06.h Mailing Postcards Publicizing Internet Line Extension ProgramSCANDIA
Staff Report
Date of Meeting: February 21, 2023
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Anne Hurlburt, Interim City Administrator
Re: Approve Mailing of Postcards Publicizing Internet Line Extension
Program
Action Requested:
Approve the mailing of postcards to approximately 436 residents to publicize the availability of
the state's new Broadband Line Extension Program.
Background:
At the February 1, 2023 meeting, Council member Kronmiller, liaison to the Internet Action
Committee, explained the state's new Broadband Line Extension Program. The purpose of the
program is to award grants to providers for the extension of existing broadband infrastructure to
unserved locations. Kronmiller said there are 350 homes in Scandia that are qualified as unserved
and fit the program parameters, and that homeowners need to register their address to the pool
where broadband service providers can bid to extend service to one or more of the addresses on
the list.
Kronmiller provided an example of a postcard mailing to explain the program and provides a QR
code to bring one to the DEED registration page, estimated to cost under a $1,000 to prepare the
postcards and mailing. The consensus of the Council was in favor of this outreach project to
communicate to unserved Scandia residents the ability to register to the state's Broadband Line
Extension Program.
Recommendation:
The Council should approve the mailing. Funds are available in the General Fund Administration
budget, line items 203 Printed Forms & Papers and 322 Postage.
Attachment: Line Extension Project Update, February 16, 2023 (Steve Kronmiller)
Line Extension Project Update for IAC
February 16, 2023
The purpose of the broadband line extension grant program is to award grants to eligible applicants in order to extend
existing broadband infrastructure to unserved locations. There are two basic types of Unserved addresses:
1. Long Driveways... Addresses with broadband services "in the street", but the cost to deliver service to the home
is cost prohibitive.
2. Unserved Areas... Addresses in areas with no broadband services, or with services that cannot achieve speeds of
at least 25Mbps download and 3Mbps upload.
At the December meeting of the IAC, members were asked to look for ways to identify areas that could leverage the
new Line Extension Project from DEED.
Several years ago, I developed a methodology to identify the broadband status (Served, Underserved, and Unserved) of
parcels in Scandia using publicly available resources. I used this same methodology and came up with information using
the Washington County Parcel Dataset dated 01/03/2023.
The following is a statistical summary of the information I recently gathered:
Year
Project Name
Vacant
Not Found
Unserved
Underserved
Served
Totals
2019
741
2019 Baseline
20
44
677
741
2020
255
2020 DEED 4
3
117
120
2020 DEED 1
39
39
2020 DEED 3
1
30
31
2020 DEED 5
1
28
29
2020 DEED 2
27
27
2020 MidCo Mallard
8
8
2020 MidCo Redeemed
1
1
2021
171
2021 Direct Aid
64
64
2021 RDOF
1
45
46
2021 DEED
1
1
24
26
2021 Other
13
13
2021 MiclCo Paris
12
12
2021 MidCo 239th
10
10
2022
143
2022 County Oakhill
45
45
2022 RDOF
37
37
2022 Direct Aid NW
30
30
2022 Direct Aid Scandia Trl
26
26
2022 RDOF Scandia Trl
5
5
2023
95
2023 County Big Marine
91
4
95
TBD
386
TBD
359
24
383
TBD RDOF
3
3
Totals
23
49
453
28
1,238
1,791
My research suggests the addressed identified as "Not Found" are likely the "Long Driveways" and the addresses
identified as "Unserved" are those in "Unserved Areas".
The two downsides to the Line Extension Program, as I see them, are:
There is no requirement from the State to notify Scandia which addresses are included in winning bids by
providers. As such, without cooperation from MidCo and Frontier, our effort to track this expansion's progress
will be limited.
2, Expansion speeds only need to achieve 100 megabits per second download and 100 megabits per second
upload. This is far better than current unserved speeds, but all MidCo customers in Scandia have gigabit speed
options.
Given these downsides, I would like the IAC to:
1. Ask the Council to mail postcards (see sample) to the 49 "Long Driveway" properties and to the 359 "Unserved
TBD" properties encouraging them to sign up for the Line Extension Program.
2. Reach out to MidCo and Frontier to let them know what we are doing; encourage them to bid on serving all the
properties that apply; and ask them to let us know any addresses they are awarded through this program.
Attachments.
A. MN Line Extension Program enabling legislation
B. Sample Postcard
A. MN Line Expansion Program enabling legislation:
116J.3951 BROADBAND LINE EXTENSION PROGRAM.
Subdivision 1. Program established. A broadband line extension grant program is established in the
Department of Employment and Economic Development. The purpose of the broadband line extension
grant program is to award grants to eligible applicants in order to extend existing broadband infrastructure
to unserved locations.
Subd. 2. Portal. No later than November 1, 2022, the department must develop and implement a portal on
the department's website that allows a person to report (1) that broadband service is unavailable at the
physical address of the person's residence or business, and (2) any additional information that the
department deems necessary to ensure that the broadband line extension grant program functions
effectively. The department must develop a form that allows the information identified in this subdivision
to be submitted on paper.
Subd. 3. Data sharing. (a) Beginning no later than six months after the date that the portal is implemented
and every six months thereafter, the department must send to each broadband service provider serving
Minnesota customers: (1) a list of addresses submitted to the portal under subdivision 2 during the previous
six months; and (2) any additional information that the department deems necessary to ensure that the
broadband line extension grant program functions effectively. The department must send the information
required under this section via email.
(b) No later than ten days after the date that the list in paragraph (a) is provided, a broadband service
provider may notify the department of any posted address at which the broadband service provider's
broadband service is available. The department must provide persons residing or doing business at those
addresses with contact information for:
(1) the broadband service provider with broadband service available at that address; and
(2) programs administered by government agencies, nonprofit organizations, or the applicable broadband
service provider that reduce the cost of broadband service and for which the persons may be eligible.
Subd. 4. Reverse auction process. (a) No later than ten days after the date that the notice requirement in
subdivision 3, paragraph (b), expires, the department must notify each broadband service provider that the
broadband service provider may participate in the reverse auction process under this subdivision. Within 60
days of the date that the notification is received, a broadband service provider may submit a bid to the
department to extend the broadband service provider's existing broadband infrastructure to a location where
broadband service is currently unavailable.
(b) A bid submitted under this subdivision must include:
(1) a proposal to extend broadband infrastructure to one or more of the addresses on the list sent by the
department to the broadband service provider under subdivision 3, paragraph (a), at which broadband
service is unavailable;
(2) the amount of the broadband infrastructure extension's total cost that the broadband service provider
proposes to pay;
(3) the amount of the broadband infrastructure extension's total cost that the broadband service provider
proposes that the department is responsible for paying; and
(4) any additional information required by the department.
(c) Financial assistance that the department provides under this section must be in the form of a grant
issued to the broadband service provider. A grant issued under this section must not exceed $25,000 per
line extension.
(d) Within 60 days of the date that the bidding period closes, the department must review the bids
submitted and select the broadband service provider bids that request the least amount of financial support
from the state, provided that the department determines that the selected bids represent a cost-effective
expenditure of state resources.
Subd. S. Line extension agreement. The department must enter into a line extension agreement with
each winning bidder identified under subdivision 4, except that the department may not enter into a line
extension agreement to serve any customer located within an area that will be served by a grant already
awarded by the department under section 116J.395.
Subd. 6. Contents of agreement. A line extension agreement under subdivision 5 must contain the
following terms:
(1) the broadband service provider agrees to extend broadband infrastructure to support broadband service
scalable to speeds of at least 100 megabits per second download and 100 megabits per second upload to
each address included in the broadband service provider's winning bid;
(2) the department agrees to pay the state's portion of the line extension cost in a grant issued to the
broadband service provider upon the completion of the broadband infrastructure extension to each address
in the broadband service provider's winning bid; and
(3) the winning bidder has an exclusive right to apply the grant to the cost of the broadband infrastructure
extension for a period of one year after the date that the agreement is executed.
B. SAMPLE POSTCARD:
Back
Front
IMPORTANT INTERNET EXPANSION INFORMATION FOR YOU
According to information from Scandia's Internet Action Committee, your
property may qualify to participate in the new Minnesota Broadband Line
Extension Program. This is a new program developed by the State of MN to
help fund expanding internet services into neighborhoods like yours.
Residential and business locations that are unserved (lack access to speeds of at
least 25Mbps download and 3Mbps upload) are encouraged to apply by scanning
the following QR Code and entering your information:
Your qualifying address is:
You can also request a paper form by calling 651-259-7610 or sending an email to:
DEED.broadband@state.mn.us
Questions about this mailer can be addressed by calling Scandia City Hall at 651-433-2274
or online at CityOfScandia.com
INTERNET ACTION COMMITTEE
14727 209TH STREET NORTH
SCANDIA, MN 55073
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m n n e s o e a