Minutes 09-16-2025-Business Meeting

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21 said they are in a wide, open area with farmland with few trees. He asked the Board when they would step up for rural Orange County. Chuck Mosher said he represented the Hartwood community. He said they have AT&T DSL and pay $80 a month for 6 megabits. He said the 600 households that would be excluded are the most remote and spread out. He said if you look at the map, the sort of the before and after map, it's huge swaths of land. He said 92% of the county will not be served. Blair Pollock recounted trouble shooting internet issues with T-Mobile and how difficult it was. Laura Streitfeld asked the commissioners not to approve the amendment. She said there are people who are not aware that they will not be served with this amendment. She said that lack of reliability costs county residents. She said that 25% of residents primarily work from home and they need reliable and affordable internet. Eda Cornish said she cannot get Spectrum internet like some of her neighbors have. She said they have aged in place and need reliable internet to receive services. She said they pay significant taxes and that they are not getting the same services that their neighbors are. She said T-Mobile can afford to complete the contract. She said they've waited for many years and asked the commissioners to make sure it happens. Edward Mann asked the Board to consider that the broadband landscape has changed in the last few years. He said the list of unserved addresses that Lumos will still connect to are not really unserved. He asked the Board to focus on the unserved areas. He asked the Board to remember that the funds are an incentive to do more. Ken Bradley said his home was previously served by Bell South, but AT&T will not provide them service now. He said they cannot get AT&T to give them a landline, they aren't served by cable, and the two satellite services they've tried have been erratic. He said this sounds like a project management failure and that the new owners have decided to turn on the project. He asked the Board to hold a potential provider's feet to the fire. Tom Barbon said he used to receive internet from Meb-Tel,which was acquired by Century Link, and later by Bright Speed. He said they do not receive reliable service and it is not sufficient for work or school. He asked who proposed the amendment. He said it is confusing that the contract appears to be unenforceable. Ron Royster said he first received internet from Meb-Tel, then Century Link, and now Bright Speed. He said they lost internet for 5 weeks in July from Bright Speed. He asked the Board to take care of the residents of Orange County. Suzanne Kirby said she is an oncologist at Duke. She said that as a physician she must be able to put it in orders for chemotherapy in the middle of the night, and it can only be done through her laptop. She said she's had to drive to a coffee shop to put in orders for patients. Bonnie Hauser said after receiving Lumos service, her experience with internet has greatly improved. She said after T-Mobile acquired Lumos the service relationship and cost structure changed. She asked the Board to make sure that residents get internet and to include representatives from unserved communities on a revived broadband task force. Jim Ross said he had conduit put in a year and a half ago, but it still does not have fiber. He asked how many people have conduit, but don't have fiber. He asked the Board to prioritize final buildouts of fiber where conduits are already laid. Commissioner Carter asked why some homes would have conduits laid, but fiber is not being run through the conduits. Andrew Stevenson said that he believes the contractor got ahead and laid the conduit first before the cabinet and the brains of the network were in place Commissioner Carter asked what is prohibitive about the final steps for those homes.