Dear Click! customer,
Thank you for staying with Click! Network. We appreciate your continued business as we move toward our transition to expand our existing public-private partnership with our local, family-owned partner, Rainier Connect. Using a private partner is the best way to accomplish the 12 policy goals adopted by the City Council and Public Utility Board. These 12 policy goals were identified with significant input from the community.
We are nearing some important milestones in the transition and want to make sure Click! customers have the most accurate, up-to-date information. After several years of working with the community and policy makers to agree on a path forward for Click!, our staff is ready to bring the proposed agreements to the Tacoma Public Utility Board and City Council for approval at public meetings this fall.
Here are important facts for you to know:
- The Click! Network currently provides retail Cable TV and wholesale Internet services. Retail internet services are provided by our private partners.
- Click! has not been a financially viable enterprise for the City for several years. We have considerably scaled back our operating expenses, however, that is not sustainable for the long term. There are no funds available for capital improvements to upgrade our aging infrastructure.
- Rainier Connect was selected to operate the system through a competitive bidding process.
- Rainier Connect is one of the Click! Network’s current Internet providers that will now be providing video service. The primary difference is that Rainier Connect will provide cable service, not TPU.
- Rainier Connect is expected to offer a diverse set of products and services at competitive, market prices and to comply with the policy goals of providing low-income, affordable access.
- To ensure consistency with the City Charter, City Council will be asked to “declare surplus” to the Power Utility, the Click! Network assets, which is simply a legal term to indicate that we no longer plan to use them for utility purposes. A public hearing will be held in advance of that decision. The City will not sell the network; in fact, it will remain a city asset indefinitely.
- The network is currently used for both electric operations and Cable TV and Internet, and City Council would only surplus the parts of the network related to the provision of Cable TV and Internet that are not needed for electric operations.
We encourage you to attend the public meetings, watch them live on TV Tacoma (Channel 12), or stream the video online. Current dates, times, and locations can be found at MyTPU.org/ClickUpdate. A public comment form is also available on our website if you are not able to attend in person.
Thank you for your continued business.
Sincerely,
Jackie Flowers, Director of Utilities
Tenzin Gyaltsen, Click! General Manager