20020808min.doc

MINUTES OF DECISION MEETING
AUGUST 8, 2002 – 1:30 P.M.

In attendance were Commissioners Paul Kjellander and Dennis Hansen. Commissioner Smith was excused.

Commissioner Kjellander called the meeting to order. The first order of business was approval of the CONSENT AGENDA. There was only one item on the Consent Agenda. There were no questions or comments on the item, and Commissioner Kjellander moved for approval. A vote was taken and it carried unanimously.

The next order of business was MATTERS IN PROGRESS:

Birdelle Brown’s August 7, 2002 Decision Memorandum re: Tsunami Communications, Inc. Request to Withdraw Its Telephone Service to Apartments in Idaho and Its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity No. 365.

Ms. Brown reviewed her Decision Memo. Commissioner Hansen confirmed that only 35 former customers of Tsunami have contacted Qwest to order service as of the present date. Ms. Brown replied that was the case and stated there were 196 customers all together, which meant that 160 or so still had not contacted Qwest. Commissioner Hansen asked how long it would take Qwest to connect those customers. Ms. Brown replied that Qwest was prepared to connect them in just a few days and had informed her that if it had another week’s extension it could contact those customers and get them converted in a week. She said Staff believes that because all the connections are simply resale connections, and if the customer permission was not a requirement, then the conversion could easily be made by the 9th of August.

Commissioner Kjellander asked if the rates they had been paying Tsunami were comparable to Qwest’s rates. Ms. Brown replied that Tsunami’s tariffed rates were slightly higher than Qwest’s, but there was also a question about whether Tsunami was billing for the subscriber line charge. She said if they were not billing for the subscriber line charge, then Qwest’s rates would be higher than Tsunami’s.

Commissioner Kjellander noted that perhaps they were having difficulty reaching some of the customers because it is August and they are on vacation. He said he was concerned that they would come back from vacation and not have any telephone service.

Commissioner Hansen said he questioned why the Staff has a problem giving Qwest the one-week extension it is asking for. Ms. Brown replied that so far Staff had not been able to contact Tsunami and did not know what Tsunami is doing. She said Tsunami had indicated it is getting out of the business to avoid bankruptcy.

Commissioner Hansen asked if Tsunami had been required to have a bond and if so, how much. Ms. Brown replied they do have a $40,000 bond to remain in force until the Commission issues an order to release the surety. She said Staff has proposed that we require the bond to remain in place for 90 days after the withdrawal of their Certificate in order to take care of whatever contingencies arise.

Commissioner Kjellander asked if there are any other resellers in the area that could serve the Tsunami customers. Ms. Brown replied there is a chance that McLeod is providing service and there are two or three other pre-paid services. Commissioner Kjellender said since the Tsunami customers are using Qwest’s access lines, Qwest could switch them over and acquire the customers, but the Commission could require Qwest to send them bill stuffers explaining that Tsunami went out of business and that they have other options if they wanted to have another local provider. He asked if that would be something the Commission could do. He stated he would hate to see the customers not having service, even if it were for just several days.

Susan Moore from Qwest replied that she didn’t see why a bill stuffer that explains other options would be a problem.

Commissioner Kjellander made a motion to approve option 3 to have Qwest go ahead and assume service for the Tsunami customers as quickly as possible and have Qwest send a bill stuffer indicating to the customers that they have not been slammed, that Tsunami had gone out of business, and if they wanted to pursue other options for local service they could do so. A vote was taken on the motion and it carried unanimously.

The only other item on the agenda was under FULLY SUBMITTED MATTERS and Commissioner Kjellander stated it would be deliberated privately. He then adjourned the meeting.

DATED this ______ day of August, 2002.

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COMMISSION SECRETARY

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