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3. IAC Minutes 12 15 2022 14727 209th St. N., Scandia, Minnesota 55073 Phone (651) 433-2274 | Fax (651) 433-5112 | www.cityofscandia.com CITY OF SCANDIA INTERNET ACTION COMMITTEE MINUTES Thursday, December 15, 2022, 6:30 p.m. Scandia Community Center, 14727 209th Street North Attendance: K.C. Douglas, Steve Collier, Bob Wilmers, Marschall Smith, John Carney. Also in Attendance: City Council Liaison Steve Kronmiller, and City Council Liaison Patty Ray. Interim City Administrator Anne Hurlburt, City Administrator Ken Cammilleri. Call to Order – The meeting was called to order by Chair Wilmers at 6:34pm. Approval of Agenda – Motion by Wilmers, seconded by Douglas, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried. Approval of Minutes from the August 18, 2022 meeting – Minutes for this meeting were unavailable in the meeting packet and were tabled for next meeting by unanimous consent. Wilmers provided an update from the last meeting in August and shared his last report to the City Council. Public Comments - No comments were offered. Internet Grant for Parks – Ray reported that Midco is contributing $3,500 for the playground project. Legislative and Intergovernmental Updates – The FCC has then issued new broadband service area maps. It was noted that the City should attempt to provide feedback to the Minnesota Broadband Development Office to improve the likelihood of having these corrections included in the amendment process. Midco 2022 Construction Project Update – The total number of service passings for 2023 has been amended by Midco to include 143 service passings rather than originally proposed 161 passings. This has not affected the number of passes agreed upon in the City’s 2022 grant agreement for this year’s buildout. The Committee agreed with this number of additional passes, the number of homes yet to be reached is estimated to be around 371. This year’s build is running behind schedule due to supply chain issues. In particular, Midco has been having difficulty obtaining fiber splicing materials, which they are in short supply on. It is anticipated that the remaining project build areas will be finished in the first quarter of next year. This delay is also impacting the 2021 City Grant for this build year, so the City Council will need to give consideration to amending the project completion date in the agreement. Scandia Internet Action Committee Draft Minutes December 15, 2022 Page 2 of 3 Frontier and Midco Grant Updates for 2023 Construction Season –Midco’s 2023 buildout area, excluding the delayed buildout area from 2022, will be concentrated on areas around Big Marine Lake. The project area is proposed to include 112 service passes with 44,000 ft lineal feet of service line. The project cost contribution breakdown is as follows: • $280,000 from Midco • $372,500 in Washington County Grant Contributions, (of which $112,000 was recently awarded) • $92,500 in requested City grant contribution. Total Project Cost - $745,000. Frontier’s Minnesota Border-to-Border Broadband Grant - Frontier was not awarded any grants for any of the areas it applied for, which included large areas of Scandia. As it turns out, the company was challenged on every one of its grant areas for proposed service. It appears that the weakness of their application may have been due to the fact that its proposed broad service area had way too much overlap with existing buildout of other ISPs. The Minnesota Long Driveway Grant – The Committee noted that the new state experimental program is a great resource to reach unserved areas that are considered in ‘served’ areas. Some homes may have drops located on or near their property but not have service. This is often due to a home’s distant setback from the service drop. At these greater distances, these service extensions end up being cost prohibitive for homeowners. The Minnesota Office of Broadband Development has announced two different applications for homes and businesses. Grant applications will be reviewed twice a year and will be placed into a reverse auction process why by ISPs will make bids to the state for the cost of buildout with the lost cost bid awarded the grant, which is 100% covered by the state up for $25,000 per grant request if the ISP meets the service requirement of 100 symmetrical speeds (or 100Mbps for both download and upload). Homes currently served by existing service that provides 25Mbps/3Mbps, (or speeds of 25 Mbps for download and 3 Mbps for upload), are not eligible for funding. (These speeds are FCC’s base standard and are generally only adequate for single devices and adversely affects the quality of streaming and other broadly used internet services.) However, a winning bid must. Wilmers reported that there are currently two interested applicants that have expressed their interest in obtaining this grant, and have been recently advised to sign up for this grant. Wilmers suggested that the Committee consider targeting areas of eligibility to promote this program. Committee discussed efforts to reach out to the community both through canvassing and an online survey. They agreed that additional information on the program could be made available at the City Office and on the City’s website. Kronmiller was requested to make use of City maps to determine practical grouped areas to target this outreach. Wilmers was tasked to seek the feedback from Midco on their thoughts on this program. Scandia Internet Action Committee Draft Minutes December 15, 2022 Page 3 of 3 Discussion of 2023 Budget Earmark for Broadband Buildout – The Committee acknowledged that the original $432,000, earmarked by the Council back in August at the Committee’s request, far exceeds what will be able to be utilized given the extent of the current planned construction for 2023, which will unlikely have opportunities to be increased since Midco’s is currently stretched. In a previous meeting of the City Council, a decision was made to reduce that amount to $225,000. However, only $92,500 is needed in grant funding for next year. Beyond this funding need, the Committee recommended that the City Council retain an additional $30,000 in the earmark for the committee to potentially utilize for the purposes of a study or additional programming. Motion by Wilmers, seconded by Carney to recommend the City Council amend the City’s Capital Budget earmark for broadband to $122,500, and recommend the City consider a grant agreement with Midco for $92,500. Motion carried. How Much Outside Money for Internet Expansion? (Kronmiller Question) – The Committee discussed what funding sources remain available from other governmental or other third-party sources. Items for Future Discussion – The Committee agreed to revisit the discussion on addressing the long driveway internet issue. Next Meeting – The committee noted that its next regular meeting will be held Thursday, January 19, 2023 at 6:30 PM at the Community Center. Wilmers noted that he will be out through January through March and will be unavailable. Adjournment – Motion by Wilmers, seconded by Collier, to adjourn the meeting at 8:55pm. Motion carried.