Staff Report - 04 18 24 Meeting1
Staff Report
Date of Meeting: April 18, 2024, City Council Meeting
To: IAC Chairman and Committee Members
From: Kyle Morell, City Administrator
Re: April Staff Report
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MidCo Project Updates
Elly Burroughs, Government Relations Manager, will attend the meeting via Zoom to discuss
Midco’s Border 2 Border Grant Application they are submitting during the current grant cycle
for work in Scandia. A map of the project area and a funding request have been included in the
packet. Midco is asking the City for $300,000, which fits into the Broadband funding allocation
within the 401 CIP Fund.
Frontier – Recent Communication
I met with Todd Kruse of Frontier earlier this month. He reiterated that Frontier would be happy
to work with the City on a BEAD grant once the parameters of the grant process are announced.
This will likely be in 2025.
CIP Committee Funding Request
Committee Chairman Wilmers attended the September 6, 2023, City Council Work Session to
advocate for the restoration of the IAC initial funding request for 2024 and 2025 of $250,000 per
year. The council was receptive to his comments, understanding the money is a placeholder for
future matching funds towards a large project using the newly released BEAD funds. Council is
looking for a revised funding request once the BEAD grant program requirements are known.
The 2024 budget was approved with the complete IAC funding request.
As we discussed at our March meeting, if no funding is needed in 2024, which it does not appear
to be, the allocation will be moved back to 2025 and 2026. We are committed to $92,000 for the
Big Marine Project, scheduled for payment in 2025. I have tentatively included the $300,000
funding request from Midco for 2026 and put the remaining funds into 2027.
Project Financing Spreadsheet Review
Councilmember Kronmiller has provided the Committee with an updated spreadsheet.
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IAC Charter Discussion
At the July IAC meeting, the Committee proposed changes to the IAC Charter, specifically to the
Purpose and Goals sections. The new language is updated and included in the attached Updated
Charter. Additional changes were proposed to the Goals and Task #1. Those changes are shown
on the IAC Charter Updates document.
Items For Future Discussion