HomeMy WebLinkAboutBbTF Minutes 06-16-2021 Attendees: Commissioner Greene
Commissioner McKee
Todd Broucksou
Catharine Rice
Jim Northrup
Doug Noell
Patricia Hull
Paul Cardillo
Terri Buckner
Victoria Deaton
Dr. Kathleen Dawson
Kathy Zopfi
Patricia Sullivan
Action Items:
- Continue working on RFP and incorporating suggested changes; will add language for OC to own
fiber; have a single document to hand to vendors along with any County owned assets (towers,
water tanks, buildings, etc) by Tues,Jun 22—Jim Northrup
- Call meeting of BOCC/Manager to get decision on OC fiber ownership- McKee/Greene
Welcomes and introductions—Jim introduced Kathy Zopfi as new addition to BbTF team
Approve Minutes (June 2,2021)—motion to approve minutes; Todd makes motion,Terri seconds, all
approved.
Good news—Commissioners Greene and McKee were successful in procuring$5million (ARPA funds—
have to be used to design a system that can provide 100/100 symmetrical or 100/20 scalable)from
BOCC of County's budget; possibility of additional funding after 2"d tranche
Provider Meeting Update and Discussion
- Schedule—Jim/Catharine: spoke with NCDIT for an hour long discussion (BB liaisons—report to
Jeff Sural;Jeff on PTO)
o Catharine providing synopsis—useful call; recommendation was that they've stopped
doing meetings w/providers; recommended that NCDIT review RFP and they can
provide feedback that vendors would've provided; talked about Buncombe County RFP,
were able to ultimately get an award to AT&T FTTH ($4500/household); discussed how
granular(Keith Conover) RFP should be—icing is the$$; incumbents aren't looking to
build in rural areas so unless you put"bait on the hook"they won't respond; said
contract is where you really do the negotiating; once AT&T was in the room with RFP,
that's when they hammered out the contract with Buncombe County—performance
clauses, etc.;Terri—need to have a meeting to get what costs would be—what can you
provide, at what cost and what service level?; if OC wants to own the fiber, need to
specify that in the RFP; Comm McKee—decide if all want the county to own the fiber;
discussion about pros and cons of owning fiber; Comm Greene asks why short and long
term approaches need to be in same RFP;Jim responds that they don't; Keith (NCDIT)
said people aren't using 100/100 today but the ARPA funds are focused on future proof
speeds/technologies; NCDIT said they would help by reviewing RFP but wouldn't help
set up meeting (this is contrary to what Jeff said in a previous meeting); can still work on
provider meeting if we need a face-to-face or virtual meeting;Todd—vendor meeting
still makes sense;Todd knows vendor who wants to attend and talk about FTTH; says
State has STOPGAP$$ available; Terri disagrees that the short and long term can be
blended into one RFP; goal to cover everyone in county 100/10 in 18 months;Jim -
ECC/CTC, design of network could be $1million;Todd—design/engineering has be to
done so needs to be included in overall cost of project; SG -can talk about short and
long term solutions in provider meeting; CR—if we want someone to act quickly(18
months), specify that;Jim—how many people and how fast can you get it done?;
OpenBB struggling to get 25/3 because of tree cover, LTE technology and terrain; Comm
McKee- might be confusing if don't keep two solutions separate,fixed wireless not
eligible for ARPA funds, possibly could use State funds for fixed wireless???; CR—if
technology isn't 100/100 (100/20)then can use ARPA otherwise must use different
funding (fixed wireless); fiber is only thing that can perform to technology standards
required; STOPGAP hasn't been voted on yet;Todd—for vendor meeting, have time
allotments so vendors not all in room at same time, agrees that have separate meetings
for short term/long term vendors; need to ask Legal about requirements for"open"
meetings;TB - if reqs are 100/20 is there even a short term solution considering that
vertical assets are required?; Comm McKee—there may be a way to make funding
available for building towers (move$$from one capital project to another); Comm
McKee—proceed with short term solution/vendor meeting, get answers from vendors
then can search for additional funding if options warrant;Jim—provider meeting, which
one needs to be first; new terminology, short term=100/20 and how many households
over 18 months, long term=FTTH and how many households by 12/31/2024; Greenlight
(Wilson) doing 50/50 for$40/month; Comm McKee—move forward with provider
meeting for 100/100 (100/20) and put other options aside for the moment;Terri—
recommends moving forward with provider meeting for fixed wireless for info gathering
purposes—what speeds *can* they get, how long would it take and what would it take
to get V;Terri also asks if we want to own the fiber; Comm McKee is strongly in favor
of owning the fiber;Jim—let providers know that our intention is going to be for OC to
own the fiber network, talk with providers about potential ownership models; major
players are going to want to build their own fiber networks—AT&T,Verizon, Google,
etc;
■ Agreements
• have a provider meeting for 100/100 solution
• get RFP out—ACTION:Jim to continue working on RFP and
incorporating suggested changes; will add language for OC to own fiber;
have a single document to hand to vendors along with any County
owned assets (towers,water tanks, buildings, etc) by Tues,Jun 22nd
o work with State for early July provider meeting
o Shoot for RFP to be ready by provider meeting
o ACTION: McKee/Greene call meeting of BOCC/Manager to get
decision on OC fiber ownership
o Jim to work with Travis on communicating BOCC decision back
to the group
o Jim to ask the State
• talk further about what"rapid solution" might be
• preference for OC to own fiber network
• Comms Greene and McKeen to schedule meeting with BOCC to discuss
ownership of fiber network—tell vendors that OC intends to own fiber
network
• Next meeting (June 30t")—tentatively aiming for week of 7/6/2021 for
provider meeting; prefer non-Sales presenters (more technical); this
meeting gives us opportunity for course correction prior to vendor
meeting
- Status of criteria for distribution to Vendors pre-meeting (partially distilled from RFP)
Long Term/Short term project definition(s)
Old Business/New Business/Housekeeping—none
Adjourn 7:11