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13 <br /> 1 <br /> 2 Bonnie Hammersley said she would follow-up on that. <br /> 3 <br /> 4 In reply to a question from Chair Dorosin, John Roberts, County Attorney, said the County's <br /> 5 authority to provide broadband access is unclear. A UNC School of Government professor has <br /> 6 written that, on one hand, counties may own infrastructure and lease excess capacity but, on <br /> 7 the other hand, counties may not own infrastructure and lease excess capacity. He said he <br /> 8 thought there are ways to get some lines in the ground and get internet capacity to people who <br /> 9 need it. But the County may not function as an internet service provider and it is open for debate <br /> 10 how the County may participate in partnerships with private providers. They will have to do <br /> 11 some experimentation and he has some ideas about how it may work. He said that Chair <br /> 12 Dorosin's earlier analogy, as follows, was a good one: the County can lay the pipe but cannot <br /> 13 provide the water or connect the pipe to people's homes. <br /> 14 <br /> 15 Commissioner Rich said the issue is that corporations do not want to compete with local <br /> 16 governments because counties and municipalities can lower the price of this utility that the <br /> 17 private sector is providing. <br /> 18 <br /> 19 Chair Dorosin asked how municipalities are allowed to provide free Wi-Fi access in their <br /> 20 downtowns. <br /> 21 <br /> 22 John Roberts explained that there is nothing under law requiring a local government from <br /> 23 putting in an access code or password at a public hot spot; on paper the local government is the <br /> 24 primary user of that access. <br /> 25 <br /> 26 Jim Northup said it is allowed because the local government is not charging people to use the <br /> 27 Wi-Fi; there is no customer base. We can't bill for the service, but the Wi-Fi in all of their <br /> 28 facilities fits within the law, and everyone is doing it. <br /> 29 <br /> 30 John Roberts said they are giving their employees access not serving as an internet service <br /> 31 provider; if anyone else happens to gain access then that is OK. <br /> 32 <br /> 33 In reply to a question from Commissioner Burroughs, John Roberts said a School of <br /> 34 Government professor probably would say that the County cannot pay a private internet <br /> 35 provider a subsidy to extend service to unserved parts of the county. However, there is a way to <br /> 36 give a grant to a service provider who builds something for the County. The County would have <br /> 37 control over part of the access and the provider would have control over the other part. They are <br /> 38 still looking at how to do that within the bounds of the very restrictive statute. <br /> 39 <br /> 40 Commissioner Burroughs said can't they simply give them a grant to extend the service. <br /> 41 <br /> 42 John Roberts said that may be an option. This statute is two years old and there has been no <br /> 43 challenge to it yet. Any County can be as aggressive as it wants to be; it will take a taxpayer or <br /> 44 private internet service provider to come forward with a lawsuit saying that the County lacks the <br /> 45 authority or is giving unfair advantage to a competitor in order for a court to give an opinion on <br /> 46 the limits of this statute. <br /> 47 <br /> 48 Commissioner Jacobs said the new President and the new FCC Chair are both against net <br /> 49 neutrality. At the same time, the new FCC Chair believes there is a digital divide in the country. <br /> 50 Let's keep in mind the option of negotiating some kind of net neutrality in systems we subsidize. <br /> 51 They could provide grants and make arrangements for broadband infrastructure to Cedar <br /> 13 <br />