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that there were far too many questions to grant EWEB any more authority at the current time, such as who was going to pay for the network. Debby Luppold, 3500 Southwest Bond Street, Vancouver, Washington, spoke as a representative from AT&T. She said that AT&T was opposed to EWEB's efforts. She said that telecommunications were best left to the private sector where risk was part of the investment cycle. She offered the help of AT&T to the City for deciding whether the charter amendment was good for the City. She stressed that EWEB should be held accountable to the City Council and its residents. She called for an equal playing field in competition with private industry. Jeff Bissonnette, Citizen's Utility Board of Oregon, urged the council to send the issue to the voters. He commented that US West and AT&T were essentially monopolies that controlled the infrastructure of the system and the content that was seen on the system. He called for the equal access to the system that the charter amendment would provide. David Trepp, 87086 Dukhober Road, spoke in favor of the charter amendment. He said that there should be equal access to high speed Internet in the City. He said that the charter amendment was important for keeping businesses in Eugene. Dennis Gabriel, 3359 Saint Kitts Avenue, representing Advanced Telecommunications Group, urged the council to send the issue to the voters. He said that he was a local exchange owner and needed to compete at the mercy of US West. He noted that there had been no movement by US West to increase the local fiber base. He stressed the importance of free and open access to broadband services. Orval Etter, 8080 Potter Street, said that the City Charter gave the City authority to go into telecommunications and delegate EWEB as an agent to the City to manage the system. He said the charter amendment was not necessary and that EWEB could already be authorized. He commented that direct legislation was less flexible than legislation that came from representative bodies and called for flexibility in authority. He wanted the City Council to be the delegating authority. Dan Harkins, 1270 Jacobs Drive, spoke of the absence of high-speed access in Eugene and said he was in favor of EWEB's proposal. He stressed the importance of allowing someone to take the initiative for telecommunications in the area. Les Moore, 2246 Birchwood Drive, spoke in favor of the charter amendment. He commented that it would be good for the school system and stressed the importance of equal access for students. Randy Prince, PO Box 927, Eugene, stressed the importance of providing universal public access to telecommunications and preventing monopolies by US West and AT&T. Laurence Riechman, 1211 Southwest 5th Avenue, Portland, spoke as a representative of US West. He spoke in opposition of the charter amendment and raised concern over a municipality entering the telecommunications market. He said that there was a conflict of interest with the City that would favor its own telecommunications and tax competing companies. Bill Kloss, PO Box 11906, Eugene spoke in favor of the charter amendment. He said that the current providers were working with a medium band closed-access model. He said that the EWEB model was a good one and spoke in favor of joint ventures with content providers. He stressed MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2000 Page 5 Regular Meeting