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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20 1 Laura Evans said she represented her neighbors in Marion's Ford Road, Foxwood Farm 2 Road, and Brights Way. She urged the commissioners to keep the 600 addresses in the Lumos 3 contract and extend service to them. She described the location of the neighborhood, and asked 4 what other providers would step in to save Brights Way. She said due to poor cell phone 5 reception they cannot use their phones to provide internet. She said the existing service from 6 AT&T's megabyte DSL plan does not support essential activities like video appointments, online 7 schoolwork, downloading work files, and video calls with family and friends. She said the county 8 has not applied for BEAD funding, and why should Brights Way be optimistic that the county will 9 get those funds. She asked for the county to honor their commitment and keep the 600 homes 10 on the list. 11 Dan Eddleman said DSL has worked for some in southwestern Orange County, but has 12 failed for others due to getting water in the lines, which AT&T has refused to fix. He said the 13 area of Morrow Mill and White Cross has poor radio system signals, which affects the VIPER 14 service, fire, and EMS. He said that if he has an emergency, he may not be able to call for help. 15 He said Area 3 in the proposed amendment, that is the worst area due to the terrain and the 16 failed DSL service. He said that Area 3 is the last to be talked about for fixing, and he is 17 concerned that the work will not be done. 18 Joy Mercer said she was disappointed that the county was proposing eliminating her 19 home from the contract with Lumos. She said that none of the remaining $6 million should be 20 paid to Lumos unless they complete the contract of 6,370 homes. She said that Lumos chose 21 to provide service to dense, already served areas, rather than unserved areas. She said T- 22 Mobile is worth $267 billion, and she doesn't understand their rationale for getting out of the 23 contract. She said that as a beneficiary of the contract, they may have standing to sue. She 24 said she has spoken to many county representatives and was promised that she would get 25 service. She said the amendment is inadequate and has no targets for completion. She said 26 fiber should be placed in any conduit that has already been installed. She wants Lumos to 27 abandon the conduits that they have already laid, so she and her neighbor can negotiate with 28 another provider to use the conduit that is already on her property. 29 Paul Mercer said that he has experience in telecommunications. He said the most 30 difficult part is the deployment of the conduit that holds the fiber and junction boxes where 31 interconnections are made. He said he did not understand why they would allow the contract to 32 not finish the job in neighborhoods where the bulk of the work is done. He said to do so is poor 33 contract management. He said he did not see a way of monitoring the contractor other than the 34 number of homes passed. He said the county needs a more robust method of demanding 35 performance from contractors going forward. 36 Susan Walser brought a handout of FCC maps showing broadband availability. She 37 noted that there are areas on the maps that show broadband availability, but those addresses 38 do not have them, they only have conduits. She said Lumos laid fiber on her road which 39 already has AT&T fiber and high-speed Spectrum service. She said they did not need the 40 service, while a neighborhood two roads down is underserved. She said that when T-Mobile 41 took over Lumos, she must pay $80 a month, while others have a $50 a month rate. She said 42 the customer service with T-Mobile is poor. 43 Robin Mulkey asked the Board where they stand and asked them to support residents in 44 Orange County. She said that the project problems are not the county's problem. She said it is 45 poor planning on their part. She said if there is a contract that isn't enforced, why do they 46 bother having a contract. She asked the Board to show they support rural residents and vote 47 against the proposed amendment. 48 Patrick Mulkey said in Bingham Township they always get the unwanted county projects, 49 like landfills or airports or OWASA. He said now that the county has a chance to step up, they 50 forget about the rural people. He said with their current service, if it rains, there's no service.