Government : VMEU Telecommunication Meeting moves forward with plans for Broadband

Tuesday evening, the VMEU subcommittee met to continue to make plans for the telecommunication project. To date, there have been 14 contractors that came to submit bids on building this OSP Broadband Project. There are several different pieces of the project that will be bid on. Each part of the project is bid on separately, the OSP fiber, hut, electronics, batteries and etc. The plan is to have the project built and completed by the end of 2019. Bids were opened for the project on Thursday, the bids will be open for 90 days. The project will be built one section at a time across town so that there will be parts of town with the new broadband available while others will be waiting. The plan is to "light" the project as it's built. Various partnerships were discussed. Imon has shown interest in being involved in the project, meeting 3 different times in as many months to discuss possibilities. They have the ability to operate phone systems, billing, construction oversight, operational support, engineering support, broadband, construction oversight, as well as other capabilities. Cedar Falls Utility is also a possibility with the ability to provide IPTV ( internet protocol television) and broadband. There was some discussion about marketing including the how to, when to and a budget for that as well as a plan to educate the community on what is happening. Included in that was the idea that there needed to be a way to explain to residents that they might want to hold off on any contractual agreements with other internet providers that might prevent them from signing up with the new project. There was a discussion held concerning the ductwork, the necessary work done to bring internet to your home for the project. It will be best for people to have the ductwork installed to the house. If the property owner refuses, the work will only go to the property line. There was a discussion about providing broadband to the rural areas, but that would be on hold until the Vinton project is completed. For those interested, the next meeting will be held on February 5th at 6:00 p.m. at the School Administration Building.