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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBC 2024-09-06Town of Dryden Broadband Committee Meeting Friday, September 6, 2024 – Via Zoom Approved Minutes Attendees Graham Dobson – Broadband Committee Tony Salerno – Broadband Committee Joel Cisne – Broadband Committee Jason Leifer – Town Board Dan Lamb – Town Board Tracy Monell – Gleamon Technology Ryan Garrison – HUNT EAS Kate Morseman – HUNT EAS Jeff Smith – Municipal Solutions Eric Beckhorn – Clarity Connect 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 10:31am. Introductions – Dave Makar R Garrison read the Dryden Fiber Mission Statement aloud: “Our mission is to provide reliable, affordable, high-speed, fiber-based internet access. We offer state-of-the-art technology and unmatched customer service.” D Makar elaborated by saying “Part of our mission statement is to do things that are not like everyone else. That includes our customer service team being there, talking to people on the phone, being available 7 days a week, responding quickly to emails, responding to people who are interested in modifying / upgrading their service. Not just following what all the other providers are doing. We can do things a little different, a little bit better, a little bit more in this focus on customer service.” Executive Summary – Dave Makar The Municipal Infrastructure Program (MIP) was awarded to 6 projects in the first phase, including the Dryden Fiber Project that serves the Town of Dryden and the Town of Caroline. The funds cover the construction of over 100 miles of new fiber and bring broadband internet to over 2,670 parcels in the two towns. The grant also covers installation costs for some of these parcels. • The Town of Dryden now has 8 customers who have signed up and have been installed since the award was granted on June 16th – these are the first 8 customers in New York State to be live with broadband with funds from the MIP program We are now able to serve 648 parcels We now have 89 paying customers (+23 in August) We have 27 installations in the queue as of September 1st Projections: • Over 100 customers live by the end of summer • About 250 customers live by the end of the year • 500 customers live by June 30, 2025 Team Reports Customer Base – Amanda Anderson • We had 25 new customers, all residential, in the month of August (majority were the Silver package) • No disconnects in the month of August • D Makar added that all billing happens at the 1st of the month, so if a customer was installed on August 28th, they got 3 days free (no pro-rated months); Same goes for refunding upon cancellation of service Construction Permitting Updates – Ryan Garrison • NYSDOT Permits – We have one out there under review and it’s on schedule • Pole Applications o DRY004 (Etna area), DRY005 (Caswell Road), and DRY010 (North Road and State Route 13 where the Empire Overlash ends) have delays from Richardson, but are close to completion and are the priority right now o DRY012 (State Route 366, Dryden Road, and Turkey Hill Road) will come next in priority o Other applications are moving their way through the process o We are working with Syracuse Utilities to expedite putting the cable up and splicing it in, and we are still planning to meet deadlines o R Garrison will work on expanding the Utility Pole Permits table to include the additional permits for the MIP project Construction Implementation Updates – Ryan Garrison • 58 parcels were added in August (estimated at about 57 households) which brings us up to 11% coverage on parcels and 13.8% coverage on households • Not much has been constructed other than some underground neighborhoods • The Village of Freeville is complete pending some map updates (Main Street and Groton Avenue in Freeville will be going green) • The Village of Dryden is 80% activated with the majority of the overhead work spliced in and activated o Lewis Street, Elm Street, Library Street, and Rochester Street were completed this week with the aerial splicing, which equated to about 30 addresses • Underground work was completed on Greystone Drive and Penny Lane • Underground work will continue on Hilton Road, Goodrich Way, Scenic Way, Chelsey Circle, Bear Circle, and Hanford Drive Construction Update – Ryan Garrison • This slide was a recap of what was shown on the previous slide Installations – Tracy Monell • Number of installations completed this month: 25 • Number of installations pending (as of August 31st): 20 • Installation blockers: 0 • D Makar added that we have increased our installations from 1 per day to 2 per day (with Clarity Connect), and we can increase that again to 3 or 4 per day as more requests come Finance – Capital Project – Amanda Anderson • There was a lot of subcontractor work done this month for Syracuse Utilities and LightSpeed and there’s more coming in the month of September • ARC Grant – we are working hard to get requested documents so that they can return money to us for work that was done in 2020-2023 • We are in the process of getting the total project budget updated with more current amounts and expenses for the project in general and including MIP money Finance – Operations – Amanda Anderson • Accounts payable (expenses) continue to stay steady at around $14,000-$15,000 • Accounts receivable is a little higher due to a few customers that aren’t getting/seeing emails, and A Anderson will follow up with them (Gmail may be part of the issue) • Revenue for August was just under $4,000, and is expected to be over $5,000 for the month of September • 83 parcels were added in the month of August / 91 total addresses served Sales Operations – Tracy Monell Currently working on getting landlord agreements with mobile home parks throughout the town • Ithaca Estates – We now have 5 people in this park who want service • 1062 Dryden Road – working on getting service to these buildings, one person has signed up for service • Lower Creek Park and Wood Road Park – spoke with the owner and was asked to reach back out the second week in October • Little Creek Manufactured Home Community – landlord agreement has been signed and we can proceed when ready • Mott Road – no response from owner • 12,14,16 Lake Street – owner is willing to sign landlord agreement but wants details on how we will gain access • We now have 13 landlord agreements signed and 7 more waiting for signature Customer Service – Dave Makar • 14 billing related calls; we are doing some updates to the drydenfiber.com website to make it easier to understand billing for our customers Marketing (as of September 1st) – Dave Makar • Under contract = 91 (25 new) • Requests in August = 86 o 35 of these requests were available (in the green zone) o Serviceable Live = 53% (91/172) • Request Service – Comments / Messages o People in Caroline are excited about the service, which should be available to them in about a year o Dryden Fiber truck magnets being posted on social media • Social media and postcards continue to be happening; new signs coming this month with the revised tag line Dryden Fiber Business Tier Refresh – Dave Makar We want to expand and clarify the messaging around our business tier; There will be no change in pricing; We suggest renaming the tiers to make it more clear about what the features are and to make it easier on the customer service and marketing side of things • Current names: Silver, Gold, Platinum (same names are used for residential tiers) • Recommended names: Standard, Enhanced, Professional, Enterprise (for customized projects) o G Dobson recommended: Standard, Preferred, Enhanced, Enterprise • Committee members discussed other possible names and will email D Makar with their final request on names • Increase speeds with no price changes o Standard – increase from 400Mbps to 500 Mbps o Enhanced – increase from 700Mbs to 1Gbps o Professional – increase from 1Gbps to 2Gbps • Static IP Address is already in place for business tier accounts (1 free with all accounts) o Additional IP Addresses available for $40/month (we have 1,000 available) • Prioritized repair – business customers are prioritized over residential for outages Open Discussion • D Makar said we will use the September 20th Broadband Committee meeting to finalize decisions on the business tier changes • G Dobson suggested publishing to the businesses that we have upped their speed The meeting adjourned at 11:54am. Respectfully submitted, Cassie Byrnes Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor DRYDEN FIBER MID-MONTH REPORT SEPTEMBER 2024 TOWN OF DRYDEN BOARD MEETING SEPTEMBER 19th, 2024 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ▪The Municipal Infrastructure Program (MIP)was awarded to 6 projects in the first phase. Dryden Fiber serving the Towns of Dryden and Caroline was one of those 6 projects. o The funds for this grant covers construction of over 100 miles of new fiber and brings broadband internet to over 2,670 parcels in the two towns. The grant also covers installation costs for these parcels. We've reached 76 of these houses since the June 16th start of MIP. o Town of Dryden now has 8 customers who are using Dryden Fiber and their installations were covered by the MIP grant funds. These are the first 8 customers to have broadband access from MIP funded installations in New York State. ▪We are now able to serve 648 parcels o We are now able to serve 831 households (apartments; mobile homes) ▪We have 89 paying customers (+23 in Aug);We had 65 in-bound requests in June; 33 green zone in July ▪We have 27 customers in the installation queue for this month (Sept 2024) ▪We are estimating 100+ customers by the "end of summer" (9/21/24) o 250 by end of year (near break-even, 262 customers) o 500 by June 30, 2025  TIMELINE SUMMARY (9.17.24) Customer Growth Projections o 9.13.24 -110 Live Customers, 25 in the installation queue o 9.30.24 -125 Live Customers o 12.31.24 -200 Live Customers o 3.31.25 -262 Live Customers (approx. break-even) o 6.30.25 -500 Live Customers o 12.31.25 -1,000 Live Customers Green Zone Projections o 10/31/24 -All of the Village of Dryden and Village of Freeville o 10/31/24 -Ithaca Estates (74 units); Pineridge (21 units) o 12/31/24 -Nearly all parcels north of Rt. 13 (currently Yellow) o 6/30/25 -Remaining parcels north of Rt. 13 and Rt. 366 (currently Blue) o 6/30/25 -Pathways south from Mount Pleasant to the Caroline Town Line o 9/1/25 -The 1st parcels in Caroline (Rt. 79 / Slaterville Rd.) become green o 12/31/26 -All current orange parcels and all Caroline parcels are green  Project Highlights Project Name:Dryden Fiber Expansion for Towns of Dryden and Caroline Applicant and Partner(s):Town of Dryden dba, Dryden Fiber and Town of Caroline Construction Miles (Fiber): 124.6 Total Locations Served:2,674 ConnectALL Grant Amount:$ 8,995,979.00 Local Contribution:$ 906,321.00 Total Project Investment: $9,902,300.00  Dryden Fiber Municipal Infrastructure Project Project Summary Located in Tompkins County, the Town of Dryden, in partnership with the Town of Caroline, will bring new public broadband service to more than 2,600 locations. The Town of Dryden launched Dryden Fiber in 2023. Under the ConnectALL program, Dryden Fiber will expand the network to reach rural residents in the neighboring Town of Caroline, as well as throughout rural areas of the Town of Dryden. Both the Town of Caroline and the Town of Dryden will own the proposed infrastructure in their respective towns. Dryden Fiber will provide operations and maintenance of the network and provide internet service to homes and businesses for both towns. Key Points for the Town of Dryden ▪This projects brings approximately $4.5M in federal ARPA funds to the Town of Dryden. We believe we were awarded because we combined our efforts with the Town of Caroline. ▪These funds help us finance the prioritization of bringing fiber optic internet to all homes in the Town of Dryden currently unserved or underserved ▪This expansion of Dryden Fiber into Caroline adds 1,100 homes / households / parcels to our potential platform, making the entire venture more sustainable in the long run (the next 40+ years)  Dryden Fiber Municipal Infrastructure Project Hello Dryden-Caroline team, We are thrilled to share that your ConnectALL Municipal Infrastructure Program (MIP) project was approved at today’s (9/19/24) Empire State Development (ESD) Board of Directors meeting! This approval is a major milestone in our shared mission to enhance connectivity and infrastructure across our communities. We are on track to provide you a draft Grant Disbursement Agreement (GDA) by early next week. Also, the email below provides important information regarding the upcoming Public Hearing and Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) meetings. Congratulations on this significant achievement, and thank you for your ongoing dedication to this important work! Regards, Connect All Office 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 September 1st, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) Speed Number of subscriptions Billed Monthly Revenue Net Change from Prior Month Average Monthly Revenue Residential - Silver ($45)400 Mbps 70 $3,150 +20 - Gold ($75)700 Mbps 9 $675 +3 - Platinum ($90)1 Gbps 5 $450 +2 84 $4,275 +25 $50.89 Commercial - Silver ($75)400 Mbps 5 $345 No Change - Gold ($150)700 Mbps 1 $150 No Change - Platinum ($250)1 Gbps 1 $250 No Change 7 $745 $106.43 Total 91 $5,020  Construction Permitting Updates As of September 1st, 2024 ▪NYDOT: Total Permits: 21 o 20 Issued Permits (+1 for this month) o 1 Permits under review awaiting approval o 0 Permits pending either drawings or survey ▪Utility Pole Permits Application Name Status ECD Location DRY001 Attached Complete Freeville (V) DRY002 Attached Complete Dryden (V) DRY003 Attached Complete Dryden (V) DRY004 EMR in construction 70% complete 9/20/2024 Etna Area DRY005 EMR 95% Complete 9/10/2024 Caswell Rd. DRY006 Awaiting NYSEG approval of Non-Billable EMR 11/30/2024 Bone Plain Rd. DRY007 Awarded this week 10/30/2024 SR 38 North DRY008 Awaiting NYSEG approval of Non-Billable EMR 11/30/2024 Peruville Rd DRY009 Awarded this week 10/30/2024 Fall Creek &Ed Hill Rd DRY010 Construction is 90% complete 9/10/2024 North Rd &SR 13 North DRY011 Awaiting NYSEG approval of Non-Billable EMR 11/30/2024 Gulf Hill, Sweetland &Bradshaw Rd DRY012 Awaiting NYSEG approval of Non-Billable EMR 9/30/2024 SR 366,Dryden Rd &Turkey Hill Rd  ▪Freeville is complete pending some map updates. ▪Village of Dryden is 80% activated with four underground developments remaining. ▪Underground was completed at Greystone and Penny Ln / Logan’s Run. ▪Underground work will continue on Hilton, Goodrich, Scenic Way, Chelsey Cir, Bear Cir. and Hanford Dr. Construction Implementation Updates As of September 1st, 2024 Coverage Parcels Households New (August 2024)+58 +57 Total w/ coverage 648 832 Total 5,839 6,036 Coverage %11.09% (+3.8%)13.8% (+.9%) New Fiber Aerial Underground New (August 2024)+0 miles +1 mile Total 15 miles 24 miles  Construction Update Route Name Status ECD Application#Notes Village Buildout South Backbone Complete 8/1/2024 DRY002 MR Complete, Strand complete, Cabling this week. Village of Freeville (Empire Overlash Inc.)Complete 8/31/2024 DRY001 60% Live, finishing Rt 366. Village of Dryden Aerial Complete 7/14/2024 DRY002,003 25% Live, Splicing Continues Village of Dryden Underground*80% complete, four sub -divisions remaining. 9/14/2024 Underground Applewood and Wellsley complete. . Phase 2 Expansion Lower Creek Rd Electrical MR Construction in process.8/14/2024 DRY004 HRS is scheduled for electrical MR construction in July. Tompkins County Recovery Fund Electrical MR Construction complete on DRY005 and DRY006 is pending NYSEG Approval of MR Costs. 9/14/2024 DRY005, 006 HRS projects electrical MR construction in July/August. West Dryden Rd Pending NYSEG Approval of make ready costs. 10/31/2024 DRY007 App in process. Rt. 38 North Pending NYSEG Approval of make ready costs. 11/31/2024 DRY007 Bidding Peruville Rd Pending NYSEG Approval of make ready costs. 11/31/2024 DRY008 App in process. Fall Creek Rd/ Ed Hill Rd/Telco Design 12/31/2024 DRY009 App in process. West Mallory Rd/ Morris Rd Telco Design 12/31/2024 DRY009 App in process. North Rd/ Dutcher Rd Telco Design 9/31/2024 DRY010 Bidding Gulf Hill Rd./ Sweetland Rd Telco Design 12/31/2024 DRY011 App in process. Rt. 366 (Freeville to Rt. 13)Electrical MR Construction in process.10/31/2024 DRY012 HRS projects electrical MR construction in July/August. Installations As of September 1st, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) ▪August Install Summary o Number of installations completed this month:25 o Number of installations pending (as of August 31st): 20 o Installation blockers / questions:1  Finance – Capital Project As of August 31, 2024 Balance Sheet as of 8/31/2024 2024 Year to Date Total Project to Date Project Budget Assets - Cash 313,526.12 Inflows 123,547.83 1,509,474,96 - Due from Grants 624,614.00 Expenses Total Assets 938,140.12 Professional Fees 365,261.33 823,272.15 Incidental Const. Exp 4,054.63 70,345.73 Equipment Purchases 199,568.12 2,080,953.55 Liabilities and Equity Subcontractor Costs 894,338.50 3,316,924.76 - Bond Anticipation Note 5,840,000.00 Pole and Permit Cost 383,442.22 954,408.62 Equity -4,901,859.88 Interest Payment 146,840.97 168,641.73 Total 938,140.12 Total Expenses 1,993,505.77 7,414,546.54 14,535,281.00 Budget Remaining 7,120,734.23 49%  Finance -Operations As of August 31, 2024 August 2024 Year to Date Residential 3,015.00 14,809.50 Balances as of 8/31/24 Commercial 700.00 6,160.00 Accounts Receivable 645.00 Misc Fees 190.00 1,075.00 Accounts Payable 14,854.47 Outage Credit -1,242.50 Total Revenue 3,905.00 20,802.00 Expenses Parcels Serviceable 7/31 565 Credit Card Fees 194.49 1,214.46 + New Parcels added in August 83 Billing Program -2,320.92 Total Parcels available 8/31 648 Utilites 5,785.00 61,646.95 *does not include MDUs Subscriptions 8,855.71 64,632.48 Total Addressed Served by 8/31 90 Insurance/FCC fees 220.85 524.13 Total Expenses 15,056.05 130,338.94 Profit/Deficit -11,151.05 -109,536.94 Sales Operations As of September 1, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) ▪Multi-Use Development –working on getting agreements with Mobile home parks throughout the town o Ithaca Estates (was Congers) - estimated for customers 9/30 Awaiting the make ready completion o 1062 Dryden Road (Pineridge / Wawak) - estimated for customers 9/30 Waiting for fiber installation on premise o Lower Creek Park (Etna); Wood Rd Park (Wood Road, Etna) Owner is Karel Westerling Had conversation with him and asked that I reach out 2nd week of October o Little Creek Manufactured Home Community – North Rd./Village of Dryden These folks have signed an agreement and we can proceed when ready o Mott Road – sent a couple of emails but have not received a response o 12, 14, 16 Lake St Met with owner Mark Goldfarb he is willing to sign off but wants details on how we will gain access ▪Town of Dryden Installs (Town Hall, DPW) - waiting on direction from Hunt to be able to proceed ▪Renters – We now have 13 signed agreements and 7 more waiting for signature ▪Commercial Sales - 36 possibilities and all have been contacted. ▪Prospects-We have 25 new installs and 20 pending. Also 20 potentials that have signed up and contact has been made. These include 4 in the Ithaca Estates mobile home park and the 2 for the Town ▪Had conversation with owner of several Mobile home parks as well as apartment buildings ▪Made contact with owners of new apartment complex that is under construction on Dryden Rd.They are making arrangements to have our service Customer Service As of August 1st, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) Helpdesk Call Report August 2024 •Bandwidth Complaint (Speed Concerns) •1 •Billing Related Call •14 •Downed Drop (Damaged Service Line) •2 •Email (Calls related to email difficulties) •0 •No Connectivity •2 •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) •53 •Outage •2 •Install Orders / Create Service •21 •Router Issue •2 •PC / Laptop Issue •1 •Sporadic Connection •3 •Streaming Related Issue •1 •User Error / Education •4 •Wireless •5 Sum: 111 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 August 1st, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) 9/1/23 12/1/23 3/1/24 6/1/24 7/1/24 8/1/24 9/1/24 Under Contract 22 28 (+6)32 (+4)44 (+12)54 (+10)66 (+12)91 (+25) Requests (since 1/1/23) 174 (+11)274 (+100)363 (+89)429 (+66)494 (+65)552 (+58)638 (+86) Available 38 44**TBD 87 110 (+23)137 (+27)172 (+35) Not Available 136 226 TBD 342 384 415 466 Serviceable Live 76.3%72%TBD 51% (44/87)49% (54/110)48% (66/137)53% (91/172) Website Visits 8/25-9/7 11/17-11/30 2/1-2/29 5/1-5/31 6/1-6/30 7/1-7/31 8/1-8/31 Users 226 140 392 516 820 935 661 New Users 211 115 346 471 755 868 567 Sessions 324 194 617 739 1221 1373 1104 Engagement (secs.)0m 46s 42s 1m 30s 58 s 1m 14 s 1m 3 s 1m 13s Marketing Request Service – Comments / Messages (August 2024) ▪I see Dryden Fiber has expanded to Caroline in the future as well as Snyder Hill Road, but unfortunately it appears that our nei ghborhood is not on the map yet ▪We have been informed that the Town of Caroline is expanding service to our area and we are inquiring. ▪I am a Town of Caroline resident and would like to be notified when service becomes available in my area. ▪I've seen the contractors laying the fiber optic cable. I talked to one of them and he said service would likely be available 2-3 weeks after they finished laying the cable. ▪I can't wait to switch from Spectrum ▪I know they were setting this up next to my house so it might be available now for area. Not sure ▪When will your service be available for our address? ▪Happy that Dryden fiber will be an option soon ▪Hi I would like to know whether there are plans to include Downey Road, Brooktondale in the plan for rolling out fiber by end of 2026 fiber. ▪The map says 3-6 months, is there any update or more pin pointed date on that, at all? ▪Received mailer indicating service is coming in the next couple weeks. ▪Last year heard about build out just across the road and was given information that it would be either late that year or some time this year. Now we’re at 12+ months out. Curious as to if with there be grants we should give up on expecting Dryden fiber service ▪(Our current provider) has been getting worse and worse all summer. Now that classes have started up again, it is making it nearly impossible for me to do work as an instructor at TC3. We are in desperate need of 21st century internet service. I truly hope the estimate of availability by December holds true. Marketing Marketing As of September 1st, 2024 (billing date is 1st of month) ▪Social Media postings o Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor ▪Postcard outreach:"Construction / Coming Soon", "Now Available", "Business Class" (coming soon) ▪Next up: o Signs in the new neighborhoods (Spring Run, Dryden Village,Village of Freeville), refreshed design o Email Marketing o Swag (Hats, Truck Magnets, stickers)  Difference Monthly Expense Income Customers Income per customer $(10,945.00)$14,660.00 $3,715.00 66 $56.29 $(10,460.00)$14,660.00 $4,200.00 75 $56.00 $(9,060.00)$14,660.00 $5,600.00 100 $56.00 $(6,260.00)$14,660.00 $8,400.00 150 $56.00 $(3,460.00)$14,660.00 $11,200.00 200 $56.00 $(660.00)$14,660.00 $14,000.00 250 $56.00 $(380.00)$14,660.00 $14,280.00 255 $56.00 $(100.00)$14,660.00 $14,560.00 260 $56.00 $12.00 $14,660.00 $14,672.00 262 $56.00 $180.00 $14,660.00 $14,840.00 265 $56.00 $2,140.00 $14,660.00 $16,800.00 300 $56.00 $4,940.00 $14,660.00 $19,600.00 350 $56.00 $7,740.00 $14,660.00 $22,400.00 400 $56.00 Finance -Operations As of July 31, 2024 Appendix A Background and Definitions Permitting NYSEG ▪Permitting Steps Meeting Schedule ▪Dryden Fiber Public Broadband Committee – Public reporting on project o 1st and 3rd Friday morning, 10:30am-11:30am (except July and August, 2nd and 4th Friday morning) ▪Dryden Fiber Operations Team Meeting – Construction and Install Collaboration o Every other Wednesday, 10am-11:15am ▪Dryden Fiber MIP Status Call – Meet with Connect All Office to stay on track o Every Tuesday, 1pm-1:45pm ▪Dryden Fiber MIP Steering Committee – Implementation of the Grant o Monthly (Town of Dryden, Town of Caroline) ▪Dryden Fiber Policy Committee – Advise and Recommend on Policy o Monthly