Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
21 <br /> 1 . November 2014 —The Manager directed County staff to make a concerted effort to <br /> 2 engage residents in broadband discussions. <br /> 3 • June 2014—January 2016 — Orange County leveraged its relationship with Time <br /> 4 Warner resulting in Time Warner extending its wireless hotspots network <br /> 5 throughout downtown Hillsborough and into Fairview and Cedar Grove Parks. Prior <br /> 6 to the County's contact, Time Warner reported it was only going to deliver hotspot <br /> 7 services to Durham and Chapel Hill. This service allows any individual to connect <br /> 8 wirelessly throughout downtown Hillsborough and the parks for free. <br /> 9 • 2011 — North Carolina House Bill 129 barred governments from using public funds <br /> 10 to become Internet Service Providers. <br /> 11 • 2010 —The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) publishes its National <br /> 12 Broadband Plan. <br /> 13 • 2010 — MCNC (Microelectronics Center of North Carolina) awarded federal funds <br /> 14 for middle-mile network in rural NC. <br /> 15 • 2009—The US Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus bill included a provision to <br /> 16 make loans to states for the purpose of broadband. <br /> 17 <br /> 18 PROPOSED AGREEMENT WITH OPEN BROADBAND <br /> 19 In Fiscal Year 2018 funds were budgeted to create a scalable broadband solution to foster <br /> 20 innovation, drive job creation, stimulate economic growth, and serve new areas of <br /> 21 development in the community and also to provide a flexible menu of retail services that <br /> 22 offers new or enhanced service to rural Orange County residents. <br /> 23 <br /> 24 In Fiscal Year 2019 Open Broadband, LLC and Orange County entered into a public- <br /> 25 private partnership to provide broadband Internet services to residents in the rural areas of <br /> 26 Orange County. The attached agreement works toward those purposes by continuing to <br /> 27 partner with Open Broadband by allowing them to place communications equipment on a <br /> 28 vertical assets owned by Orange County, i.e., the communications tower at 510 <br /> 29 Meadowlands. This agreement will have a 36-month duration in an effort to co-term it with <br /> 30 the larger Open Broadband three-year pilot project currently underway. Prior to renewal, <br /> 31 and similar to the pilot project, it will be re-evaluated for economic viability with no <br /> 32 obligation for continued County support beyond what is stated in the attached agreement. <br /> 33 <br /> 34 A motion was made by Commissioner Price, seconded by Commissioner Bedford <br /> 35 for the Board to approve and authorize the Manager to sign the agreement thereby <br /> 36 allowing Open Broadband, LLC no cost access to County facilities for the purpose of <br /> 37 appropriately attaching equipment in order to provide broadband services to rural Orange <br /> 38 County residents. <br /> 39 <br /> 40 VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> 41 <br /> 42 b. Proposed Formation of a Climate Committee <br /> 43 BACKGROUND: At the January 29, 2019 Assembly of Governments meeting, <br /> 44 Commissioner Mark Marcoplos presented an update from the Climate Change Ad Hoc <br /> 45 Committee. The Ad Hoc Committee is a group of elected officials who came together in the <br /> 46 fall of 2018 in the wake of hurricane season to explore opportunities to accelerate <br /> 47 collaborative action on climate change. The members of the ad hoc committee are: Council <br /> 48 Member Rachel Schaevitz (Chapel Hill), Aldermen Sammie Slade (Carrboro), <br /> 49 Commissioner Jenn Weaver (Hillsborough), and Commissioner Mark Marcoplos (Orange <br /> 50 County). The Ad Hoc Committee presented a report outlining relevant climate change <br />