March 8, 2010
GCN committee meeting minutes
March 8, 2010
Approved July 28, 2010
Committee members present: Fritz (chair), Paul Berry
Committee members absent: Rachel Parks
Others present: Nate Borson
Meeting called to order: 5:05
Agenda:
Old Business
1. Community-Wide Broadband Project
a. Ask city for loan from reserves to build the project?
b. Solicit proposals for privatization?
c. Wait for possible regional solution from Sealion/Rivada?
d. Other ideas?
New Business
1. Public comment on non agenda items
2. State of the net report
3. FY2011 Budget and work plan
Approval of March 25th, 2009 Minutes
Motion by Paul, second by Fritz, to add to the agenda approval of the March 25th, 2009 minutes. Motion passed.
Correction of March 29th meeting minutes by Nate: The wrong year was on the motion to approve the minutes, should be 2008. Minutes corrected.
Motion by Paul, second by Fritz, to adopt the corrected minutes. Motion passed.
Agenda item 1:
Nate does not think our chances are good for re-applying to the 2nd round of BIN/BTOP grants and is not proposing we do that.
In terms of public vs private ownership:
Public advantage: lowest possible cost
Public disadvantage: slow to happen
Private party disadvantage: Need a higher return to justify investment
In all scenarios the tower needs to be built. City ownership of the tower is important for justifying it being on public land and getting the best deal for Gustavus Electric. Also provides for tower use by GVFD.
If a private party provides broadband they would lease the tower from the City.
The tower project needs an RFQ for purchase and installation by April 1st.
Discussion regarding what would be necessary for a proposal to the council for spending the $20,000 originally provided by the City in ordinance FY10-02NCO, a local match for the BTOP grant, for use in tower construction.
How much of the $20,000 is needed for the tower? $10,000 should be enough.
The $10,000 could be repaid IF the City takes on building the broadband network/ public ownership.
The first decision is: Do we go with plan A which is go ahead and build what was specified in the recent BIN/ BTOP grant with City $ or is it to wait until something like the possible regional solution from Sealion/Rivada comes up?
If it is plan A Then the decision is between public or private funding– who will own it?
If it's public ownership, where does the $ come from? City reserves, endowment (though a ballot proposition), grant sources, bank loan?
Public ownership: Completing plan A is essential for providing broadband and repaying the investment. Completing plan A will take $140,000.
If this is done with City money, the City will be repaid 6-12 years.
If providing broadband is by private $ then any investment in completing the tower will not be pre-paid.
If providing broadband is by private $ then there will need to be a RFP/ RFQ for the proposal.
Motion by Fritz, seconded Paul, that GCN remain in public ownership. Motion passed.
Motion by Fritz, seconded by Paul, that the City fund the broadband project through either the city reserve, the endowment or through grants.
Next agenda item:
No public comments.
Nate's state of the net report:
Income and expenses are on track with the budget. See attached budget report.
62 subscribers (incl. City Hall & Library) includes 20 broadband. 42 lifeline/ dial-up.
Supplying twice as much data to our customers as one year ago – this works well for our T1 circuit but would not have worked so well through the satellite link.
Discussed proposal for connecting Bartlett Cove residences to GCN.
See attached State of the Net report for details.
Budget:
Motion by Paul, seconded by Fritz to adopt the GCN budget drafted by Nate with amendments.
Motion by Paul, seconded by Fritz, to adjourn. 8:05 PM
