Agenda - 01-21-20 12-6 - Information Item - Memorandum-Broadband Initiative Pilot Project Update with Attached Service Area Map

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1 Memorandum To: Orange County Board of Commissioners From: Orange County Manager, Bonnie Hammersley Orange County Chief Information Officer, Jim Northrup Date: January 21, 2020 Subject: Broadband Initiative Pilot Project Update with Attached Service Area Map This memorandum is to provide an update to the Orange County Board of Commissioners on the County's current Broadband Initiative pilot project with Open Broadband and provide a timeline of relevant events. The Broadband Initiative is a 3 year pilot project to expand broadband internet services in unserved and underserved areas of Orange County. $500,000 in funding was approved in June of 2017 and after a competitive bidding process, a contract with Open Broadband, LLC was approved by the Board in October 2018. In May of 2019, the first Orange County customer in an underserved area had broadband service delivered to their residence via this pilot project. $255,000 has been paid on the Open Broadband, LLC contract to date. Leaving $245,000 unspent on the currently underway contract. An additional $150,000 funding was approved in the Manager's FY20 Budget in order to expand beyond the current. Combining this $150,000 with remaining unspent funds on the initial contract would show $395,000 is currently unspent. As of the writing of this update, Open Broadband is serving high speed internet to 85 customers in Phase 1 (see Attachment 1 Service Area Map). Additionally, Open Broadband is continuing work in the Phase 1 area on a weekly and often a daily basis doing customer installs and fine tuning equipment. Open Broadband has equipment on two County communications towers. One is located on Meadowlands Drive in Hillsborough and the other on Hawkins Road in Cedar Grove Township. Additional broadcast equipment is installed at the following locations: • Dorsett Farm Efland Cedar Grove Road