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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBC 2024-04-19Town of Dryden Broadband Committee Meeting Friday, April 19, 2024 – Via Zoom Approved Minutes Attendees Graham Dobson – Broadband Committee Tony Salerno – Broadband Committee Mark Wilson – Broadband Committee Joel Cisne – Broadband Committee Jason Leifer – Town Board Dan Lamb – Town Board Tracy Monell – Gleamon Technology Ryan Garrison – HUNT EAS Corey Hopper – HUNT EAS Kate Morseman – HUNT EAS Scott Brennan – Netegrity Andrew Hafner – Netegrity Dave Makar – Executive Director Amanda Anderson – Bookkeeper Cassie Byrnes – Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor Ray Burger – Planning Director Dave Makar called the meeting to order at 10:32am. Introductions (Dave Makar) • Graham Dobson read the Dryden Fiber Mission Statement aloud: “Our mission is to provide reliable, affordable, high-speed, fiber-based internet access for all Dryden residents. We offer state-of-the-art technology and unmatched customer service.” • Meeting Schedule: 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month o 3rd Friday – Prior Month Review Meeting (Metrics, Key Performance Indicators, Trend Analysis, Q&A) 3rd Friday – Prior Month Review Meeting (Metrics, Key Performance Indicators, Trend Analysis, Q&A) – Gather all data from previous month and share (Dave Makar) • Customer Base – Amanda Anderson o Reviewed spreadsheet and will add columns as needed • Construction Permitting Updates as of April 1, 2024 – Ryan Garrison o Permits out for review = Four o Permits approved = Three o NYSEG Pole Attachment Applications = Twelve , DRY001-DRY012, 52 miles o Approved NYSEG Pole Attachment Applications = Six, DRY001-DRY006, 31 miles o Bid NYSEG Pole Attachment Applications = Five, DRY001-DRY003 (Village of Freeville and Dryden), DRY005 & DRY006, 24 miles o Awarded NYSEG Pole Attachment Applications = Three, DRY001-DRY003, 10 miles (Village of Freeville and Dryden) o Applications in Electrical Make-Ready Construction = One, DRY003, 3.5 miles (north half of the Village of Dryden) o Electrical Make-Ready Construction Complete = Two , DRY001-DRY002, 6.5 miles (south half of the Village of Dryden) – Work started o Telco Moves = One, DRY001, 9 miles (Village of Freeville including Empire Overlash to Sims Hill Road)  Shared a map showing what was done this past week and what is scheduled for the next few weeks  Discussed possible locations to run off the Overlash (Hanford Drive, Livermore Road, TC3, Trailer Parks, Dryden Bus Garage)  Tracy Monell will reach out to the 2 Trailer Parks  Whole loop for the town will be connected soon o Blockers = NYSDOT Permits and the long lead times • Construction Implementation Updates – Ryan Garrison, HUNT EAS o 59 parcels can now be added (Spring Run Road, Top Forty Road, Thresher Place) o Approximately 8.5% of the parcels available in the town are currently served by the backbone o 10 miles of aerial fiber currently under construction and 1.3 miles of underground fiber o Redundant ring that connects Dryden’s four equipment locations is being finalized by way of construction on Main Street and Ferguson Road in the Village of Dryden  The north backbone and the south backbone links at these locations have been prioritized for splicing, scheduled for the week of April 29th o Dan Lamb asked Ryan Garrison if there would be any use for some fencing, that is being taken down and donated to the town by BHE GT&S  Ryan Garrison will reach out to them for fencing and broadband needs o The Village of Freeville is the current build-out in progress (about 260 households)  Fiber cable is 80% complete, and splicing will begin the first week of May o The Village of Dryden is next (about 722 households)  This will begin in May, and splicing will likely occur in June o Syracuse Utilities provided door knockers and delivered them to the 59 households in the Spring Run neighborhood  Dave Makar said postcard mailers are in the making for giving future neighborhoods a heads-up about fiber construction in their area o Ryan Garrison shared updated slide showing progress and estimated completion dates on Phase 2 • Installations (as of April 1st) – Clarity Connect, Netegrity, Gleamon Technology o Added 6 new installations this month, and 4 in-progress, no blockers o Joel Cisne shared his experience with the Dryden Fiber installation team, and gave a great review • Finance – Amanda Anderson, Town Bookkeeper o Capital Project = the buildout and construction  Amanda explained what each line of the slide represents o Operational = the ongoing continual  The $30,000 is from paying FirstLight for secondary service – utilities will be closer to $6,000 normally o Amanda wants to know what the group would like to see from this slide in the future  Graham Dobson asked for a total since the beginning of the project, and what the estimates are for the future  Fees – Dryden Fiber pays the credit card processing fees as well as the billing software fees (this amount will increase as more customers are subscribed) • Sales Operations – Tracy Monell, Gleamon Technology o Multi-Use Development – Met with owner on Dryden Road to be sure his property was able to get Dryden Fiber o Renters – 11 requests so far – Tracy has reached out to all of them for landlord information o Commercial Sales – 34 possibilities – Tracy has reached out to all of them o 3 potential customers who have requested service but are non-responsive when Tracy reaches out o Meeting with TC3 is scheduled for April 20th, to discuss how Dryden Fiber can help them • Customer Service – Andrew Hafner, Netegrity o Call stats for the month of March  52 total calls – 35 of them were unrelated to Dryden Fiber • Marketing – David Makar, Executive Director o 37 total contracts (5 new in March) o 26 new requests in March o Increase in website visits Map Update (Ryan Garrison) • Spring Run Road – completed underground pathway and required testing to validate that service is ready o 59 parcels are ready to turn green on the map o Graham Dobson made a motion to approve the expanding of the drydenfiber.com map to go live, and Mark Wilson seconded the motion  Postcards will be mailed, and the map will be promoted on social media • 500 Feet from Fiber Map – a layer could be added to the map to show the 500-foot buffer from where fiber is (to show if potential customers qualify for installation) o Not great for marketing purposes, but useful for the installation team o Ryan will mock this up for the committee to review Financial Updates (Dave Makar) • ConnectALL MIP Grant was submitted on March 8, 2024 – have not heard anything back yet o Deadline for awards is in late May • Ryan Garrison submitted a Congressional Spending Request under the HUD Program o Will not know about this until later this summer Next Meetings • Friday, May 3, 2024, at 10:30am – check-in • Friday, May 17, 2024, at 10:30am – stats for the previous month The meeting adjourned at 11:56am. Respectfully submitted, Cassie Byrnes Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor