Agenda 10-21-2025; 8-a - Minutes for September 16, 2025 Business Meeting and September 25, 2025 Joint Meeting with Schools

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19 1 Commissioner Fowler reviewed the terms of the contract and asked what "a commitment 2 to pass any additional location" meant. 3 Travis Myren said if an underserved home is identified while passing the remaining 665, 4 it automatically is added. 5 Commissioner Fowler said that was mentioned in all three areas with a date of no later 6 than July 1, 2026. 7 Commissioner Carter asked if the definition of unserved and underserved was the 8 Lumos definition. 9 Travis Myren said it was the state and federal definition. 10 Vice-Chair Hamilton asked how it is determined when work is completed. 11 Travis Myren said they would verify through the project management team. 12 Vice-Chair Hamilton asked if there is visual inspection. 13 Travis Myren said the contract allows for visual inspection. 14 Commissioner Fowler asked about the cost for connection, which she said was initially 15 set at $50 a month, but now it appears to be higher. 16 Robert Reynolds said there were changes at the bandwidth offering levels. 17 Andrew Stevenson said there was a stipulation in the contract that price increases be no 18 more than 10% each year. He said that comparing prices gets complicated when people come 19 in at introductory or promotional offers for 12 months. He said a low-cost offering is still 20 available if requested. 21 Commissioner Fowler asked if Lumos is laying line in Alamance County and if that was 22 funded through ARPA. 23 Andrew Stevenson said they received a NC Great grant, which was funded by ARPA, 24 and it was recently completed. He said that there is work going on that is privately funded. 25 Commissioner McKee asked if Lumos was laying line in Durham County, and if they had 26 the same situation in Durham as they are having in Orange County. 27 Andrew Stevenson said they were laying line in Durham County. He said they were 28 having some of the same issues, but not at the same extent. 29 Commissioner McKee asked if Lumos was asking Durham the same request they were 30 making of Orange. 31 Andrew Stevenson said no. He said they received an ARPA grant through the NC 32 Broadband office, and they also have privately funded projects. 33 Chair Bedford asked Robert Reynolds if he had spoken with IT folks in Durham. 34 Robert Reynolds said yes and that they never entered into a contract with Lumos. 35 36 PUBLIC COMMENTS: 37 Tony Blake said he opposed changing the Lumos contract. He said that Lumos says he 38 does not have broadband, but he has broadband provided by Spectrum. He said he supported 39 his neighbors who were being left behind by the proposal. He said they are not doughnut holes, 40 but taxpaying residents. He said that after acquisition by T-Mobile, Lumos continued to fulfill 41 other contracts and expand their network elsewhere. He said T-Mobile has plenty of assets and 42 they would not lose money on this contract, it would just take them longer to recoup their 43 investment. Orange County is a tier 3 county and has little hope of receiving BEAD funding. He 44 said BEAD and stop gap funding are both funded by ARPA. He said both require matching 45 funds and asked where those would come from. 46 Jack Vest said he has struggled with slow internet at his home and that AT&T will not 47 make improvements or repairs to his current lines. He said that he lives among lots of trees and 48 would not want to cut them down in order to get satellite internet. He said cell phone signals are 49 also unreliable. He said for 3 years he received regular updates on the broadband project, until 50 T-Mobile bought Lumos. He expressed concern about the cost per connection the county will 51 pay under the revised contract.