Chesterfield County, Virginia Excerpts from Board of Supervisors meetings, 28 Jun 2023

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From YouTube: Broadband Update - BOS Meeting - June 28, 2023

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Deputy County Administrator for Community Operations, Clay Bowles presented an update the Board of Supervisors on the status of the County's broadband coverage initiative.

A

A

Good afternoon, Mr chairman members of the board and Dr Casey. Thank you for this opportunity to give you a short update on the County's Broadband initiative, happy to report that Chesterfield has received a grant of over 755 thousand dollars from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development through their Virginia telecommunications initiative or vati to create Universal Broadband in the county.

A

I would note that the County's application was the second highest scoring in the process this year, which really ultimately means that we presented a very solid business case to to earn this award or this grant award just before I'd go any further, introduce some folks who are joining me. Scott Fuhrman, who is our acting CIO Mike Pond. If you're right who's, our infrastructure, division manager, they'll, be the the county leads on this project: Tom Ennis from All Points broadband and David Walker from Dominion Energy, also in the back, our friend James Beasley.

A

So welcome to everybody here and uh bring have them at the table here to answer any questions you may have along the way. This really is truly a partnership with vati the county, all points and Dominion Energy. All being a critical part of of this effort, um so this map shows a high level scope of the project. In short, the areas in green currently don't have access to broadband, which amounts to 494 Parcels homes and businesses.

A

County-Wide. The the majority of the unserved areas are in the Matoaca District 406 of the total amount, with some of the locations 80 in Bermuda, seven in Midlothian and one in the Dale District.

A

I would note that you know the primary goal of this project is to ensure availability of broadband, but property owners are ultimately under no obligation to make make any connections. They can make the decision that that is best and makes the most sense for them.

A

um So the the methodology of the project- uh the heart of this- is really to create a middle mile network uh in Partnership again with Dominion, um who, who does the middle mile piece and all points who constructs the The Last Mile uh developing this middle mile, which you see in Blue on the on the image, brings the infrastructure necessary to expand the existing internet networks closest to the unserved or underserved communities um in in this case, the use of of Dominion's energy grid gives them an opportunity to bring Network fiber to that grid.

A

To help in meeting modernization mandates um with this middle Mile in place. All points can now cost in a cost-effective way, create that last mile, which is shown in yellow to connect more people to uh reasonably priced high-speed internet uh on the funding side, Chesterfield's 1.3 million dollar investment in this project allows us to secure just a little under 12 million in in funding from our partners.

A

uh The the vati grant, as I said, uh is 700 and a little over 755 000 or about six percent of the project, uh with the County's contribution being a little less than 10 percent and uh all points in Dominion funding. 41 and 43 percent, respectively.

A

um So a little on uh the timeline of the project and Milestones as we go forward. This will be a lengthy effort and is expected to take anywhere from 24 to 36 months, to complete uh early on we're going to be formally requesting your approval to accept and appropriate the grant at the July meeting. You know, pursuant to any uh uh required contracts and agreements that are that are necessary to for the grant uh from there.

A

All points begins to refine the preliminary design that they developed as part of the grant submission which uh will ultimately turn into construction documents and also, at the same time, and on a parallel path. Dominion initiates, SCC approval that that they have to obtain for the project.

A

um During this. During all these phases, there will be Community engagement, meetings to educate citizens on the project and the services that will be available. We can do. We can do as many meetings as we as we need to and in whatever locations we need to to be sure all the information is available to the public.

A

Following this, the the the major step is the installation of that middle mile by dominion and, as I mentioned earlier, there'll be utilizing their existing grid to do this, and it's really a win-win for them to to modernize that infrastructure and also allow for Broadband to to advance through that.

A

um All Points then completes the last mile installation which ultimately culminates in the service being available to those who want to subscribe.

A

um I would before I close I will just mention too, that I think everybody probably saw the announcement uh earlier in the week about over about 1.4 billion dollars of of federal funding for projects of of the same nature, we will be taking a look at what the that uh those grants entail and determine feasibility of securing additional funding.

A

Perhaps that might be able to be used for closing wireless coverage gaps, but really not a tremendous amount of information is available about those dollars yet and we'll be be looking at that a little more closely as the as that information becomes available.

A

With that happy to take any questions, the subject matter, experts at the table are also here to uh to assist with any questions you may have.

B

Clay, I have a question, so um if you go back to the last mile slide, that shows the yellow going from the blue line to the house itself. So what will the homeowner who may live out in this area that does not have Broadband at the house now?

B

What will their responsibility be to pay to have a line serviced from the where it's available out at the road to the house, because I think some of it has to do with the fact that, especially in the rural parts of of Chesterfield, that some of the houses sit way off the road and the reason in some cases that they haven't actually hooked up to the Internet is because of the it was an enormous cost to run the line, all the way back to the house. So does this deal with that in any way.

A

Let Tom take that question sure.

C

I'm happy to answer that so, as you mentioned today, if a homeowner lives very far off the road or if there's no cable running down that road, they ask for Internet service and it's not uncommon to get an install price of eight thousand dollars. Twelve thousand dollars things that you know sound outrageous.

C

So for for us the way we build the network, the yellow line will include terminals where, where a homeowner will connect the air cable into the main line and up to 500 feet, the homeowner would pay 199 dollars and for a year after they are eligible to sign up any distance beyond that is also covered by the grant funding. So um it's a huge cost savings for the homeowner.

C

Now, if we say your standard installation, sir, is going to be aerial and we connect to the electric poles to get to your home. That's a standard, install and if you say you want it underground and you want to go around the back of the house and you know Skip the azaleas you're going to get a special construction charge for that. But if you follow what we say is a standard install it's 199 bucks and for the first year afterwards, we also waive any of the long drop costs.

C

Today, after that 500 feet, we we typically charge about two dollars a foot. So if you have a really long driveway that does add up, but compared to the kind of opaque made up out of thin air costs that the homeowner sees today, it's two dollars a foot, it's very transparent, very good deal.

B

So what you're talking about is if it goes on a poll as it goes back through the network back to the house, what if they've sit so far off the road that they don't have any polls going back.

C

Right so a lot of the drops have combined aerial and underground, and if that's the case and that's how they get their electric service, then aerial to underground for them would be standard even even underground. So.

B

2.5 199 and two dollars a foot: yes, sir, okay, I'm, I'm gonna get these calls.

C

I promise you you will um because you know: on the one hand, it does sound too good to be true, but that's the whole point of this Virginia telecommunications Grant initiative.

C

um You know if we serve everyone, we can, you know, include the high cost locations and some of the lower cost ones. um That's the the point of the program.

B

um I'll have another comment: go ahead and Miss Dingle. Thank you. Next I.

D

Just want to say from that comment, I hear very clearly that you want to sign up in the first year, especially if you live a mile off the road.

C

You certainly would uh we, you know we'll we'll, encourage people to pre-register on the website. Sign up for notifications, um We're, Not, Gonna, gonna, know or inform folks about until about 90 days before they can actually sign up for service. But once that point hits they're going to get mailers they're going to see yard signs, they're going to get emails, we want people to sign up. We want people to participate in the program and speaking of participation.

C

Another program we really want to push is: there's a 30 a month discount, not just for all points, but for basically any internet service provider. Homeowners can go to. Affordableconnectivity.Gov could meet a couple of criteria. They get basically no strings attached 30 a month off. That's a program not just for all points, but for all your constituents.

B

What was that website again, affordable.

C

Connectivity.Gov, it's part of the I believe it's part of the infrastructure act related to the program you mentioned.

B

Dr Miller: do you have a comment.

E

uh Just a question: um you kind of alluded to it in a second, so it sounds like um they will be able to connect to the internet service provider. Well, they have multiple choices for which who they can sign up for or with.

C

They will have multiple choices of the service level from All Points.

E

Can you give me a sense of who that would be yeah.

C

They would be signing up with all points well event for their internet service. Okay and.

E

Then, with, if we show them from there are they are they connecting so you're going to be the internet service.

C

The internet service provider, uh we can help folks kind of cut the cord and recreate their content bundle or you know, use Netflix or an Amazon fire. Stick. We provide the broadband and it's up to the homeowner. You know they can use it. However, they see fit.

A

But Dr Matt I think uh Tom there there will be varying levels of service right within All Points, so varying levels of cost, varying levels of speed and service right.

C

And and when we initially start the program, uh the highest service level will be a gigabit up and down um pretty standard these days, but the the network is designed to scale to 10 gigabits in each Direction uh with very little upgrades, so you know we're making a multi-decade investment. This needs to meet demand. You know 15 years from now,.

F

Mr chairman I'll, just make one comment: if I may and that's you know it's it's uh really apropos to have this after the equity discussion, because I mean connecting everyone in the county to high-speed internet is important. It connects them to information and gives everybody a Level Playing Field to um to participate in the modern economy. So I just say thank you to all of you who are involved with putting this together. It's a big deal for a lot of people, and we appreciate it.

G

Certainly I appreciate the information. I think this is very important. Are there other ways you can sign up versus online, such as? Is there a phone number.

F

G

What is the time and duration of execution to get this done?.

C

uh So two things one: uh our customer service team is very experienced in handling customers who have not had Broadband before. Okay, our mission is to bring Broadband to unserved communities. uh We call our customer service team, you know they're digital Navigators, they're, helping.

E

C

Sign up for Broadband for the first time, okay! So while we do push the website, you can do it over the phone. Okay, um so.

G

C

Walk you through it or the customer support rep will fill it out for you on the phone um and number two for.

G

Them time and thereof, yes,.

C

The timing, as clay mentioned it'll, be 24 to 36 months. Okay. Here we have two uh parallel programs going on the All Points section and then the Dominion State Corporation Commission petition. uh They were kind of run in parallel.

C

The all points. Last mile fiber that's going to be very late in the in the 24 to 36 month window. The goal is not to have all 494 people with internet by the end of the program. It's just that they could sign up. Okay and it'll. Take you know a year or two, maybe even three years before enough of those people actually sign up for the service.

C

G

And I think it would be important for us to be apprised of of the process and sign up. You know the progress thereof, so that we can make sure that everyone has an opportunity, because sometimes we someone can miss out and we don't want that to happen. We want to make sure that everyone is included included, as we talked about early inclusion and include it I think it's very important and considered in this regard. So thank you for that.

G

We appreciate it and we look forward to, uh of course bringing this to make sure the county is connected, and this is critical important uh nowadays, as you're well know for educational purposes, uh primarily.

B

E

B

The other thing that's important for the community to know is that there you know we learned in covert that there were a lot of people in Chesterfield County whose children could not participate uh remotely in school because they didn't have internet access and we had to come up with many other different ways, including hot spots, to make that work, and so by identifying these households in the community that don't have the opportunity and trying to at least come up with the way that they have a chance to get.

B

It I think it's extremely important, not just from the uh certainly from the equity and diversity side, but I mean just from plain fairness for everybody in the community and and so I think it's going to be great. I really do um I do have one last question. So when you talk about your the blue line, so we'll say that you have a house uh that is currently on a roadway. It's I see this one that's been identified here out in the country and, quite frankly, I.

B

Don't think that there's any other I don't think that there's any other ISP service out there and so you're all going to have to run your line on on either South Side, electric poles or Dominion polls even to get it out there before they can even run. That last mile. Is that right? Yes,.

C

B

All right, great, that's a lot of good information. Anybody else, I.

D

Did have one last question: do you know if that middle line will run everywhere or just to the areas that this Grant's trying to serve, and will you also be able to connect people that have other options not under this grant, but to your service.

C

Yes, so the the Blue Line in the diagram, so it overall between all points in Dominion, we're building about 185, 190 miles total of fiber and some of those miles May overlap where we under build Dominion, but, generally speaking, the blue lines are going. We have to go from a served area to an unserved area. Most of the yellow lines will be in an existing unserved area. Once the the grant is closed out, all the locations in the grant are eligible to sign up and we've closed out the grant.

C

There is enough capacity in the network to offer some competing services along the Route.

H

The blue so we're connecting substations.

H

Sorry is that better, so our goal was connecting substations and devices modernizing the grid, but then we also are focused on those. The other Maps show those last mile polygons that we'll focus on trying to get middle mile service to and then they would take it from there. So we we won't just put fiber everywhere, it'll, be very strategic and there's a lot of dialogue between our companies to understand all right. We need to go from point A to point B to serve those customers, so hopefully that helps.

B