Most have come to know that Burlington Telecom (BT) is not your traditional City of Burlington Department. How exactly do we operate? Like a business or like a city department? How do we measure success? What kind of public oversight & advisement is there?

At the state level BT is required to submit quarterly reports to the Public Service Board (PSB). These reports measure such things as our response time to service related issues, our on-hold time for folks contacting us, and the rate of missed installation appointments. If our performance falls short of established standards, BT must design an action plan to improve. If a citizen complains to the PSB, we also must supply a narrative about the incident and how we will (or did) respond. Additionally, many folks may not realize that BT’s operation is also locally advised and reviewed by three groups: the TEUC, the BTAC, and the CAC. Here are brief descriptions of these 3 bodies:

The CAC, or Cable Advisory Committee, a requirement of the Vt. Public Service Board, consists of a group of citizens who are nominated by BT and approved by the Dept. of Public Service. They meet a few times a year to monitor and advise BT’s cable TV operation only. BT management attends these meetings to answer questions and receive feedback. The CAC requirement was born, in part, in an agreement between the State and Adelphia Cable after years of consumer complaints.

The BTAC, or Burlington Telecommunications Advisory Committee, are all citizen appointees of the City Council. Unlike the CAC, the BTAC meets monthly and monitors and advises on all BT operations and all three services. They report formally to the City Council. Like the CAC, the BTAC doesn’t involve itself with BT’s employment policy or actions, nor its dispute resolution. BT management also attends these public meetings to provide a variety of data for review and to answer questions and receive feedback.

The TEUC, or the Transportation, Energy, and Utilities Committee, consists of three City Councilors who examine in-depth any relevant transportation, energy, water, sewer, and telecom projects and policies, and then report back and advise the entire City Council. The TEUC is a relatively new City Council committee and they will work closely with the BTAC as part of their efforts.

The rosters and contact info for the CAC, BTAC, and TEUC are below:

TEUC

BTAC

CAC

BT Staff