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Progress made at broadband meeting

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

There will be some big decisions Charles City’s Broadband Commission will have to make in the coming months.

That group is a step closer in its search for what would be the best available fit for high-speed internet service for businesses and residents in Charles City.

The commission held a meeting Monday afternoon where Curtis Dean of SmartSource and Todd Kielkopf of Kielkopf Advisory Services laid out various options regarding ownership and operational control of the “fiber to home” solution. The overall estimated cost is around $11.5 million.

The commission discussed a request for information (RFI) with SmartSource to see if interested parties are willing to partner with Charles City to help facilitate a broadband system.

Members of the commission were given a survey to fill out to determine their preferences and that will be completed in around a week. Based on those selections, the RFI will then be sent out after the Fourth of July if the commission agrees. The RFI has been around a three-month process and the cost is capped out at $7,500.

The big questions that the commission will have to answer are how much control does the city want and what type of services will the broadband service offer.

Commission members seemed to prefer a middle-of-the-road option where the city owns the fiber network and operates it. Whether that is fully operated by the city or in conjunction with a private or public partner needs to be determined.

“The main thing is we want to maintain a level of local control to that we can insure that a good service is provided,” said Charles City Administrator Steve Diers. “We want to be able to have enough control that we can control the quality of the content and the pricing.”

The service that would be offered would be a Triple Play Package of video (TV), phone and internet. Diers said that the video and telephone could be contracted out so there wouldn’t be large infrastructure expenses.

The question was asked to SmartSource how realistic it is that ground could be broken on a project by next spring, and Dean thought it could be done.

Diers said it “might be a little too early to tell.”

The commission is gearing up for a decision on whether to proceed to Phase 3 of the project, which focuses on design engineering, marketing and financing. The total cost of that project is estimated at $381,979. The network architecture and work scope would cost $75,000 and the OSP (outside plant broadband) cost comes to $306,979.  The OSP also involves architecture and the scope of work that needs to be done.

The commission has moved on from Phase 2 of the project, which accessed the feasibility of the endeavor.

“We’ve been working on this for close to four years in one way, shape or form,” said Diers. “In the very near future, we’re going to commit to putting together a business plan and designing the actual layout.”

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