Minutes 06-28-2021 Virtual Business meeting

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7 local governments to get a competitive provider. She said this is a chance of a lifetime, and the funds and a cooperative federal government will never come again. She said there are already companies interested in partnering, and she would not hesitate to overbuild the RDOF areas. She said nothing will get Spectrum moving like competition in their territory. Chair Price asked if the task force had spoken with churches or the community to see if they are interested in participating. Commissioner McKee said no, and personally, he did not consider that the first step, because he did not want to go to the community without having a plan to share. He said he would like to know what the County is proposing before going to the community. Chair Price asked if Commission McKee has heard anything from the community as to interest in broadband. Commissioner McKee said there will be an event at Cedar Grove Community Center on July 24, 2021 to promote broadband. He said many people have expressed general support to him, but he would not expect 100% participation. Chair Price said she did not expect 100% participation, but she would like to know if running the infrastructure in rural areas would be worthwhile. Commissioner McKee said if the County does not have any interested providers, it does not have anything to offer the community. Chair Price asked if there is an update about state funding. Catharine Rice said the Governor made recommendations to the legislature. She said the timeline is unknown, as well as under what terms the money will be available. She said this is why it is important to keep moving forward with the current process. Jim Northrup said one recommendation of the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Grant is to remove the tier-system and use census blocks with less than 500 people per square mile. He said this would cover most of Orange County, with exception of the incorporated municipalities. Commissioner Bedford asked if a vendor returned the RDOF monies if there are penalties. Catharine Rice said if Spectrum defaults prior to funds being issued, the penalty is 15% of the total award. She said the penalties become more severe if defaults continue to occur. Commissioner Hamilton asked if the County owns the infrastructure, what will it cost to maintain it. She said it would be helpful to see the costs and the benefits, in order to best steward the County's resources. Commissioner Greene asked if the County had a fiber network that it had built, could the County lease it to more than one ISP at a time. Catharine Rice said that practice is called Open Access, and is not common here, but is common in Europe. She said it is just starting to take off here. She provided two examples, one of which resulted in a low-cost to consumers. She said the economics are tough on open access, but the County could try it. She said the County could build the network and lease it whomever it chooses. She said Fiber has infinite capacity, which is why the federal government is pushing for it. Commissioner McKee said the exact infrastructure and maintenance costs cannot be shared because the task force wanted to get feedback from the Board of County Commissioners before moving forward. He said the goal is to make the best use of time. He said the cost of maintaining will be considered before entering into any project, but there is no doubt the costs will be high.