Posted on

Latest timeline shows Charles City broadband fiber access in 2022

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

It will likely be late next year before the first few customers have service through a new Charles City Fiber broadband system, and into 2022 before the majority of the community has access, according to the latest project timeline.

Delays have been caused mostly by difficulties arranging funding for the approximately $20 million project, although members of the Charles City Telecommunications Utility Board of Trustees and the board’s host of consultants hope that funding is now on track to be finished in November.

The telecom board met this week, and as has become common at most of the last dozen or so meetings, spent a large portion of the time closed to the public to discuss “financial information and pricing strategies” and “proprietary information.”

The board had originally planned on having financing lined up in June and received in July, with project construction to begin in late summer or early fall this year.

That has been thwarted by the time it has taken to put together a financing package for the first municipal broadband utility in the state that doesn’t have the financial backing of another city utility like an electrical utility.

The current plan is to issue up to $17 million in revenue bonds and borrow about $3 million from private lenders, likely banks. All borrowed funds are proposed to be repaid through revenue received through the sales of the broadband internet, television and telephone services that will be offered.

After the board came back into open session at its meeting on Tuesday, the board began discussing the latest revised timeline.

That timeline, prepared by Todd Kielkopf, president of Kielkopf Advisory Services LLC of Des Moines, a financial and business consultant, along with input from other consultants, shows bond offering documents being ready in early October with “feedback” from the bond market following that.

Based at least in part on that feedback, the timeline shows the “Go/No Go” decision for the broadband fiber optics project being made at the Oct. 13 board meeting.

Assuming the decision is “Go,” financing would be completed in November, a general manager hired from between two finalists who have already been interviewed, early marketing including a website begun, recruiting started for other employees and design work begun on the data center/central office yet this year.

The discussion on the timeline was sidetracked for a while by a squabble between two of the board’s consultants, Kielkopf and Eric Lampland, president of Lookout Communications, which helped with the initial feasibility studies, business plan and engineering for the outside plant.

Lampland said he was “quite concerned” that the timeline does not adequately show the time it would take for some important steps in the process.

One of the most significant time-consumers, he said, was selecting the equipment that would be needed for the system, getting it ordered, then receiving it.

“There’s considerably more to go acquire than just the access gear. We don’t know from this schedule what is included or not included in some of the generalized statements,” Lampland said.

“The only equipment you have on here is an access network OLTP-type piece. There are no routers, there’s nothing else, and all that has to get decided before the OSS BSS can be established. Those are months-long projects,” he said.

Board Chairperson Cheryl Erb waded into the exchange, suggesting that the consultants meet outside the board meeting to discuss their differences, and saying Lampland was using abbreviations for technical terms that she was not familiar with.

Lampland said, “I’ll work with you as best I can, but I do think the board needs to know what the work ahead of them is. And if there are acronyms, they should be explained to you, because it’s going to be your responsibility to make this a success.”

Steve Diers, Charles City city administrator, said, “We need to figure out some details here, and Todd is certainly willing and able to do that, and we need to get this right so we have a correct plan going forward. We’ll certainly get that worked out. I don’t see any issue with that.”

The timeline shows construction of the outside plant — the underground fiber optics cable and other equipment that is the heart of the network — beginning next March and being completed in November 2021, with some “pilot customers” being ready to begin testing in October.

It shows full operations with a limited customer base beginning in December 2021, with the rest of the community having service available in 2022.

Also at the meeting:

• The board discussed the timeline on designing and remodeling the building to be used for the data center and business and sales offices. Architect Gary Anderson, president of SA Architects of Mason City, said planning for the data center has been on hold pending financing.

He said his “best guestimate” for completion of the center would be July, but that would depend on some of the decisions made regarding the design, the availability of equipment needed and how fast a contractor can move.

“We have seen schedules of materials and equipment be impacted by COVID. It is happening,” Anderson said. “The sooner we can get everything bid, get orders placed, the better off we are. That’s a fact.”

• The board designated Kielkopf as interim general manager as part of his existing consulting contract to help with some of the planning and decision making until the new general manager is working for the telecom board.

Social Share

LATEST NEWS