Broadband Commission meeting discusses proposals

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

There are plenty of options available and several big decisions left to be made.

The Charles City Broadband Commission met with consultant Curtis Dean of SmartSource on Friday afternoon to discuss the request for information that was sent out in early July to potential partners concerning the proposed $11.5 million Charles City “fiber to the home” project.

There was a response from about 15 entities, private and public, that could at some point join with Charles City.

Members of the commission filled out a survey with their preferences on how the general structure of the high-speed internet, video and phone package would look like for residents and businesses. The responses back were then broken down by Dean.

“Some of the likely ones with your local focus are ones you already knew existed. But I wanted to make sure you knew there were others out there that are interested in playing in your little sandbox here in this community,” said Dean.

It was made very clear that members of the commission want local control.

Commission member Joshua Mack said the information Dean put together clearly shows that one priority is local control.

“So I think it would be easy to say we’re going to weed out partners who can’t provide local control,” said Mack, who is also NIACC’s chief information officer.

This broadband discussion has been an almost four–year endeavor with a possible finish line in sight after some key decisions are made.

“This is on the edge of making a larger commitment into the telecommunication process,” said Charles City Administrator Steve Diers.

The commission has moved past the feasibility stage and is set to enter phase 3 of the project, which focuses on design engineering, marketing and financing. The total cost of this phase 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 the work that needs to be done.

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

One potential partner that has been discussed is New Hampton.

“We’ve been talking about New Hampton a lot. With proximity and they’re doing a similar project, there’s going to be some partnership opportunities there, absolutely,” said Diers. “How involved that gets, we’re not sure.”

The multi-million-dollar project would be paid for by the fees customers pay for the services.

Diers said there may be a need for a general bond referendum and public vote on that because it is unlikely the city would be able to borrow the $11.5 million needed to build the system based on a revenue bond.

“That way investors would feel comfortable and less risk to loan us $11.5 million if they know some of it is backed up by general obligation bonds,” said Diers. “If everything works the way we think it will work, we wouldn’t need those general obligation dollars.”

Mark Wicks, chairman of the Broadband Commission, summarized the potential need for a general obligation bond.

“That’s our collateral because we don’t have a municipal utility. The bond will be our collateral that we hope to never use,” said Wicks.

The commission is scheduled to meet again at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, to discuss Dean’s final report.