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Home My WebLink AboutBbTF Minutes 06-02-2021 Attendees: Commissioner Greene Commissioner McKee Todd Broucksou Catharine Rice Jim Northrup Travis Myren Doug Noell Patricia Hull Paul Cardillo Terri Buckner Victoria Deaton Dr. Kathleen Dawson Jeff Sural Vasu Kilaru Patricia Sullivan Local,State and Federal Funding Updates Catharine—strong preference for funds that you don't have to compete for; best use of time to devote time to funds have best chance of getting and have most control over; (see attachments) The$1.2 trillion American Rescue Act allocated $350 billion to State Recovery Funds and Local Recovery Funds. For NC, $8.5 billion has been earmarked in state and local recovery funds. Regarding the local recovery funds, Orange County is slotted to receive $28 million, of which $14 million has been requested and formally received.The second tranche will be available in no less than 12 months from May 10, 2021. Attached is the Governor's Recommendations on use of the State Recovery fund portion of the American Rescue Act for broadband and digital literacy/affordability uses. Last week NC Broadband Matters had many members of the Governor's staff discuss these plans and field questions.The video archive can be found here. Below is Nate Denny's slide summarizing that for broadband uses. The Treasury Dept. Interim Final Guidelines shape how the ARA, including the State & Local Recovery funds, can be used. For specifically broadband infrastructure construction, see pages 69-77 in attached. Appmach& Initiative Cyween xx I_04ptr prapo5es c1liginR SIm dWW dlYlde with a$1.2 bllkm Stag!Ir1Yt3tn*ttt,u%ft flJndd{rolls the T ALmerlcan Remtw Plan,in thefWlowing areas to achi"e digital equity in North Carolina,We will also kVerME! *mlfl{altt private swcw 1rt monwnl. Infrsstrurturr l F+•sue MllaL*41Y�I+KemlSiarlt*aSapredb C��lktss l8�'30 MLip•4 k+ rrrya rhan 96%4�Nyi�h r,"M-hawghgkPL C*rAMiS+rt 9*O q {� 3topGap:alutxns A+rvrdablMW LSral+'AW harfttS rW Nwh C**Iwar4 UIRLILiteracy IMWC-wP-W#r41FV4*ft4 FN9frh Gr4lMLa 1Of"LP*" p 4t4 hO.1PRti sn rg d[aAkrnl *� Intrmetlhnx4rhdWWIteracyandYp.Wngmnmi;atwcrmwgtreulrWreommy. • DO*&SL anb anaLFlttNMM anw"M Prl Ow Lmrwv Mrtirrisieai+vc lwppkmrffts'gstlPS StaW 6d•wrsVa4x[ap&"is wppori hMh-Mx cl vrtrmri rMons. ' American Rescue Act Funds ($1.2 trillion; $350billion for state and local recovery funds; local recovery funds$28million received directly from Fed ($14million tranche already taken); state funds—Treasury Dept, relevant interim final guidelines; stopgap funds for vendors that can't hit 100/20; state recovery piece $420million for affordability; $330 million for digital literacy; std aiming for is minimum 100/20— aim for being able to measure results, all students having 100/20 by 2024. Have access to local recovery funds to use at our discretion (treasury interim final guidelines—includes definitions of underserved/unserved); Doug—question Emergency Connectivity Fund (through FCC) (up to $250/device-separate from ARA) $7.2billion for whole country; Emergency Broadband Fund $3.2billion reimburse provider up to$50/household;Terri—q for Doug=> have a map of these students/staff?; 1460 student hotspots/170 staff where students didn't have good broadband access (all across area— White Cross and other areas across the district); Doug has addresses for these students/staff; asking for data and using it to justify need; in Treasury interim final guidelines, want funds used for underserved/unserved; networks where there is not "reliable" access to 25/3?? Homes that do not have access to reliable wired—systems have to be built to 100/100 symmetrical unless not possible then have to be built to 100/20 scalable;Terri—must provide metrics, serving unserved/underserved; governor's goal is to serve 100%of all students; bottom line—local recovery funds OC can control RFP Review Jim—had quite a few comments;Terri—concerns; happy w/idea of making this a public/private partnership—county would own resources and someone would operate the resources in our name; include what costs to deploy/manage/maintain; ownership left intentionally vague in order to get interest on RFP—see what responses we'd get then go into contract phase; SG: language indeterminate but that's okay for now; EM: agree, no issue with County owning the infrastructure and leasing to vendor for modest fee (one that will be attractive to providers); if have questions once we get responses, can get more info from respondents;Jim—this RFP is looking for a turnkey solution and we can stipulate that we want ownership during contract phase—current RFP for provider to build/deploy/maintain internet service to 5000 homes—not for county to build fiber network;Terri's point—if we go with RFP as-is, we run the risk of getting responses then pulling out because they want to own the fiber themselves; Todd—can negotiate after responses received; Catharine—short term is 18 months; room in RFP for multiple service providers; Catharine—proposes just talking with providers rather than dusting off RFP for short term solution;Jeff—done this in dozens of counties,way we approach this is crowd sourcing, aggregation then send list to all providers-going to have a meeting, have a task force, going to share addresses, share ideas and proposals, helps planning task forces to structure their RFP's and tailor it to a specific purpose; the more specificity in RFP,the better the response; might be worth having a public announcement to put it out there; could possibly draw serious attention from providers since $$ now so much higher; Commissioner Greene—do an open call, suss out whether providers are wanting to "own"the solution; possibly call an emergency meeting to see how other commissioners feel about owning/not owning resource;Terri—if one vendor comes in and builds all the fiber(to own),we no longer have leverage...need competition and have a stake in the game ourselves; have a physical meeting(not phone) and ask each vendor to come and be prepared to present their solution in that meeting;Todd—asks Jeff how long it'll take to put together such a meeting —Jeff says 2-4 weeks face-to-face, provide info ahead of time so providers can be prepared; Buncombe County is an example of this process; Alexander County as well; 18 months short term, 3-5 years long term; Paul—can we just post a public advertisement to comply with open meeting rules?;Jim—need to include list of vendors; Paul—has list of vendors,will send. Earl McKee—board has process where can put forward amendments to budget; proposes to place an amendment to budget that we hold aside $5million each of V and 2n1 years (total of$10million) for broadband infrastructure that will make this a feasible project Action Items: - Jim to get up with Jeff's team to put together a meeting in early July—have an update next meeting with dates, more details Motion to approve minutes from last meeting-approved Adjourned 7:00.