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Home My WebLink AboutBC 2024-05-17Town of Dryden Broadband Committee Meeting Friday, May 17, 2024 – Via Zoom Approved Minutes Attendees Graham Dobson – Broadband Committee Tony Salerno – Broadband Committee Jason Leifer – Town Board Dan Lamb – Town Board Tracy Monell – Gleamon Technology Ryan Garrison – HUNT EAS Kate Morseman – HUNT EAS Jeffrey Smith – Municipal Solutions Andrew Hafner – Netegrity Tom Hardy – Clarity Connect Eric Beckhorn – Clarity Connect Dave Makar – Executive Director Amanda Anderson – Bookkeeper Cassie Byrnes – Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor Ray Burger – Planning Director Chuck Bartosch – Point Broadband Doug Schneider – Cortland Standard Dave Makar called the meeting to order at 10:31am. Introductions (Dave Makar) • The focus of the second meeting of the month is to report on the previous month (through April 30th) • The full May report will come in June • No map updates today, but we do have a new version of the map • ConnectALL Grant was submitted March 8th o We followed up with questions they needed answered o Interview scheduled for today at 11:45am • 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.” 3rd Friday: Prior Month Review Meeting (Metrics, Key Performance Indicators, Trend Analysis, Q&A) – Gather All Data from Previous Month (April) and Share (Dave Makar) • Executive Summary (Mid-Month Report)– Dave Makar o Massive expansion coming the next 30-60 days in the Village of Dryden and the Village of Freeville addresses o We are now able to serve 292 parcels (421 households which includes apartments and mobile homes) o We have 40 paying customers as of May 1st • Customer Base – Amanda Anderson o In April we had 3 additional residential customers, which brings us to 40 customers currently being billed and to be paid in May • Construction Permitting Updates – Ryan Garrison o NYDOT Permits: 21  15 have been issued  2 currently under review and awaiting approval by NYSDOT  4 routes have been provided to Aerosmith and are pending survey or drawings o NYSEG Pole Attachment Applications: 11, DRY001-DRY007, DRY009-DRY012, 52 miles  5 pending approvals from NYSEG  6 approved by NYSEG, DRY001-DRY006, 31 miles  5 “Bid NYSEG Pole Attachment Applications”, DRY001-DRY005, DRY005, DRY006, 24 miles  Awarded NYSEG Pole Attachment Applications = Five, DRY001-DRY005, 18 miles  Electrical make-ready construction = One, DRY003, 3.5 miles  Electrical make-ready complete = Zero (-2 for this month)  Telco moves/Cable installation in progress = One, DRY002, 4.5 miles (Village of Dryden)  Telco moves/Cable installation complete = One, DRY001, 9 miles (Village of Freeville, including over lash to Sims Hill Road) • Construction Implementation Updates (for month of April) – Ryan Garrison o 59 new parcels were added and 51 households added (Spring Run Road, Top 40 Road, Thresher Place) o Total coverage is now 292 parcels and 470 approximate households o Total parcels in the Town of Dryden is 5,839 and total households is 6,036 o Total coverage to date = 5.00% of parcels and 7.78% of households o Over 10 miles of new aerial fiber and over one and a quarter miles of new underground fiber o The 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 (cable has been run from the backbone on the Rail Trail to the Central Office)  The north backbone and the south backbone links at these locations have been prioritized and splicing is scheduled for the week of April 29th (3 or 4 days)  There was an unmarked lateral water main at the very end of the build that Syracuse Utilities touched, DPW was called, and the issue was resolved that day • We should have a report by next week from DPW, who confirmed that the water main was not marked on the map o Dan Lamb asked how long it will be until Dryden Fiber makes it to Town Hall  Ryan Garrison answered that it could occur within weeks of getting the Central Office work done and asked if he would like it to be a priority • Amanda Anderson offered that getting redundancy should be a priority • Dan Lamb disagreed and said it’s important for the Town to be a customer of its own service • Ryan Garrison stated that Town Hall cannot happen before the redundancy, because the Central Office needs to be completed to hook up Town Hall and DPW o Upcoming highlights for construction:  Freeville (260 households, 4% of total town households) buildout is in progress, fiber cable is 80% complete and splicing will begin in May  Fiber installation in the Village of Dryden (772 households, 13% of total town households) will begin in May and consists of 9 total miles of fiber, splicing will likely occur in June depending on progress made in Freeville o Graham Dobson suggested adding the number of total miles of aerial and underground fiber added each month, to show the progression each month • Construction Updates – Ryan Garrison o Current things being worked on: North Backbone, South Backbone, and the Village of Dryden aerial  Cables have been installed for North Backbone, splicers will be in next week to connect the Central Office  South Backbone splicing will be done while they’re there  Central Office should be connected next week, and possibly the whole ring in place  Village of Dryden aerial – all the strand is placed, and they have been placing cable all week (most of the cable should be run by the end of next week or the week after that)  Village of Dryden underground – need to look at the existing utilities and easements (NYSDOT has a legal right-of-way for utilities to the road) • Dan Lamb asked if it was possible for us to petition the Village to change this right-of-way and Ryan Garrison says yes • HUNT needs to do due diligence to be sure all rights-of-way are correctly looked at since fiber is not considered a utility per state law • Installations – Andrew Hafner o Number of installations completed this month: 3 o Number of installations pending (as of April 30th): 1 o Installation blockers/questions: 0 • Finance – Amanda Anderson o Capital Project (build-out costs)  Inflows includes interest on bank accounts, money sitting in the bank account, refunds from various orders that were incorrect, and ARPA money  Shows the 2024 year to date and the project to date (since 2021), budget remaining (57% of our budget left), balance sheet (how much we have in cash and what is due from Grants), Bond Anticipation Note ($5.8 million) o Operations  Revenue from paying customers, ongoing expenses (utilities, subscriptions, fees)  Shows this month (April) and year-to-date numbers  Accounts Receivable is down to $0  Accounts Payable is what we’re paying in May for fees ($14,826.96)  Graham Dobson asked what the “Utilities” are that we pay for • Amanda Anderson answered that it includes not only electric, but also the FirstLight secondary service  Graham Dobson asked what the “Subscriptions” are that we pay for • Amanda Anderson answered that it includes Windstream fees, Netegrity support, and Plume  Jeffrey Smith asked, “Is there any update on the status of the ARC Grant?” • Ryan Garrison answered that there has been a change of people at the USDA, and we are now working on paperwork with a new gentleman as of 2 weeks ago (Ryan will have an update for our next meeting)  Tony Salerno asked, “Do we know what the subscriber level is that would make this monthly Profit/Deficit column not be red?” • Amanda Anderson answered “You can see that the accounts payable that I have listed here is very similar to what we paid in April. From our current rate, we need to be making around $15,000 a month (we need a large increase in paying customers because the majority of our paying customers are the $45 base residential level).” • Amanda Anderson said that there are many factors as to why people don’t sign up initially, as everybody that is currently signed up has been very positive about the service and the price • Dave Makar mentioned that out of the 421 households available for service, 150 of those are rental properties – At the $45 lowest level, we would be at 327 customers needed, at the $58 level (our current average), we would be at 254 customers needed – We a re about 16% away from break-even • Sales Operations – Tracy Monell o Multi-Use Development – Met with Ryan Garrison regarding 1062 Dryden Road (24 potential units), and we have a plan to get our fiber to this location when requested o Renters – We were able to garner another landlord approval for 1200 Dryden Road o Commercial Sales – 34 possibilities and all have been contacted o Prospects – We have 3 new installs, 1 pending, 4 potentials that are not responsive but we are still trying to reach out to them, and multiple calls last month from unhappy residents whose lawns have been torn up (Tracy has contacted the vendors and the weather has not been conducive to getting out to these properties and taking care of the damage, but they should have everyone taken care of today or Monday) o TC3 – Had a very productive meeting with TC3 on April 23rd – They are interested in partnering with us in the near future • Customer Service – Andrew Hafner o Incoming calls this month:  2 Install Orders (2 people on the schedule in April for May)  2 Downed Drop (damages to service line) • Tracy Monell was impressed with the speed that Clarity Connect was able to get to these 2 customers who had their fiber cut  31 Unrelated (calls looking for unrelated departments or information) • Mentioned that a couple different people have said that they weren’t sure what the recording system was saying when calling Dryden Town Hall o Tom Hardy asked about sales penetration, and is there some kind of door-to- door/face-to-face sales where we are finding out why people are not signing up?  Dave Makar said there is not yet, but we have been doing some phone direct sales for business customers  Tom Harday said “From a competitive perspective, you’re in areas that typically have some other broadband service now available to them, whether they signed up or not. And if they’re working currently with a broadband service, you have to have them convinced that they should switch from that service to your service.” • Dave Makar said we have about 25 yard signs out right now and magnets for the construction and installation teams, but it doesn’t mean we can’t look at doing referral programs or door-to-door in the future • Tom Hardy mentioned that adding a phone option is not a big deal, so when you’re trying to be competitive and make penetrations, having a working knowledge of the options offered with cloud services is key so that potential customers know that they are not going backwards, that there are options to overcome phone issues o Tony Salerno agreed and said there are inexpensive IP phone systems that we can recommend (like Ooma) • Marketing – Dave Makar o As of May 1st  40 under contract  20 new inbound requests (total of 409) – 70 of those requests we could fulfill  340 not available o Website Visits consistent (around 400 users per month) Map Updates (Dave Makar/Ryan Garrison) • 500 Foot from Fiber Map – Added a “Serviceable Area Line” which shows 500 feet from the fiber line (would like to publish a version of this on drydenfiber.com) o Looking to approve this map addition at the June 7th Broadband Committee meeting • Tony Salerno suggested adding to the map what areas we were working on permitting o Ryan Garrison will take note of this and the discussion has already been started Items for Our Next Meeting on Friday, June 7, 2024 at 10:30am • Grant Updates • Approval of Minutes from the April 5, 2024 Meeting • Policy Subcommittee – Call for Volunteers The meeting adjourned at 11:41am. Respectfully submitted, Cassie Byrnes Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor DRYDEN FIBER MID-MONTH REPORT MAY 2024 TOWN OF DRYDEN BROADBAND COMMITTEE MEETING MAY 17, 2024 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ▪Massive Expansion coming in the next 30-60 days o Village of Dryden; Village of Freeville ▪We are now able to serve 292 parcels (Tracy) o We are now able to serve 421 households (apartments; mobile homes) (Amanda, Tracy) ▪We have 40 paying customers (Amanda) ▪We have XX customers in the installation queue ▪We submitted our application for the New York State MIP Connect All Grant on 3/8/24; received word this week: Interview / Q&A scheduled for 11:45am today Team Reports ▪Customer Base –Amanda, Town of Dryden Bookkeeper ▪Construction Permitting Updates –Hunt Engineering ▪Construction Implementation Updates –Hunt,Syracuse Utilities,Lightspeed ▪Installations –Clarity Connect, Netegrity, Gleamon ▪Sales Operations –Gleamon ▪Finance –Amanda,Town of Dryden Bookkeeper ▪Customer Service -Netegrity ▪Marketing –Exec. Dir. Dave Makar Customer Base As of May 1st, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) Speed Number of customers Billed Monthly Revenue Net Change from Prior Month Average Monthly Revenue Residential -Silver ($45)400 Mbps 28 $1,260 +2 -Gold ($75)700 Mbps 4 $300 +1 -Platinum ($90)1 Gbps 2 $180 No Change 34 $1,740 $51.18 Commercial -Silver ($75)400 Mbps 3 $225 No Change -Gold ($150)700 Mbps 2 $300 No Change -Platinum ($250)1 Gbps 1 $250 No Change 6 $775 $129.17 Total 40 Construction Permitting Updates As of May 1st, 2024 ▪NYDOT: Total Permits: 21 o 15 Issued Permits (+1 for this month) o 2 Permits under review awaiting approval o 4 Permits pending either drawings or survey ▪NYSEG: Total Pole Attachment Applications: 11 DRY001-DRY007, DRY009-DRY012, 52 miles. o 5 Pending Approval (no change as of 5/1/24) o 6 Approved NYSEG Pole Attachment Applications,DRY001-DRY006, 31 miles.(no change as of 5/1/24) o 5 "Bid NYSEG Pole Attachment Applications", DRY001-DRY005 (Village of Freeville and Dryden), DRY005 & DRY006, 24 miles total.(no change as of 5/1/24) o Awarded NYSEG Pole Attachment Applications -Five,DRY001-DRY005,18 Miles. (Village of Freeville and Dryden). (+2 for this month) o Electrical make-ready in construction -One, DRY003, 3.5 miles.(North half of the Village of Dryden).(no change as of 5/1/24) o Electrical make-ready Complete -Zero (-2 for this month) o Telco moves / cable installation in process -One, DRY002, 4.5 miles.(Village of Dryden) o Telco moves / cable installation complete -One,DRY001, 9 miles.(Village of Freeville, including overlash to Sims Hill Rd.)(+1 for this month)  The redundant ring that connects Dryden's four equipment locations is being finalized by way of construction on Main Street and Furguson Road in the Village of Dryden.The north backbone and the south backbone links at these locations have been prioritized and splicing is scheduled for the week of April 29th. ▪Freeville (260 Households, 4%) buildout is in progress,fiber cable is 80% complete and splicing will begin in May.This includes the overlash to Sims Hill Road. ▪Fiber installation in the Village of Dryden (772 Households, 13%) will begin in May and consists of 9 total miles of fiber.Splicing will likely occur in June depending on progress made in Freeville. Construction Implementation Updates As of May 1st, 2024 Coverage Parcels Households New (April 2024)+59 +51 Total w/ coverage 292 470 (est.) Total 5,839 6,036 Coverage %5.00%7.78% New Fiber Aerial Underground New (April 2024)+10 miles +1.3 miles Total XX miles XX miles  Construction Update Route Name Status ECD Application#Notes Village Buildout North Backbone In Progress 5/24/2024 Underground Cable installed 5/7, Lightspeed to begin 5/20 South Backbone Starts 4/29 5/17/2024 DRY002 MR Complete, Strand complete, Cabling this week. Village of Freeville (Empire Overlash Inc.)Starts 4/8 6/7/2024 DRY001 Cable complete, splicing 5/27. Village of Dryden Aerial Starts 5/6 90 Days DRY002,003 MR complete on 002, strand complete, cabling next two weeks. Village of Dryden Underground*Starts 6/1 90 Days Underground Sub-divisions. Phase 2 Expansion Lower Creek Rd Bids received and awarded.90 Days DRY004 Tompkins County Recovery Fund Pending Approval of NB Quotes 90 Days DRY005, 006 Funded by Tompkins Co. West Dryden Rd Pending NYSEG Approval of MR 120 Days DRY007 Rt. 38 North Pending NYSEG Approval of MR 120 Days DRY007 Peruville Rd Pending NYSEG Approval of MR 120 Days DRY008 Fall Creek Rd/ Ed Hill Rd/Telco Design 150 Days DRY009 West Mallory Rd/ Morris Rd Telco Design 150 Days DRY009 North Rd/ Dutcher Rd Telco Design 150 Days DRY010 Gulf Hill Rd./ Sweetland Rd Telco Design 150 Days DRY011 Rt. 366 (Freeville to Rt. 13)Telco Design 150 Days DRY012 Installations As of May 1st, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) ▪April Install Summary o Number of installations completed this month: 3 o Number of installations pending (as of April 30th): 1 o Installation blockers / questions: 0  Finance –Capital Project As of April 30, 2024 Balance Sheet as of 4/30/2024 2024 Year to Date Total Project to Date Project Budget Assets -Cash 1,416,461.12 Inflows 22,391.65 1,408,318.78 -Due from Grants 685,173.00 Expenses Total Assets 2,101,634.12 Professional Fees 256,900.63 714,911.45 Incidental Const. Exp 2,577.11 68,868.21 Equipment Purchases 33,227.44 1,914,612.87 Liabilities and Equity Subcontractor Costs 152,449.77 2,575,036.03 -Bond Anticipation Note 5,840,000.00 Pole and Permit Cost 195,418.67 766,385.07 Equity -3,738,365.88 Interest Payment 146,840.97 168,641.73 Total 2,101,634.12 Total Expenses 787,414.59 6,208,455.36 14,535,281.00 Budget Remaining 8,326,825.64 57.3%  Finance -Operations As of April 30, 2024 April 2024 Year to Date Residential 1620.00 5,719.50 Balances as of 4/30/24 Commercial 700.00 3,360.00 Accounts Receivable 720.00 Misc Fees -790.00 Accounts Payable 14,826.96 Total Revenue 2,320.00 9,869.50 Parcels Serviceable 3/31 241 Expenses + New Parcels added in April +51 Credit Card Fees 171.29 482.37 Total Parcels available 4/30 292 Billing Program -2,320.92 *does not include MUDs Utilites 6,166.07 37,460.40 Total Addressed Served by 4/30 40 Subscriptions 8,405.09 30,560.18 Total Expenses 14,744.42 70,823.87 Profit/Deficit -12,424.43 -60.954.37 Sales Operations As of May 1, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) ▪Multi -Use Development -Met with Ryan regarding 1062 Dryden Rd and we have a plan to get our fiber to this location when requested (21 apartments) ▪Renters –were able to garner another landlord approval for 1200 Dryden Rd ▪Commercial Sales -34 possibilities and all have been contacted. Reached out to Mr.Lawliss regarding his new venture and he cannot wait for our service ▪Prospects -We have 3 new installs and 1 pending. Also 4 potentials that are not responsive but we are still trying to reach out to them. Also had multiple contacts with residents and village officials regarding lawn issues ▪TC3 –Had a very productive meeting with TC3 on April 23rd. They are interested in partnering with us.Next step: Propose first phase for them (1 Gig vs. 10 Gig) Customer Service As of May 1st, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) Helpdesk Call Report April 2024 •Bandwidth Complaint (Speed Concerns) •0 •Billing Related Call •5 •Downed Drop (Damaged Service Line) •2 •Email (Calls related to email difficulties) •1 •No Connectivity •1 •ONT / Power Cycle (Calls related to the ONT where unplugging or rebooting equipment was necessary) •0 •Other / Unrelated (Calls looking for unrelated departments or information) •31 •Outage •0 •Install Orders / Create Service •2 •Router Issue •0 •Sporadic Connection •3 •Streaming Related Issue •0 •User Error / Education •4 •Wireless •0 Sum: 49 Note: Install Orders denote an incoming install scheduling request – not a completed install One caller can generate numerous tickets for a single issue (i.e. calls in 5x for same problem)  Marketing As of May 1st, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) 8/10 9/8 10/5 11/2 12/1 1/1/24 2/1/24 3/1/24 4/1/24 5/1/24 Under Contract 8 22 26 32 28 28 29 (+3, -2) 32 (+3) 37 (+5) 40 (+3) Requests YTD 150 174 (+11) 230 (+21) 252 (clean- up) 274 (+9)298 (+24) 332 (+13) 363 (+31) 389 (+26) 409 (+20) Available 30 38 41 43 44**44 56 TBD TBD 70~ Not Available 120 136 189 209 226 250 276 TBD TBD 340~ Serviceable Live 76.7%76.3%80.5%83.7%72%63.6%51.8%TBD TBD 40/70 Site Visits 8/25-9/7 9/22-10/4 10/21-11/2 11/17-11/30 12/1-12/31 1/1-1/31 2/1 -2/29 3/1-3/31 4/1 -4/30 Users N/A 226 193 161 140 320 484 392 403 368 New Users N/A 211 170 137 115 288 424 346 353 315 Sessions N/A 324 271 515 194 448 673 617 706 601 Engagement (secs.)N/A 0m 46s 1m 09s 1m 10s 42s 1m 7s 1m 6s 1m 30s 1m 6s 53 s