Minutes 04-26-2022 Business Meeting

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40 Marston Youngblood said he lives on Marion's Ford Road. He said that he did not sign up to speak but wanted to after hearing from the Spectrum representative. He said they went to all the providers — and the results were unsustainable and had unaffordable prices. He said they are deeply grateful to the county for going with the North State providers and that this will be done in a legally valid way. Chair Price thanked the Broadband Task Force for their work on the issue. She said this has been a longtime coming to get this far. She thanked staff, everyone that has been involved, and North State. She thanked Jim Northrup for all his work on the issue. Commissioner Fowler asked if Travis Myren or North State wanted to respond to the legality of the contract. John Roberts, County Attorney, said the county fully intends to comply with state law to verify that there are no violations, and he will report back to the board and their next meeting. Commissioner Bedford thanked the staff, the task force, the commissioners that have worked on this, and Jim Northrup. She said that the pandemic exposed the needs for this utility service, and she supports the County Manager's recommendation. Commissioner McKee asked if there should be two motions, one on the project and one on the allocation of the funding. John Roberts said no. Commissioner Greene said she and Commissioner McKee have worked on this since March 2021 and met every two weeks. She listed the members of the Broadband Task Force. She said a lot of things came together while the task force worked to get to this point. A motion was made by Commissioner Greene, seconded by Commissioner McKee, to approve and authorize the County Manager to sign the attached contract and any amendments that do not exceed the contract amount with North State Communications Advanced Services, LLC to construct, operate, and maintain a fiber to the premises network in unserved parts of Orange County, and to allocate an additional $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, for a total of $10 million, to fully fund this agreement. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner McKee said the task force members were extremely dedicated. He said when he made the petition for the task force in Fall 2020, he thought it would be $30 million. He said the idea started off due to virtual schooling and feeling like children were not getting what they needed. He said he did not have strong enough internet at his home to attend Board meetings virtually. He said the Board stepped up with the investment. He thanked staff, the Board, and the federal government for the ARPA funding. b. Proposal to Name a Conference Room at the Orange County Visitors Center as "The Lee Pavao Conference Room" The Board discussed naming a Conference Room in the Orange County Visitors Center to "The Lee Pavao Conference Room". BACKGROUND: A number of community leaders (letters attached) have requested that the Board of Orange County Commissioners consider naming a conference room in honor of the late Lee Pavao. Lee Pavao was a well-respected resident of the Orange County community for many years.