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5 <br /> 1 Slide #5 <br /> Questions <br /> 2 <br /> 3 Commissioner Greene thanked Jim Northrup and Catharine Rice for the presentation, <br /> 4 and asked if they could talk about next steps. She said Catharine Rice reminded the Board that <br /> 5 ARPA money can only be used on a fiber solution. She said the shorter-term, wireless, projects <br /> 6 will be a second conversation after the RFP is out. <br /> 7 Jim Northrup said there are a lot of options on the table. He said during the last two task <br /> 8 force meetings the group moved towards addressing long term goals. He said the committee <br /> 9 felt urgency to design an RFP around ARPA requirements. He said they would revisit the short- <br /> 10 term solution, once the RFP is completed. <br /> 11 Catharine Rice said the funding source helped to clear the view. She said if the network <br /> 12 is providing less than 100 by 20, ARPA funds cannot be used. She said the task force decided <br /> 13 to pause on the short term, and get the long-term project going. <br /> 14 Commissioner McKee said the last meeting helped him understand that the short-term <br /> 15 solution could not be funded with ARPA funds, and he looks forward to talking about the <br /> 16 wireless option in the fall. He said State funding may be a possible option to fund wireless. He <br /> 17 said the task force needed to look at long-term solutions, and $5 million is good seed money. <br /> 18 Commissioner Hamilton asked if"building to unserved and the served" could be clarified. <br /> 19 She asked if that means building out to customers in Chapel Hill where they are already served. <br /> 20 Catharine Rice said the Treasury guidelines say that as long as you are building out to <br /> 21 the unserved you can also build out to the served. She said the taskforce is focused on the <br /> 22 5000 homes that are the most underserved right now. <br /> 23 Commissioner Hamilton asked if the estimated costs for serving the 5200 homes could <br /> 24 be identified. <br /> 25 Jim Northrup said a realistic cost from Time Warner is $2,000. He said the RiverStreet, <br /> 26 company, who is partnering with Piedmont Electric, said $5,000 per pass. He said $5,000 times <br /> 27 5,000 is $25 million. He said this is just an estimate, and the RFP will provide the most <br /> 28 accurate answer to that question. <br /> 29 Commissioner McKee said the further out one goes into a rural area, the more it is going <br /> 30 to cost per unit serve. He said sometimes you have to go by someone who is already served in <br /> 31 order to get to someone who is unserved. He said it is hard to know how much it will cost. <br /> 32 Commissioner Fowler asked if there is a plan to fund the remaining amount. She asked <br /> 33 if state or federal funds may play a part, and would this information affect the RFP. <br /> 34 Commissioner McKee said the County has to move forward, because there is a time <br /> 35 frame for obligating the money. <br /> 36 Jim Northrup said the federal government offered the RDOF money as an incentive, and <br /> 37 the Time Warner is funding the rest of the cost. He said the $5 million from Orange County <br /> 38 could be seed money for vendors to build out the full infrastructure. <br /> 39 Commissioner Fowler asked if the County pursued the Time Warner method, who would <br /> 40 own the ISP. <br /> 41 Jim Northrup said that is to be decided. <br />