I'm sorry, I missed you. Would
24 you like to come forward?
25
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1 STEPHANIE STEELE,
2 appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
3 sworn, testified as follows:
4
5 EXAMINATION
6
7 BY MS. COPSEY:
8 Q Do you want to state your name, spell it, and
9 give us your address, please.
10 A My name is Stephanie Steele. That's spelled
11 S-t-e-p-h-a-n-i-e, S-t-e-e-l-e.
12 Q Your address, please.
13 A 817 Orchard Park Drive, Fruitland.
14 Q Go ahead and make your statement.
15 A Well, I'm hoping I can maybe add a little
16 something to this discussion. With the Fruitland address,
17 you would think I'm not involved here. I actually have a
18 residence in Fruitland and also one on the Oregon Slope.
19 So I'm kind of the red-headed stepchild in both cases. I
20 pay for two lines on the Oregon Slope to the tune of $24
21 apiece for basic service.
22 I also maintain a cell phone line and another
23 line all to deal with the long-distance problem in this
24 part of the valley. My long-distance range is, at the very
25 low, $50 a month on up to $200 a month. I run a business.
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CSB REPORTING STEELE
Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 I also work as a police officer for the City of Fruitland.
2 I see the long-distance problem in this end of the valley
3 from all kinds of perspectives.
4 As a police officer, I see both my agency and
5 the agencies we work with, which is Payette City and
6 Plymouth City and Payette County, spend incredible amounts
7 of money on long distance -- just a phenomenal amount.
8 Because most of our calls are into the valley dealing with
9 agencies and personnel in Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Emmett.
10 Like the gentleman from the Juvenile
11 Probation department, we deal with a lot of juvenile
12 problems, so we're calling the same places they are. Just
13 an incredible amount of our budget is spent on long
14 distance. That's where I am speaking from as a police
15 officer.
16 Speaking as a private business person, which
17 I also operate my own business, which is why I maintain
18 four phone lines, it's absolutely a nightmare trying to
19 deal with this spiderweb of coverage we have in this end of
20 the valley. Granted, two of my lines are in Oregon, so
21 we're not covered by this. Actually, I guess, three of my
22 lines are not going to be covered by this. One is a
23 Payette line, so it would be affected.
24 I don't expect to see a substantial savings
25 personally from this at all, either personally or as a
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Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public
1 business. But what I'm hoping to see is maybe a start to
2 the untangling of this untenable situation we have with
3 long distance in this end of the valley.
4 It is a fact that Weiser, New Plymouth,
5 Payette, Fruitland, Emmett, Canyon County, Sand Hollow, all
6 those areas are tied, I think, without question, to the
7 Boise Valley. They're tied, both, as has been said, by
8 medical needs, by business needs. I know all my suppliers
9 from -- almost all my suppliers for my business needs are
10 out of the Boise Valley.
11 So it is inexcusable that the situation has
12 been allowed to exist this long. I really think, for the
13 benefit of the citizens of this valley, we need to start
14 untangling this. Even if it doesn't serve me now, it is a
15 beginning and it helps a lot of people that I deal with on
16 a day-to-day basis. I hope that I added something, and I
17 hope that was useful.
18 COMMISSIONER NELSON: Okay, Mr. Steele. Do
19 we have any questions? Thank you for coming.
20 If there's no one else who feels they have
21 something to add, why, that would bring us to the end of
22 tonight's hearing. I certainly would like to thank all of
23 you who came forward to testify tonight. It's your
24 testimony that really helps us in making these decisions.
25 And without it, I think there would be quite a void in our
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1 record. So thank you. If there's nothing further, why,
2 we're adjourned and a decision will be forthcoming. Thank
3 you.
4 (The Hearing adjourned at 9:00 p.m.)
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Wilder, Idaho 83676 Public