Minutes 12-10-2024 - Business Meeting

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26 Commissioner Greene noted that the score for Jubilee Healing Farm was 17.2 and was behind several others. She asked how it received funding. Chair Bedford said when she read it, it seemed that it did not meet the scalability. Amy Eckberg said that it is being partially funded. She said the food forest is being funded. She said that the commission liked the nature-based aspect and wanted to provide funding to farms. She said that the Red Hawk Farm project was not able to be parsed out and funded at a lower level. She said some projects scored higher but would not suit the partial funding. She said at $100,000, it would have taken too much from others for this year. Commissioner Fowler asked about the urban sustainability solutions and how they mitigate storm water and reduce GhGs. Amy Eckberg said they are planting native plants which have a double impact of mitigating the stormwater and sequestering carbon simultaneously. Commissioner Carter asked about the projects that are solar array oriented. She said that St. Josephs and Endswell have different capacities. She asked for more details because with this one, it seems that the impact of delivery was less than the cost, that it seemed inverted. Amy Eckberg said that the commission felt that Endswell was serving the business rather than the community. She said that the St. Joseph's project was for the benefit of the community. Vice-Chair Hamilton asked if the greenhouse gas emission mitigation should have more points. She said that capacity is either you have it, or you do not; she wondered if that should be scored. Commissioner Fowler said it seemed odd that it only received 4 points. She said that she does appreciate social justice and education scoring but since this is specifically for climate and greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, she agreed that the focus should be on what the funding was originally intended for. Chair Bedford said these suggestions could be incorporated into future projects. A motion was made by Chair Bedford, seconded by Vice-Chair Hamilton, to approve funding for the recommended Community Climate Action Grant projects for FY 2024-25. VOTE: UNANIMOUS c. Amendment to the Network Development Agreement for Broadband Deployment with Lumos to Extend the Project Deadlines The Board approved an amendment to the 2022 Lumos contract to extend the project completion deadline of the Lumos broadband deployment so that all 6,370 unserved and underserved homes contained in the original agreement are served by December 31, 2025, instead of December 31, 2024. BACKGROUND: In June 2022, the Board of Commissioners finalized an agreement with Lumos Fiber(formerly known as North State Communications Advanced Services, LLC)to deploy a fiber optic broadband network to 6,370 unserved locations in Orange County. Unserved locations are defined by State law as locations that do not have access to internet service that provides speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload. The statutory authority under which the County is authorized to make grants for broadband deployment only allows those grant funds to be used to serve unserved locations. The County funded this public-private partnership with a $10 million grant using American Rescue Plan Act(ARPA)funds. Payments of the grant funds to Lumos are based on performance. Lumos was paid a $1 million start up payment following approval of the contract. The first benchmark of passing 3,000 homes was also achieved which triggered the second benchmark payment of $3 million. Releasing the final benchmark payment of $6 million is contingent on the company