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7 <br /> 1 Chair Price asked if the task force had spoken with churches or the community to see if <br /> 2 they are interested in participating. <br /> 3 Commissioner McKee said no, and personally, he did not consider that the first step, <br /> 4 because he did not want to go to the community without having a plan to share. He said he <br /> 5 would like to know what the County is proposing before going to the community. <br /> 6 Chair Price asked if Commission McKee has heard anything from the community as to <br /> 7 interest in broadband. <br /> 8 Commissioner McKee said there will be an event at Cedar Grove Community Center on <br /> 9 July 24, 2021 to promote broadband. He said many people have expressed general support to <br /> 10 him, but he would not expect 100% participation. <br /> 11 Chair Price said she did not expect 100% participation, but she would like to know if <br /> 12 running the infrastructure in rural areas would be worthwhile. <br /> 13 Commissioner McKee said if the County does not have any interested providers, it does <br /> 14 not have anything to offer the community. <br /> 15 Chair Price asked if there is an update about state funding. <br /> 16 Catharine Rice said the Governor made recommendations to the legislature. She said <br /> 17 the timeline is unknown, as well as under what terms the money will be available. She said this <br /> 18 is why it is important to keep moving forward with the current process. <br /> 19 Jim Northrup said one recommendation of the Growing Rural Economies with Access to <br /> 20 Technology (GREAT) Grant is to remove the tier-system and use census blocks with less than <br /> 21 500 people per square mile. He said this would cover most of Orange County, with exception of <br /> 22 the incorporated municipalities. <br /> 23 Commissioner Bedford asked if a vendor returned the RDOF monies if there are <br /> 24 penalties. <br /> 25 Catharine Rice said if Spectrum defaults prior to funds being issued, the penalty is 15% <br /> 26 of the total award. She said the penalties become more severe if defaults continue to occur. <br /> 27 Commissioner Hamilton asked if the County owns the infrastructure, what will it cost to <br /> 28 maintain it. She said it would be helpful to see the costs and the benefits, in order to best <br /> 29 steward the County's resources. <br /> 30 Commissioner Greene asked if the County had a fiber network that it had built, could the <br /> 31 County lease it to more than one ISP at a time. <br /> 32 Catharine Rice said that practice is called Open Access, and is not common here, but is <br /> 33 common in Europe. She said it is just starting to take off here. She provided two examples, <br /> 34 one of which resulted in a low-cost to consumers. She said the economics are tough on open <br /> 35 access, but the County could try it. She said the County could build the network and lease it <br /> 36 whomever it chooses. She said Fiber has infinite capacity, which is why the federal government <br /> 37 is pushing for it. <br /> 38 Commissioner McKee said the exact infrastructure and maintenance costs cannot be <br /> 39 shared because the task force wanted to get feedback from the Board of County <br /> 40 Commissioners before moving forward. He said the goal is to make the best use of time. He <br /> 41 said the cost of maintaining will be considered before entering into any project, but there is no <br /> 42 doubt the costs will be high. <br /> 43 <br /> 44 <br />