[Davisgig] Community broadband agenda item, NC City Council meeting tomorrow Wed. night @ 6:30 pm, 1/8/2020

[Douglas A. Walter]

Hi. I read through the Council packet, looking for a description of the cooperative. The relevant sentence (!) is on pages 100-101 of the packet, where they say it is a member-based organization, with no physical boundaries, with bylaws based on those of the Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative. That's a good source to clone from, but it doesn't tell us too much.

Rural Electric Co-ops are usually consumer co-ops, and highly dependent on professional staff (appropriate for that industry).

Throughout, I could tell that the "author" of the pieces of the packet wasn't a cooperator. There are a few little things, but the big one is "...with no physical boundaries." In general, cooperatives incorporate in one state, and don't sell memberships across state lines. It's a minor point in this context, but not when it comes to operations, IMO. But maybe there are new laws, or something.

To answer your question, Rob, I have another question: are you looking for a co-op to operate the small fiber deployment project, or would that be just the start?

On Jan 9, 2020, at 4:05 PM, Robert Nickerson <rob at omsoft.com> wrote:

> HI All 
> I met with Mike Anderson and the President of Encore Networks in Davis in November. At that meeting, I was telling my woes about getting the City to participate in a community broadband deployment, and they recommended the COOP model to achieve the same ends, without directly involving City of Davis in the process. There seems to be a lot of community support for controlling the network locally, and making it open access to multiple providers. 
> Omsoft is embarking on the construction phase a small fiber deployment project north of the City limits  with a Woodland construction company. We should be done by July 2020, and will have first hand experience to share as to the feasibility of leading an effort in the town. 
> Looks like Michael is proceeding with a cooperative effort in Nevada City. 
> Is anyone up for participating /organizing a fiber optic community coop for our area? 
> 
> Thanks
> 
> RAN
> 
> 
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject:	Community broadband agenda item, NC City Council meeting tomorrow Wed. night @ 6:30 pm, 1/8/2020
> Date:	Wed, 8 Jan 2020 05:13:07 +0000
> From:	Michael Anderson <mikea at clientworks.com>
> To:	Michael Anderson <mikea at clientworks.com>
> 
> 
> Hello,
> 
> You are receiving this email because I have discussed with you the concept of community broadband sometime in the past months or years. If you know of anyone else who is interested in community broadband, please feel free to pass along this email.
> 
> Nevada County has a broadband grant opportunity currently in process and I have submitted a grant application on behalf of the nascent Northern Sierra Fiber Broadband Cooperative. To learn more, please come to tomorrow night's meeting.
> 
> 
> Here are the details, from the agenda--
> 
> https://www.nevadacityca.gov/files/documents/CityCouncilAgenda01-08-20050359010320PM1315.pdf
> "5. DEPARTMENT REQUESTED ACTION ITEMS AND UPDATE REPORTS:
> A.Subject: Nevada County Last-Mile Broadband Grant Application Recommendation:City Council to review and consider the Nevada County Last Mile Broadband Project information provided and provide staff direction as to how the Council may or may not want to support the proposed project."
> 
> Project details / supporting information are in the packet--
> https://www.nevadacityca.gov/files/documents/CityCouncilPacket01-08-20050359010320PM1315.pdf
> Pages 46-112
> 
> www.nevadacityca.gov
> REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8 , 2019 Regular Meeting - 6:30 PM City Hall – Beryl P. Robinson, Jr. Conference Room 317 Broad Street, Nevada City, CA 95959 MIS
> www.nevadacityca.gov
> 
> If you have any questions please feel free to call me directly on my cell phone tomorrow. Thank you!
> 
> Michael P. Anderson
> President
> Clientworks, Inc.
> 721 Zion St
> Nevada City, CA 95959
> www.clientworks.com
> 530.470.0104 x102 - office
> 530.902.3549 - cell
> 
> ____________________________________________________________________________
> 
> REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL City of Nevada City 317 Broad Street Nevada City CA 95959 January 8, 2020 www.nevadacityca.gov
> ___________________________________________________________________________
> TITLE: Nevada County Last-Mile Broadband Grant Application
> RECOMMENDATION: City Council to review and consider the Nevada County Last Mile Broadband Project information provided and provide staff direction as to how the Council may or may not want to support the proposed project.
> CONTACT: Catrina Olson, City Manager Bryan McAlister, City Engineer
> Michael Anderson, Clientworks
> BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION: City Council and City staff have discussed the necessity for the City to explore opportunities to provide fiber technology in the City of Nevada City. The City Engineer, Bryan McAlister and City Manager, Catrina Olson met with Michael Anderson of Clientworks, Inc. on December 17, 2019 to discuss the Nevada County Last-Mile Broadband Project (a fiber project), The Northern Sierra Fiber Broadband Coop., a utility cooperative and a grant application that was submitted for the project. The name of the project is the Nevada City Fiber Hub for Base Industry and Opportunity Residential. The project will utilize single-mode fiber to the premise technology. The project will be 100% underground, with an active Ethernet topology and fuel cell backup power to provide continuous uptime capability during power outages. The POP (point of presence) will be located in a vault at the corner of Reward and Zion Street in the Seven Hills District of Nevada City, with a mini-NOC (network operation center) located in the Liberty Hill Building. The boundary streets for the project are Zion Street to the east, the service loop road for the old Grass Valley Group buildings to the west, Reward Street to the north, and Providence Mine Road to the south (a map is provided in the grant application). If implemented the installation of this broadband infrastructure could potentially provide service to approximately 75 households, 100 businesses and 5 anchors. The Northern Sierra Fiber Broadband Coop is the grant applicant and the entity that would be initiating the project and once complete managing the utility as a cooperative. The projects estimated cost is $924,800 and the grant request from Nevada County is for $25,000. Staff is seeking Council direction on how the City may or may not want to support the proposed project.
> ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS: None.
> FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS: None.
> ATTACHMENT:
>  Nevada County Broadband Strategy – Approved by the Board of Supervisors October 2019
>  Nevada County Broadband Strategy Appendix
>  Nevada County Broadband Grant Application – Northern Sierra Fiber Broadband Cooperative
>  Nevada County Broadband Grant Application
>  Nevada County Broadband Grant Guidelines
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Please ref our wiki for details, documents and contacts:
> 
> http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/~help/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=start
> 
> Davisgig mailing list
> Davisgig at list.omsoft.com
> http://list.omsoft.com/mailman/listinfo/davisgig

Doug Walter (home account)
dawalter at dcn.org
"Wag more, bark less"

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.omsoft.com/pipermail/davisgig/attachments/20200110/ff082ea4/attachment-0001.html>