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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2019.04.26 Council Special MinutesMINUTES McCall City Council Special Meeting McCall City Hall -- Legion Hall April 26, 2019 Work Session Adjournment CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Aymon called the special meeting of the McCall City Council to order at 9:00 a.m. Mayor Aymon, Council Member Giles, Council Member Nielsen, and Council Member Sowers all answered roll call. Council Member Holmes was absent. City staff members present were Anette Spickard, City Manager; BessieJo Wagner, City Clerk; Erin Greaves, Communications Manager; Chris Curtin, Information Systems Manager; Vlatko Jovanov, Information Systems Analyst; Garrett Mapp, GIS Analyst; Traci Malvich, Human Resources Manager Mayor Aymon led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. WORK SESSION Municipal Fiber Utility to provide High Speed Internet to Citizenry and Businesses Discussion Information Systems (InfoSys) Manager Chris Curtin presented the Municipal Fiber Utility to provide high speed internet to citizenry and businesses discussion. The expansion of installed fiber and conduit will create an open fiber network and would allow third parties to offer internet services to citizenry and businesses within the City of McCall. It would be a multi -year project designed to offer high speed internet at lower prices. Internet services have been determined to be essential services by the City Council and on July 12, 2018 Resolution 18-15 was passed. Additionally, language in the McCall Area Comprehensive Plan's Policy 2.5 "Improve broadband and fiber optic capacity within the city...." and Policy 5.2 "Explore ways of expanding high speed internet and fiber optic access to public buildings, businesses and residences...." supports this need. InfoSys Manager Curtin gave a brief history on how the project came about and explained what fiber is. The McCall Municipal Fiber Project, called RAPID, will be an open internet infrastructure available for private and commercial customers to use and allows multiple internet providers to offer high speed internet services to their customers at a lower cost. The plan is to only offer it as an opt -in service. He explained the fiber works well over long distance, so it would be a great option for more rural areas. The biggest hurdle is what is called the "middle mile" in bringing the MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 1 of 2 April 26, 2019 Special Meeting fiber connection up from where it is currently to the McCall area. The goal is to partnership with adjoining towns to help incentivize the fiber company to work on bringing their service to the area and to create partnerships with the County, school district, the hospital, etc. There was a discussion on how this would be accomplished and possible obstacles. Council Member Giles expressed concern about the City being manipulated by large companies and would like the staff to safeguard the City as they work through the process. InfoSys Manager Curtin stated the City already has fiber throughout certain areas and anytime a street is dug up, conduit is in installed in preparation for future fiber installation. If the fiber is cut and service is interrupted, the system is set up for it to loop around the cut and thus the internet service would not be affected. There was a discussion on the difference between wireless and fiber, cost model, installation schedule and possible alternate timeframes depending on demand, and the advantages of fiber to its consumers. The City will have control on pricing policies and funding was briefly discussed. Council Member Giles and Council Member Nielsen both expressed support of the project. Council Member Nielsen would like to see actual numbers and what it will take to connect. Mayor Aymon is only interested with providing services inside the city limits unless people want to annex in. She is also concerned that the larger the project scope the longer it would take to implement. Staff explained the more entities on board the faster the project would move along; however, the focus would be on the city with possible partnerships with the County, etc. Council Member Sowers feels it is past identifying the need and now at the stage of how to implement. InfoSys Manager Curtin wanted to reiterate the City is not an internet provider, only the holder of the infrastructure. The Council consensus was to move forward. The Communication Manager Erin Greaves stated talking points will be gathered and presented to the Council, so they will know how best to answer the public's questions. ADJOURNMENT Without further business, Mayor Aymon adjourned the meeting at 11:03 a.m. ATTEST: ` t%N..„ %1 C CA t::Ilii� `��L ••w••••••._ Id `:> 4. •p'� ••••. � i l , . � (.r • • : -7 • v i SEAL s � _ • i... • r • z ,� * N. ,`•� e%‘ BessieJo -gner, City l lerk MCCALL CITY COUNCIL April 26, 2019 Special Meeting Page 2 of 2