Broadband Authority Meeting   7/22/2020

comments and suggestions to the authority through the county's information technology.

This meeting is being recorded and will be made available on the county's website.

With that explanation, I will ask the board members to identify themselves and their current location in general terms as I call your name.

Bill Fritz.

I'm attending from my home.

Just to confirm, Trevor Henry is not available today.

And myself, I'm attending from my home up in Earlysville.

So with that, I have established that we have a quorum.

I'll call this meeting to order.

The first item we have on the agenda is to approve the agenda.

There has been already a suggestion for at least one or two changes in the new business section with regard to, currently we've got section A.

Before section A, I'd like to have a discussion of a couple of items with regard to the

Next meeting, which is going to be on August 26, which is also our annual meeting.

So you have a little point or two of business to conduct there.

And then with regard to the current Section A, which is Coronavirus Relief Fund, I believe we'd like to have that in closed session.

Am I correct?

Yes, sir.

You're correct.

I would like to point out that the agenda, for whatever reason, is not currently available on the website.

I just pulled it off the website a few minutes ago, Waldo.

So I may have a cached copy of an earlier version that did not.

This is just a notice of July 22nd regular meeting to be held in virtual format.

All right, then.

I'd like to move to approve the agenda.

Thank you.

I'll do a quick roll call.

Looks like we may have lost Donna.

Bill?

Aye.

Liz?

Yes.

Waldo?

Yes.

And I'm in favor as well.

So we'll mark that down as approved.

Mr. Secretary, are we correct in presuming that we don't have June 24th minutes because of the exigencies of your work prevented you from accomplishing this vital task?

That is correct.

Well, we will look forward to reading them at a future time.

And that brings us to the public comment section.

I'm typing a message in the chat for those people who would like to make their comment there, please do.

Is he a raised hand?

Oh, you do?

OK, good.

OK, Dan O'Day, would you like to post your comment in chat?

And I'll read it into the record for you.

I'll allow Mr. O'Day to talk.

Great.

Yes, sir.

State your name and your magisterial district, please.

Sure.

So my name is Dan O'Day.

I live on Green Creek Road.

I'm not sure what district that is.

I just want to start off by saying that I'm actually in the Yancey Community Center parking lot because this is the only place I get broadband, so thank you for making this available.

Although I do look forward to not having to drive over here in the future.

And so I have a request and then also a question.

My request, which I think I just heard a little bit about,

Is that the minutes be posted in a more timely manner?

Yeah, we're having a family party here in the parking lot.

So the minutes are really easy for me to load at home, but I can't watch the old videos.

So the minutes will be really helpful, though I do understand that it can be difficult to get them up.

Mike, do you have any insight on that?

There's two options with this.

The first is we have the CenturyLink representative as an attendee and if it's approved by the board and Derek's willing, he has a standard answer to that question, I'd like to ask him to answer it if possible.

Let's see if I can allow Derek to answer.

Derek, if you'll introduce yourself and then

if you're willing to, or you can chat with me and say you're not, but I'm pretty sure you're willing to answer this question.

It was a question that came up during our informational sessions about the project.

Okay.

I am.

Derek Kelly, Government Affairs Director with CenturyLink.

And typically with our fiber projects for the most part, they will turn up at one time.

So our Green Creek area would all turn up at one time.

So even though the fiber

may go past your house until we actually get all the electronics turned up and get everything programmed.

We sort of launch it section at a time.

Some of the projects, we're in eight areas of the county, but I think it's gonna be a total of 13 projects.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you a lot, Derek.

Thanks for jumping in there.

Are there any other public comments?

I think it is lovely that we have so many people attending who are not here to provide comment.

They just want to watch what we're doing.

Very good.

Bucky, just for everyone to be aware, Liz came in late on this, that Supervisor

Price is actually on audio, but she's not on video.

But if you look at attendees, Donna is listening to the discussion, but she's not able currently to be connected in terms of video.

Thank you very much.

Oh, in Q&A?

I got you.

Good question.

I'll answer it live, Eric.

Thanks for asking your question, Eric.

If you go to www.albemarle.org slash broadband,

There's a button at the very top of that page which provides you with the updated frequently asked questions for the CenturyLink projects.

So if you have problems with that link, you can also email me at mculp, m-c-u-l-p, at albemarle.org.

But you'll find the listing of those projects in that frequently updated, thanks to Derek and others, updated frequently asked questions about the projects.

So I'm going to move on to old business item 5a, the body 2020, which is CenturyLink project status.

Yes.

Glad to provide the update, chair.

I'm very happy to announce we finished our five informational sessions.

So we had over 70 people participate from around the county and listen in while Derek and I bantered back and forth about

things that CenturyLink is doing to make this project, this fiber project for the county successful.

838 locations will be passed by all before March of 2021.

So we're on our way in a good spot and I think we got a great reaction from the community.

Of course, everyone wants everything to happen immediately and so do we.

So we're working our best to get that done.

well on schedule, not running into any problems.

So that's my update for the CenturyLink 2020 VADI projects.

Can I take any questions?

There's eight basic project locations.

There's Watts Passage.

which is up in the northern section.

There's Buffalo Hills which is also up in the northern section near Advance Mills.

And then in the southern section, we have projects going on in Hatton Ferry, Colesville Road, Scottsville Road, also going down all the way to Howardsville.

And then Green Creek Road sort of in the southwest part of the county.

So lots of different areas, lots of great rural

communities that will be served by this project.

OK, thank you, Chair.

Another update, just a brief one.

We submitted the broadband authority.

I submitted on behalf of the broadband authority the notice to apply.

It was a requirement that DHCD

I have to mention again, every time I talk about BODI, I have to mention that this is a state program through the Department of Housing and Community Development.

And we're very thankful for their efforts to make sure the rural areas of the Commonwealth are served.

So the funding comes to the state, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors match in some cases, the funding that the state gives.

and then we have these successful projects.

So just to point out, there's a contribution that comes from the state, a contribution provided through the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and then the partner ISPs provide the service as well as their own monetary input to the projects.

So 2021, unfortunately, you know, I'll start with the bad news.

Unfortunately, the original budget for VADI 2021 was 35 million.

It dropped

to 19, so we have 19 million at the Commonwealth level.

Clearly there is at least 20% more notices of intent, so that gives you an idea.

Last year we were fortunate to be in the top 12 of 48 applications that came through.

So there were clearly more than 30 applications that came through last year that were not funded.

So we've been successful all four years of VADI.

2021 is going to be highly competitive.

One of the reasons I say that is because there's 59 notices of intent.

There's a couple of additions that have been brought forward in BODI 2021, which makes it difficult because we've been successful, meaning it's going to be more highly competitive for Albemarle this year because what they're looking for are a continuous number of serviceable units.

Applications will be scored higher based on the number of serviceable units that are either in total or in contingent come through in your application.

So I'm trying to be as optimistic as possible, but our notice of intent is in there along with the other 56 plus.

So we're going to continue to work on that.

We've been fortunate in that more than one ISP has shown interest.

That's a really great offer, Chair.

I think it's one of the benefits of having done this three or four times, well, this will be the fifth time, is lots of great material.

I think one of the,

Make sure everyone aware, especially those people on the call, is none of this is possible without commitments from the communities.

The communities have helped a lot.

I'm not really answering your question.

I think that the best thing that's going to be that the broadband authority will be able to help me with is just all the administrative things that may have to happen.

Typical things may be validating and making sure that the broadband authority's budget can be supported by the applicants or partnerships.

That's usually where we get a little bit hung up, but I think we'll make it through.

Yes, good point.

I like the question and it entirely depends on the number of partners that come forward and indicate that they would like to partner with us.

The reason that I say that is in that particular case, if we're dealing with one or more, well, if we're dealing with two or more potential partners, I think it's justified and recommended that the board of directors for the broadband authority go through each of those applicants' proposals and make strong determinations one way or another what the broadband authority will commit as match.

In other words,

We don't want to go forward and have one person make a determination on funding without multiple eyes looking through and understanding the request that's come in from the ISPs.

I think I answered that question.

My next question would be, would it make sense at this time to pencil in a meeting time so we can hold the spot against the need?

and what would that date be?

I'm checking my calendar just to, you know, so the 17th is a Monday.

Right.

So let me put it to the board members, and I'll pull you one at a time.

Of the 12th, 13th, and 14th, which days would you be available?

Sorry, I apologize.

I was trying to get my calendar when you called my name.

That's all right.

or the 14th would be better for me.

Okay, thank you.

Bill?

I can only attend on the 14th.

This would be at 5 o'clock.

Actually, the only 5 o'clock time I have right now is the 12th.

I'd have to not show if I did the 14th, I just

have to be late for a meeting if we could get it done.

I'll pencil that down and we'll see what goes.

Waldo?

I'm in an all-day meeting on the 12th which will be terrible.

Trevor's not here.

I'm retired so you know all these days are good for me.

So with that said, let me propose the 14th at five o'clock as something we just pencil into our calendars as a potential meeting time against reviewing and approving anything that needs to be done with this year's body submissions.

Okay, what was the time?

Oh, no, that's quite all right.

I'm sorry, Donna.

Okay, so that was, I think, great, great to get that underway.

And let's be

Optimistic that it will be a beneficial meeting.

I think last year we had a similar meeting.

So yes, I won't remind people what happened at that meeting, but we did come out with a great applicant.

One of our applicants fell off the plate at that final meeting before the deadline.

That's probably it, yes sir.

Okay, so the request for proposals closed on June 30th and because of confidentiality needs through our procurement office, I'm not able to mention the

Submitters, I can say that we received three formal submittals as well as three informal submittals, either a no bid or this is what we plan to do with VODI, et cetera, et cetera.

So in addition to the receipt of those proposals, a technology committee was formed and we reviewed all of the materials and proposed a highly qualified vendor.

In the process of doing that, the purchasing department agreed and a case came up where because of actions by the Board of Supervisors to allocate what are called coronavirus relief funds provided to the county through the CARES Act, there was a determination that it's possible that those funds could be utilized to support the proposal that came in

as a highly qualified vendor.

With that notice, we need to work on this in a confidential manner until we have what is called a notice of intent to award.

Exactly.

You are correct.

That would be my signal for that.

Yes, I do.

I do.

It's something that I've mentioned in our little ad hoc committee to review the RFP, but that I think warrants mention when we're not in that closed session.

And that's this.

God bless, Mike, for coming to us earlier in the year and saying, you know, I have an idea.

We should issue this RFP thing.

We discussed it.

We moved forward with it.

And it turned out just due to happenstance.

that the timing was perfect relative to being able to move quickly to respond to really, really urgent needs both educationally of getting kids able to actually participate in school remotely and employment to be able to rapidly work on this.

and then also relative to CARES Act funding on a federal level coming down to the state and becoming available to Albemarle County.

If Mike had not come to us with that when he did and said, I have an idea, we would have been reacting to this now.

and we could never possibly move fast enough to provide anybody with anything approaching timely benefits in the way of expanding broadband.

I am really happy with how this has gone.

I'll be able to say more about my happiness once we get this awarded and so on or in closed session.

But I just want to make real clear that we did something new, something novel, something a little bit risky and I'm really happy with how it's gone and I think we should all be very proud of how well that's gone and I just want to offer here my sincere thanks to Mike.

for moving forward something, something nervy that I hope Albemarle and you get credit for on a statewide level for doing something that is not normal.

You're not just applying for state or federal grants.

You're doing a totally new thing, and it's going to do a lot of people a lot of good.

Yeah, thanks for the encouragement from everybody.

I appreciate that.

Thank you for that, Waldo.

As they say, fortune favors the prepared.

So good time to be prepared.

Very good.

Then the updated broadband strategy plan, that's been around a couple of times for folks to look at and provide feedback to.

I think the last version was circulated.

Mike shared it with the folks at DHCD to get their comments.

And otherwise,

Yes, exactly.

So we're in good shape.

Great work, everybody, on getting that strategy plan together.

And as we finalize, we'll post it for public view.

It should be something that the public in general is able to view.

Now I'd just like to call up again for attendees to follow.

We're discussing this is relatively high level document, but like, why do we exist?

What are we doing here?

What are our goals?

What are our criteria?

And to make sure not just that it matches reality, but that we're shooting high.

And I'm really glad we did that.

And I think one of the best things that came out of the discussion last week that's reflected in the changes in this document was Trevor Henry saying, we say nothing about equity in this.

We need to talk about equity because it's not enough to run a wire to the road in front of somebody's house and say, now you have an internet connection.

We can do more, and we need to do more like that, and that should be reflected in our goals.

No, it's clearly a case where many people have created a better document than just one person could.

With that said, I would like to formalize this as our strategy plan so that we can use it in body applications and use it ourselves as a driving item for us.

Accepting the edit that we can take out the nod to 10.1 is really something nobody thinks is sufficient, which would be my suggestion.

We just make the technical editing that's required to take those references out.

I'd like to propose this for

for a vote unless there's further discussion on the strategy plan.

I didn't know there's a distinction.

Usually when you're talking about an organization developing a five-year view of where it's going, you refer to that as a strategic plan.

A strategy plan is basically how you're gonna play a game and what the various strategies are gonna be for.

Thank you, Liz.

I'll second that.

Let me do a roll call here and see if we can get this through.

Donna?

Aye.

Bill?

Yes.

Waldo?

Yes.

And I vote yes as well.

The motion carries.

We have a broadband strategic plan.

I'll edit it up with the minor changes we've just discussed and send that around for everyone to make sure I haven't dropped an I or a period or something like that somewhere.

And then we'll get that posted.

Fantastic.

So that's gotten us all the way through old business.

It takes us to new business.

and I guess maybe potentially not our next meeting now is the first thing on new business, but the next scheduled meeting is our annual meeting.

And as we are always required to do at the annual meeting, we will elect officers for the organization.

So I know personally, I think usually it's chairman that sees the most contest, but this year I think secretary will be the one everyone's going for.

So I expect to see a lot of reshuffling of the deck and folks spreading their wings and trying new things.

No holds barred.

And I look forward to a very healthy discussion on that topic.

We also have a sort of an obligation to review and renew our rules of procedure.

I have found some things in the rules of procedure that I would like to see changed.

like Putin, it didn't seem clear that I could be chairman for life so I wanted to fix, no, no, no, more specifically, I wanted to adapt what we're doing to the current environment that we're in, what the rules say about virtual meetings and those kinds of things.

We need to catch up a little bit and Richie has drafted a notice of a motion to amend the rules of procedure and I'd like to turn the mic over to Mr. DeLoria.

All right, well, Bucky, thank you.

And I can circulate the written notice, but according to our rules, if the rules or procedure are going to be changed at a meeting, we have to give one meeting's notice.

And so this is the notice.

I'll also

just mentioned that our rules provide for the suspension of rules.

So if someone comes up with another amendment or change that they want to discuss at the annual meetings, I think that could be circulated and we could suspend the rules and hopefully we could do it all in one meeting rather having to put it off.

That being said, at any point along the way, if a member

wants to change a rule at any time.

We can give notice one meeting in advance and so we can do it at the next meeting.

This is a good time to do it just because at each meeting we always readopt the rules so that we don't have to go back over a full number of years of amendments trying to figure out what the rules say.

So we adopt them every year and so we have a fresh set of rules.

That being said, this is the notice that at the next meeting, the August 26th annual meeting, that there has been proposed three amendments to the rules.

So the first proposal is to amend the second rule, which deals with the attendance.

And what we want to do is we want to add the provision

that a member who remotely participates in a regular meeting by electronic communication is not deemed to be absent under this rule.

Right now if normally if you attend because you have a business obligation out of town or you have a personal matter that keeps you from the meeting and also if you have a medical condition that keeps you from the meeting, if you participate

by electronic communication you would deem to be absent.

And of course, there's a limited number of absences you can have in any year.

So the plan is not to hold electronic participation against you.

The other thing is a recognition that down the road we hope that the General Assembly will kind of broaden the scope of electronic participation.

I know generally speaking it seems to be more convenient for one, for people to be able, the public to be able to participate, but also for the members to be able to participate from home or some other remote location.

So that's the first proposed amendment.

The second one is an amendment to rule three, subsection F, which speaks to the terms of office.

Right now, everyone is, actually it speaks to the terms of office of the officers.

And so we have four officers, we have a chair, we have a vice chair, which Bucky pointed out the code doesn't speak to, but I think it's,

It's our prerogative to have a vice chair for obvious reasons.

Also a secretary and a treasurer.

What's not clear, particularly with the secretary and the treasurer, is they do not have to be members of the authority.

If they are members of the authority for that reason, it's a question as to whether

If a member of the authority vacates office for any reason, whether that office as secretary or treasurer or even vice chair for that matter, would continue past that vacation.

So it's recommended and suggested that we amend it to say that the term

The term of office of any authority member so serving shall end to be deemed vacated when the member's term ends or third authority membership is deemed vacated for any reason.

So if there's a chair, vice chair, secretary, treasurer, and that goes along with membership, if the membership on the board ends, then that office also would be vacated.

And it doesn't mean that that person couldn't be later elected to be secretary or treasurer

I don't think they'd be eligible to be chair or vice chair, but certainly that would be an option down the road.

The final suggested amendment, which is kind of just to anticipate the General Assembly broadening our authority to conduct electronic meetings is essentially to proactively accept or adopt

any of those changes.

And so what's suggested in terms of remote electronic participation is the addition of a new section, it would be subsection F, and it would read that this Rule 8 is an adoption of Virginia Code Section 2.2-3708.2 subsection A and B, and is restated to fulfill the written policy requirement and for convenience.

Future amendments to statutory provisions related to the conduct of meetings by remote electronic means are hereby incorporated mutatis butandis, which is Latin for in full, without requiring formal action of the authority.

And so what that would do is if the General Assembly says, hey, look, you guys can do electronic meetings, then we can do it.

And those are the three suggested changes.

So that would be on the agenda for the August 26th meeting.

And also that is the, as Bucky said, that's the meeting where we elect officers for the next year.

So to keep that all in mind.

I would say if anyone has any other suggested changes to the rules to just go ahead and shoot them off to me and then I can circulate that.

And if we get notice out and hopefully we'll be able to take care of all those on the 26th.

When are those going to be sent out, Richie?

I can send them out.

I can send those out today.

And I just apologize.

I'm not hiding the ball.

That's fine.

I just wanted to know if they were coming out next week, week after, or something like that.

They'll come out this evening.

Fantastic.

Is there anything else pertinent to the next meeting before we move on to a closed session?

And given that we have nothing on the agenda after the closed session, I don't expect we'll come back.

Well, we'll come back.

We'll come out of closed session, but we don't have any other business scheduled after that.

So for anyone else who's listening online.

With that said,

Mike, do you have that?

I do.

Chair, I can read it into the record.

Have it right available if you think.

Great.

Okay.

I move that the Albemarle County broadband authority go into closed meeting as authorized by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act section 2.2-3711A of the Code of Virginia under subsection 6 to discuss and consider

the investment of public funds for broadband deployment within the county where bargaining is involved and where if made public initially would adversely affect the financial interest of the county, subsection 29 to discuss and consider the award of public contracts involving the expenditure of public funds

and discussion of terms or scope of such contracts where discussions in open session would adversely affect the authorities bargaining position or negotiating strategy, subsection 33 to discuss and consider confidential proprietary information and trade secrets subject to the exclusion of subdivision 19 of the Virginia Code section 2.2-3705

and subsection 39 to discuss and consider information subject to the inclusion in subdivision 3 of section 2.2-3705.6 related to economic development.

Specifically these discussions and considerations will pertain to

CRF-2, a project involving the expenditure and investment of federal CARES Act fund and confidential proprietary information related to broadband deployment in Albemarle County.

That feels like on NPR's What Do You Know when they have an audience member read the disclaimer.

Thank you, Liz.

I'll second your motion.

Let me, assuming there's no discussion, let me run down a roll call and collect everyone's votes.

Donna?

Aye.

Liz?

Yes.

Waldo?

Yes.

Trevor's still not here and I'll vote yes.

Yes, I'm reiterating what Waldo said to everyone who attended.

Thank you for taking time out and listening in to our broadband authority meeting.

And again, it's the community effort that's making all this happen.

So I really want to thank your involvement and keep sending us broadband reports.

So have a great evening, everybody.

I'm going to remove you from the meeting.

I was never a bouncer.

I would never want to be one either.

I'd let everybody in.

You know what I mean?

I'd be very ineffective.

But anyway, I wonder if people keep joining back.

I don't know if that's possible.

I guess I have to keep a watch on this in order for it to be officially closed.

Mike, I will be leaving since I'm not part of the board.

Oh, you're welcome to stay.

So I just I'm actually I've never done this.

So I think there's a I think there's a but I don't know what button it would be to prohibit people or to block the attendees.

I actually have a copy of that.

Yeah, I've got that.

Oh, whoops.

Hey, Bucky, I need to also say something.

Oh, OK.

Very good.

I will be quick.

Okay, all right, so I've successfully done the work.

Yeah, and then I have to quickly remove them.

So I've got a dual role here, making sure we continue to be in closed session.

Right.

Exactly.

OK. Yeah.

We're learning.

Yeah.

I do.

I think.

I'm sharing my screen so you guys can see a PowerPoint.

I'm gonna try to quickly go through it.

So you should now see my preamble, right?

Yes, I hope so, okay.

A lot of this is going to be small, so bear with me.

Some of the texts will be a little bit small.

Hey, Mike, one quick thing.

I'm still recording, thank you.

Do I need to stop?

I probably do.

Yes.

Okay, let me do that.

Yeah, sorry, I'm working as fast as I can.

Yeah, sorry about that.

I'm nervous about Liz's time.

I'm working towards stop share.