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8 <br /> <br />Jim Northup said the County will always have an interest in the success of this project, <br />but once the contract is executed, the County will only be looking at performance monitors, and <br />making sure performance targets are hit to insure future payment. <br />Chair Dorosin referred to the area on the map where many are underserved, due to the <br />lack of vertical assets. He asked if that is a critically underserved area, can the County consider <br />building vertical assets in this area. <br />Jim Northup said the County has been doing communication tower studies with <br />Emergency Services independently of this, and if two birds can be killed with one stone, the <br />County will attempt to do so. He said a strata of these towers has been reserved for the County <br />to enable a low barrier for entry for a company to put something on the tower to improve <br />broadband. He said it is not just an issue of having the vertical asset, but being able to get <br />broadband to the vertical asset. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos asked if there is a minimum tower height that would be <br />required. <br />Jim Northup said about 100 feet tall. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos asked if the challenge is finding a space where this does not <br />stick out. <br />Jim Northup said no, the challenge is just finding a site. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos asked if satellite technology will work in the near future. <br />Jim Northup said this will not solve the rural broadband issue, as there is a bandwidth <br />limit. He said within this model, there is no bandwidth limit. He said this is an affordable <br />solution for rural residents. <br /> <br />PUBLIC COMMENT: <br />Tony Blake said he was pleased to be a part of the request for proposal (RFP) team, <br />and he supports this solution. He thinks that the County should pencil something into the <br />Capital Investment Plan (CIP) for expansion. He said another issue is digital literacy, and <br />scammers are a big problem. He said he hopes the County would ask Open Broadband to <br />provide this digital literacy resource to protect residents’ privacy. <br />Bonnie Hauser said she lives in the unserved area, but she is excited about this pilot <br />program anyway. <br />Kevin McNamara said he is in support of this pilot project, and echoed the importance of <br />Internet speeds up to 25 megabytes. <br />Commissioner Jacobs thanked Jim Northup and the people that worked with him on this <br />project. <br /> <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Price, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs for the <br />Board to approve and authorize the Manager to sign the attached contract. <br /> <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> <br />b. Authorization for the Chair to Sign a Letter Regarding Measures to Address the <br />State Funding Shortfall in the Durham-Orange Light Rail Project <br />The Board considered authorizing the Chair to sign a letter to the GoTriangle Board of <br />Trustees affirming Orange County’s current funding commitment to the Durham-Orange Light <br />Rail Project ($149.5 million) and communicating a tentative agreement between Orange County <br />and Durham County to use Durham County dedicated transit revenues to supplant reduced <br />State funding. <br />Travis Myren presented the item below: <br /> <br />PURPOSE: