Photo by Joanne Beck
After what he considered to be an extensive search for funding of unserved county Broadband customers, County Manager Matt Landers put forth a resolution Tuesday to move forward with a two-year, $6.6 million plan to fulfill more than 700 “address points” and close the gap of internet service across Genesee County.
A contract for high-speed internet access could alleviate issues for everything from, according to legislators, students when relegated to doing homework by computer in cyber dead zones, to entrepreneurs trying to make a living conducting business at home.
“I’m still negotiating and having discussions with state officials trying to find outside pots of money that we could access even after contract award. Local representative for the governor's office, J.W. Cook, has been working with me recently, trying to find possibilities for additional funding,” Landers said during the county Public Service meeting that was postponed due to Monday's holiday. “But at this point in time, I think we've exhausted all of our attempts to find outside resources. Our office does get relatively quite a few calls, asking where we stand. So I think that we're at the point now to move forward with the 24-month contract, from start to finish. And this will be before you today for consideration.“
Legislator Gary Maha was in favor of the move, especially after hearing about how students struggled to do homework during COVID and the resulting pandemic when forced to do use whatever technology they had at home during school shutdowns, he said.
“I think it’s very important that we proceed with this,” Maha said.
Fellow legislator Christian Yunker agreed: “Just like many of us, many of us field a lot of calls, especially in the rural areas. There's a lot of holes in the kind of units sold on that access.”
“A couple of years ago, we started talking about this. We said we will fill all the address points. This is something that I think we've all talked about. This is a two-year process. It's time to start construction,” he said. “So with that, if we sign this now … when do they say construction will begin?"
Landers said that, potentially, it could be two to three months, up to six months, for the installation to begin. Once completed, “we would cover all addresses in the county.”
“We would be covering every single address,” he said. Residents can hook up to it if they choose, “it’s not obligating anyone,” Landers said.
That was something the county “should be proud” of, Yunker said.
“And there's probably not a lot of other counties out there can say that,” he said. “It's a service that we're providing to every resident. And I think it's something we should be proud of. It's a lot of money, but everybody knows how important it is, not only for residential people but also businesses.”
Legislature Chairwoman Shelley Stein added a kudos for Landers’ attempts to try and root out as much funding as possible while providing a needed service before pushing for a contract.
“I would just like to thank the unprecedented amount of time that Matt, and energy, research, commitment that you have put into the contract, and understanding that the need is real for these address points in our community,” Stein said. “And at the same time, you've been very judicious in safeguarding the actual cash that needs to go into this program. Thank you for valuing both sides of the equation.”
She also asked if any other municipalities were pursuing internet service for their residents, and “none of the towns are doing anything,” Landers said. “We’re only connecting unserved households,” he said of the 711 addresses to be covered.
“We were looking at a two-phase process, which would have decided which towns go first. We have done away with that to make this go as quickly as possible. So this is left in the hands of Charter (Communications) as far as their path. I can get updates as they go through the process to kind of get an idea of the direction. So I can sort of get an update and report back,” Landers said. “It's whatever is the quickest and most logical, economical for Charter to roll this out.”
The contract stems from a request for proposals issued in 2022 and an extensive process and input led by a committee that included three county legislators, IT Director Michael Burns, Richard Sutherland from Genesee Finger Lakes Planning, and Assistant County Manager Tammi Ferringer and other staff.
Funding will come from the American Rescue Plan Act and state shared services monies and county reserves, Landers said. The resolution must still go through the Ways & Means Committee and onto the full Legislature for a final vote.
The committee recommends that the award in the amount not to exceed $6,603,107 go the Spectrum Northeast, LLC, located in the State of Delaware, and the County of Genesee desires to obligate and use $2 million of its total ARPA allocation and $250,000 of shared services funding, plus $4.75 million of reserves for the project.
