COMMISSION THE WASHINGTON UTILITIES AND ) TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ) ) Complainant, ) vs. ) DOCKET NO. UT-970766 ) U S WEST COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ) VOLUME 3 ) Respondent. ) Pages 139 - 143 ------------------------------) A pre-hearing conference in the above matter was held on November 7, 1997 at 1:30 p.m., at 1300 South Evergreen Park Drive Southwest, Olympia, Washington, before Administrative Law Judges ROBERT WALLIS and TERRY STAPLETON. The parties were present as follows: U S WEST COMMUNICATIONS, INC., by LISA A. ANDERL, Corporate Counsel, 1600 Seventh Avenue, Room 3206, Seattle, Washington 98191. ALSO PRESENT: THERESA JENSEN THE PUBLIC, (via bridge) by ROBERT F. MANIFOLD, Assistant Attorney General, 900 Fourth Avenue, Suite 2000, Seattle, Washington 98164. SPRINT COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY, L.P., (via bridge) by CAROL MATCHETT, Attorney at Law, 1850 Gateway Drive, Seventh Floor, San Mateo, California 94404-2467. THE WASHINGTON UTILITIES AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION STAFF, by GREGORY J. TRAUTMAN, Assistant Attorney General, 1400 South Evergreen Park Drive Southwest, P.O. Box 40128, Olympia, Washington 98504. ALSO PRESENT: GLENN BLACKMON, PENNY HANSEN, STEVE KING. Kathryn T. Wilson, CCR Court Reporter P R O C E E D I N G S JUDGE WALLIS: Let's call this pre-hearing conference to order, please. This is a conference before the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission in the matter of Docket UT-970766, WUTC versus U S West. This pre-hearing conference is being held in Olympia, Washington on Friday, November 7, 1997, pursuant to notice to all interested persons. My name is Bob Wallis. With me is Terry Stapleton. We are the presiding officers in this proceeding. I'd like to ask for appearances at this time, please. MS. ANDERL: Appearing on behalf of U S West Communications, Inc., I'm Lisa Anderl, and also with me is Theresa Jensen. MR. TRAUTMAN: For Commission Staff, I'm Gregory Trautman, assistant attorney general. Also with me is Glenn Blackmon and Penny Hansen. JUDGE WALLIS: And on the bridge line? MR. MANIFOLD: Rob Manifold, assistant attorney general, appearing on behalf of the Public. JUDGE WALLIS: Mr. Manifold, we had a great deal of trouble hearing you, so I'm going to ask if you could keep your voice level up and speak directly into the mouthpiece. Another appearance on the bridge line? MS. MATCHETT: Yes. Carol Matchett appearing on behalf of Sprint Communications, L.P. JUDGE WALLIS: Are there any other appearances to be made? Let the record show there is no response. The nature of today's conference is to discuss the arrangements for the public hearings. That is, those hearings that are established to receive testimony from the members of the public. They are scheduled to begin 10 days from now. In order to facilitate those discussions, we've decided that we will go off the record at this point and engage in some informal discussions, and at appropriate time or times, we will return to the record and state the agreements among the parties, so let's be off the record at this point. (Discussion off the record.) JUDGE WALLIS: Let us be back on the record, please. During some off-the-record discussions, the parties have reached agreement on the following items. At the hearings for members of the public, there will be a brief general introductory remark that is going to be prepared by Mr. Manifold and Judge Stapleton. There will be five to seven minute presentations by each of the three participating parties; that is Public Counsel, Commission Staff, and the Company; that in those presentations the parties are able to address broader issues or issues of context; that the presentations are informational in nature to members of the public. They will be made off the record; that it will be an opportunity for brief clarifying questions that will be moderated by the administrative law judge; that the witnesses will not be sworn, but there will be a statement on the form on which they sign in verifying that what they say will be the truth; that the parties have chosen not to bring individual poster boards containing their positions, but that Commission Staff will prepare two for display, one that depicts the Company's customer care plan and another that depicts the procedural history and procedural context for the proceeding; that the parties will each bring a handout to the public hearings; that it will contain the summary of the parties position, and in order to be distributed, the handouts must be attributed to the party that have prepared them. Is there anything that I have not stated that should be on the record or anything that I did not fairly characterize? MR. MANIFOLD: Just one addition -- Rob Manifold here. I think that we concluded that at the first hearing the presentations would be on the record. JUDGE WALLIS: That was one of the options we discussed, but I did not recall that there was consensus on that. Let's be off the record for some further discussion. (Discussion off the record.) JUDGE WALLIS: Following some further discussion, it has been agreed that none of the informational presentations that are addressed to members of the public to inform them of the nature of the hearing and the parties' positions will be on the record. It is agreed that the customer care poster will display the Company's program as it is being implemented, and that the participants will all be at the public hearing locations no later than 15 minutes before the start of the public hearings. Is there anything further by way of addition, correction, subtraction, or comment before we conclude this pre-hearing conference? Let the record show there's no response and this matter is concluded. Thank you all. (Pre-hearing conference concluded at 3:00 p.m.)