Late last Friday afternoon MUSD put out the a notice of a special school board meeting with a one line description of the meeting’s topic: “Special MUSD school board meeting next week July 7th at 7pm on ownership options for MCN.”
How we got here begins with the CEO of MCN, Sage Statham, tendering his notice of resignation. He did so months in advance, so the district embarked on the usual civil service interview process. Seems the school board didn’t like any of the people that applied in the first round. We know this much because two members of the Comptche Broadband Committee (CBC) were approached after that first round to see if we had any interest in the job. The CBC feels that MCN’s growth potential is limited for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is a risk-averse school board.
Well, it gets worse. Apparently, the operations person at MCN was Sage’s wife Nina. She was one of the first round applicants the board didn’t like. She found out this week that she’s not being considered for the job, so she rage-quit before Sage’s last day. That last day was Friday, the end day of MCN’s DSL service (wonder if he timed it for that?). So now, MCN is headless and has a bunch of unhappy customers.
The inner workings of MCN are unknown to us, but losing the top two technical people in an eight person company can’t be good.
About DSL in Comptche: MCN was stitching together a last minute deal with an outside DSL provider to service the Sonic and MCN DSL customers that were going to lose their service. Apparently, that deal fell apart last week (unknown if it was related to the personnel matters) so now all former DSL customers of both Sonic and MCN are now internet-less. The CBC will be reaching out to the folks we know who are affected to see how they’re doing, and to see what their options for internet might be.
The last time the school board looked at selling MCN, it was quite entertaining. MCN seems to evoke a lot of pride in the Mendo crowd, so everyone turned out for public comment. We imagine we’ll see something of the same, peppered with annoyed DSL customers. Just to ensure a fun time for all, the CBC invited the flower of Mendocino’s internet community: Dane Jasper of Sonic, Michael Ireton of pacific.net, Tamir Scheinok of Further Reach and Andrew Brickweg of Etheric Networks.
The CBC also put the word out in the tech community about this ownership option meeting. You’ll be sure to see the ISP vultures circling the MUSD K-8 next Thursday.
In particular we know Ireton has long wanted to buy MCN. Further Reach thinks it has the inside track, as they’ve already been in contact with the school district and have offered money and expertise to keep the MCN ship afloat. Much depends upon the school board’s priorities: money, community, continuity or legacy?
Don’t expect any bold initiatives, though. The day for that passed long ago. This board has been milking MCN since 2009; they’re pleased as pigs in mud as long as MCN delivers $25-$50k annually to the school district budget. Not like the fat early internet days though, when MCN generated a quarter mil-plus a year like a machine.
The CBC will attend this meeting at the Mendo K-8. Not as cozy as zooming on the sofa, but watching the board squirm in person will be priceless.
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