Minutes 04-26-2022 Business Meeting

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39 Derek Kelly said that will be known after a detailed engineering process. He said the first customers will be coming online next year. He said there will be a number of things to get through in the permitting phase. He said that the installation and location of the fiber distribution hubs (FDHs) will serve between 100-400 homes. He said the engineers are finalizing the location plans and then the construction schedule will be established. He said they have committed to focus on the unserved areas first to get everything completed in two years. He said that sometimes the work will overlap into both areas at one time. Commissioner McKee asked what the installation process will look like. Derek Kelly said most of the network will be underground, but some areas could be aerial. He said that conduit is installed, and areas require boring, plow, or open trench methods. Commissioner McKee said some people are sensitive about their property and landscaping. He said boring is much less intrusive and this will be as unobtrusive as possible. He said that some property may be dug up during the installation and the county should highlight that while noting they will try to be unobtrusive. Derek Kelly said boring is much more expensive, but they have a good track record of putting everything back together as it is supposed to be on disturbed property. He said they want happy customers for a long time. PUBLIC COMMENT: Laura Evans thanked the commissioners for considering the proposal. She said that her 26-home neighborhood is in approval. She asked that the contract be approved. She said they have a 5MB internet plan and sometimes cannot even download a webpage. She described the various methods they have researched to try to get a higher speed more reliable internet. She said that either those efforts failed because either the provider wanted too much money or relied on cell service which is very weak in her neighborhood. She said families are dependent on the internet, and they do not have it. She said that homes and land will not sell without broadband. She said they have been handicapped and disadvantaged. She said that internet is important to livelihood. She said that she appreciates that specific addresses are listed. She said that North State looks like a great fit, and that they seem to be appreciated by customers and their prices are reasonable. She said that without the county's funding, they would be in the dark ages. She specifically thanked Jim Northrup and Travis Myren for their assistance. She said thanks to the board, they now have hope for high-speed internet. Vann Evans said they have lived on Marion's Ford since 1975 and this is one of the best things that has ever happened. He said the company can do whatever they want to get internet so they can go to doctor's appointments and the children can do homework assignments. Marcus Thrathen, an attorney with the firm Brooks Pearce, said he was speaking on behalf of the North Carolina Cable Telecommunications Association. He said that one of their members is Spectrum and that they are pleased to be a broadband provider in the area. He said the Evans' testimony is what their members hear about all the time and his members want to be part of the solution. He urged them to pause and make sure this is done right because this is a unique opportunity to marry federal monies to this project. He said that regarding this specific proposal, the counties authority to spend the grant funds is only to those unserved areas. He said that is the one caution they have. He said that when Spectrum has looked at the addresses, there appears to be substantial overlap with existing operations. He said that the NC Department of Information Technology published their list they found 1,500 unserved homes in Orange County. He said that the county's RFP found 5,000 homes. He said that the contract will fund 10,000. He said that he knows the intent is to only serve unserved homes with those grant funds. He said that he said that this is a process of not going through the state process established by the General Assembly.