BROADCASTS.com

b"May 20, 2022 \\u2014 Mendocino County is set to receive $57 million for last-mile broadband internet infrastructure. With the passage of Senate Bill 156 last year, which provides more than six billion dollars for broadband in the State of California, the county is considering 27 projects in unserved communities, where it must spend the money before January 1, 2027.\\nThe plan is for the county-led last mile projects to be taking place as the State installs middle mile infrastructure along the state highways that criss-cross the county. Supervisor Ted Williams said the two sets of projects are funded slightly differently, with the county not receiving the actual money to fund its portion of the work.\\n\\u201cThat $57 million won\\u2019t come in the form of a check to the county,\\u201d he said. \\u201cThe model has us steering these funds to be used in the way we think best serves our county. All five of us (county supervisors) should be thinking about how to accomplish the goal of ubiquitous broadband.\\u201d He said a previous effort to map projects to serve the unserved showed approximately $550 million worth of projects, \\u201cso on one hand, $57 million is historic\\u2026it\\u2019s also 10% of what we were originally looking at.\\u201d He hopes that, with lots of cheap fiber available, small internet service providers will step in to offer service to people in outlying areas.\\nJeff Tyrell, the Administrator of the Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County, provided more detail, cautioning that $57 million doesn\\u2019t go as far as it used to. The cost of the 27 last-mile projects came out to $69 million. But Tyrell said that estimate did not exclude the middle mile projects, which will be paid for by the state. \\u201cSo I\\u2019m confident that under those cost structures, if they're accurate, the real total of those 27 projects would come in line with the $57 million,\\u201d he said, but added that the cost of fiber has risen by 15% in the last year, and labor costs may have doubled.\\nCarrie Shattuck, a frequent critic of the Board, wondered if the new service would overlap with areas that are already served by the incumbents, like AT&T and Comcast. The Board hopes that the cheaply available, government-owned fiber soon to be installed along the state highways will encourage competition, resulting in lower prices for consumers. Shattuck pointed out that $57 million for 27 projects comes out to just a little over $2 million for each project. \\u201cI'm sure it\\u2019s going to cost far more than that, just in the Covelo area alone,\\u201d she said, not to mention environmental studies and permits and the possibility of hiring outside consultants. \\u201cIn the long run, is that even going to come close to the amount of money that\\u2019s needed to get this to these areas?\\u201d she asked. Williams agreed that the money is unlikely to fulfill every need, but said the alternative is sending the one-time money back to the state. As to cost overruns, Shattuck wondered if the county would be required to fulfill contracts if the money runs out in the middle of a project. Williams does not believe those overruns will impact the county. \\nThe planned trenching to install fiber along Highway 162 leading to Covelo is part of the state middle mile project, not the last mile work that the county is responsible for organizing. Supervisor John Haschak told Shattuck that \\u201cIf the middle mile is all covered by the state, in theory, that means that we will complete those routes that were on state highways. We just need to decide what the final mile is with the $57 million.\\u201d\\nTyrell said the environmental studies would not eat into the $57 million award, explaining that \\u201cThe Local Agency Technical Assistance grants, which provide the environmental studies, is supplemental to the federal funding account of California Advanced Services Fund. So you don\\u2019t have to do the environmental studies or the feasibility studies out of the last mile dollars. The $57 million remains intact. And all of it is grant funded. None of what I spoke about today comes out of county dollars, except for the staff time of existing employees.\\u201d\\nProjects could start as early as July of this year."