The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutBC 2025-04-04Town of Dryden Broadband Committee Meeting Friday, April 4, 2025 – Via Zoom Approved Minutes Attendees Graham Dobson – Broadband Committee Mark Wilson – Broadband Committee Arthur Sommer – Broadband Committee Jason Leifer – Town of Dryden Supervisor Dan Lamb – Town of Dryden Deputy Supervisor Mark Witmer – Town of Caroline Supervisor Tracy Monell – Gleamon Technology Shawn Scorzelli – Syracuse Utilities Eric Beckhorn – Clarity Connect Dave Makar – Executive Director Amanda Anderson – Director of Finance and Personnel Cassie Byrnes – Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor Ray Burger – Planning Director Rick Cicciarelli – Resident Kimberly Griffiths - Resident Dave Makar called the meeting to order at 10:32am First of 2 Monthly Meetings – Reporting of the Previous Month (March) Introductions – Dave Makar A Anderson 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 asked A Anderson, “As the front line for all billing, you’ve probably communicated with every single customer at least a little bit. How are you experiencing this mission in your day-to-day?” o A Anderson shared her experiences in customer service, including how she handles billing issues and customer issues, and how she implements customer feedback to improve service (including customers with multiple accounts and/or multiple properties) Executive Summary – Dave Makar Work Stoppage has Impacted Subscriber Growth • February 13th – Terminated partnership with HUNT EAS and signed partnership with Vantage Point as our lead engineer • February 28th – Vantage Point gave a Preliminary Report and requested a 10-14 day construction stoppage so they could conduct a comprehensive evaluation and potential redesign of the project • April 2nd – Estimated restart date is still TBD (Vantage is still working through the design, budget, and timeline for both the Town of Dryden and the Town of Caroline and for both MIP and non-MIP) o G Dobson expressed concern about the delay and resource allocation, to which D Makar explained that Vantage is doing a complete restart in-person (vs on a computer as our previous engineer did) so that we have a strong foundation when we build this  Conducting in-person surveys and audits to address numerous design flaws, including issues with pole placement, digging locations, and fiber allocation for future growth • Substantial and widespread issues with design and implementation of design (construction) • No new green zone parcels since February • Audits underway: o Existing outside plant (exterior) o Network, timeline/schedule, total budget, and permits • The MIP project timeline and budget are also being reassessed due to discrepancies in the original plans The Municipal Infrastructure Program (MIP) Updates • We have a GDA ready for processing • We’ve identified at least 7 locations that we are now challenging • We are reviewing the total MIP budget ($9.9M total; $8.9M grant) • D Makar and G Dobson discussed the progress of the MIP project and the concerns about finishing the project on time o Two pole permits were released from their hold and are moving forward with LaBella (once approved, they will move to electrical make-ready, then to construction) o There are 41 total permits in the project (12 pre-MIP, 18 in Caroline, 11 Dryden MIP) o The pole permitting process of our previous engineer firm involved requesting permits for every single telephone pole in the Town of Caroline for MIP, and many poles in the Town of Dryden for MIP and non-MIP; Once receiving the permit surveys and work done by LaBella and NYSEG, then we made an evaluation of which poles we actually needed; This process resulted in 24% of the poles applied for in the Town of Caroline being removed from the project, which was a significant financial expense o Vantage will look at every pole and decide which poles are needed, and not request permits for poles that are not needed • Engineering Firm Challenges o D Makar discussed the challenges faced by HUNT in completing the project on time and within budget  Overwhelmed with the size of the project, as it was bigger than their capacity  Struggling to meet the community’s expectations in the yellow and blue zones of the map (timelines not met)  Suggested use of our contingency fund to cover additional costs and locations that were not initially included in the project (61 missed locations) • G Dobson asked if the MIP grant was flexible in completion time, to which D Makar answered that he was unsure about the possibility of extensions or additional funding, mainly due to the funding issues with the Federal Government; D Makar explained the following: o The project is funded through the Treasury Department, which is still functioning o The first tranche of funds has been requested by NYS from the Treasury, and the next quarter’s funds will be requested soon after o The future of the third and fourth tranche is uncertain o This is a reimbursement grant and requires spending ahead of time, paying all invoices, and then sharing the invoices with NYS for reimbursement o The grant also requires us to achieve specific project milestones (which include design documents), and now that we are doing a redesign, we can’t hit that milestone until the redesign is completed • Issues with the Grant Disbursement Agreement (GDA) o 7 locations were not financially accounted for in the original project plan and budget o Before we can sign the GDA and submit for reimbursement, we either need more funding or we need to have those 7 locations removed from the project o M Witmer asked about the surety of the funding, to which D Makar responded that the money is more protected as it is from an older funding act • Vantage is assessing the total budget ($9.9M total; $8.9M grant) We are now able to serve 1,729 parcels (29.6% of the Town of Dryden) We have 364 paying customers (+38 in March) We had 65 in-bound requests in February There was an outage on Sunday, March 16, 2025, during a windstorm • The outage lasted for 115 minutes (4:34pm-6:29pm) On April 3, 2025, D Makar and T Monell went door-to-door in the Village of Dryden, and visited 25 businesses with a very positive reception We participated in the Community Connections event on March 29, 2025, at Dryden Fire Department • Spoke to about 25-30 residents • A Sommer, G Dobson, J Leifer, and T Salerno volunteered at the booth to answer questions and talk to people about what we have available today We’ve removed 35 locations from the network on Baker Hill Road and part of Mount Pleasant Road • This directly impacts 2 customers We’ve terminated our first subscriber due to lack of payment • We turned off service; they paid; we turned service back on; payment failed; then was successful; service is currently on • A Anderson mentioned that we are having payment issues with only a few customers, and most customers are very responsive We’ve launched the updated map on drydenfiber.com • New colors and easier to see some of the buildings • D Makar is working with Vantage to revise the map even further, with a clearer picture of the progress of the project, what is required by MIP, and a realistic timeline of when parcels will turn green Coming Up: • Weekly meetings with Vantage Point (Wednesdays) • MDU planning and support (we have at least 8 Multiple Dwelling Units with prospects) Draft Goals for 2025 – Dave Makar • As of 4/1/25, we have 364 customers live on the platform • Current Estimates: o 65 more each month of 2025 o 949 total by 12/31/25 (-68 deficit from initial goal) MIP Scoreboard (Dryden and Caroline) – Dave Makar • Months to Go: 21 (out of 30) = 70% of time left • # of Parcels Reached: 210 (out of 2,735) = 7.6% of total parcels reached • # of MIP Installs: 34 (out of 400) = 8.5% of total installations • MIP Miles Completed: ~10 (out of ~150) = 6.6% of total miles Team Reports Customer Base – Amanda Anderson We had 30 installs in the month of March and 2 customer losses (Point Broadband customers) No change in commercial customers (could change next month due to the recent marketing) Address Availability Updates – Dave Makar 56 addresses added back in from the western side of the Village of Dryden, Goodrich Way, Hilton Road, and Highland Drive All other construction and splicing is on hold pending the audit and potential redesign Next Two Weeks: 1. Audit and assessment 2. Vantage Point Kick-Off Session with construction team (Syracuse Utilities, Lightspeed) Installations – Tracy Monell Number of installations completed this month: 30 Number of installations pending: 15 Installation blockers: Construction work stoppage Financial Reporting (as of March 31st) – Amanda Anderson ARC Grant funds were deposited into the bank account, so we can count those as revenue in March Liabilities – Accounts Payable is an estimate because all the bills are not yet totaled • The total is larger than normal due to Graybar catching up on contractor invoices (past work) A Anderson explained the “Dryden Fiber Revenue and Operating Expenses Chart” and said our revenue is now meeting our operating expenses Sales Operations – Tracy Monell Took a tour of the Mobile Home Park on Mott Road, and found that it is not designed for Dryden Fiber to get in there, and is on hold until Vantage is ready to proceed Met with the representative of the apartment building on Library Street to discuss the status of the Property Owner Agreement, and with the Director of the Southworth Library There is potential for the discontinuation of the E-Rate Program, which could impact various organizations D Makar mentioned the need to educate clients about the power of our highest-tier services We now have 31 (out of 56 possible) signed Property Owner Agreements for rental properties, and we can move forward with installations for those prospects There are currently no issues with inventory Customer Service – Dave Makar An outage on March 16 that lasted just under 2 hours resulted in 34 inbound help desk calls There were a few issues with connections; All but one were fixed by unplugging devices and plugging them back in (the one that was not fixed was found out to be an issue with the customers’ own router) Network Operations – Dave Makar Outage Configuration Change • Changed to allow for backhaul outage to send traffic to secondary provider, as needed • Reconfigured on March 16, 2025 • Notes: Tested failover with both providers – Successful Backhaul Provider Change from FirstLight to Cogent • Started on March 27, 2025 Central Office (CO) Ethernet Switches – Added 2 • Needed to connect servers and various network equipment using copper instead of fiber • Cost: $870.50 + Labor Vantage Point Network Audit • D Makar, S Brennan (Netegrity), and Vantage Point met to begin the communication of what our network looks like • Vantage Point is going to do a network audit and work on/understand what we have today to extend the network into Caroline • Kick-Off: March 31, 2025, with Vantage team HR, Admin, and Insurance – Dave Makar Administrative Resources • Being stretched thin due to the number of requests from NYS on MIP, as well as the other parts of managing the project (billing, invoicing, etc.); We budgeted hiring a part-time accounting clerk to support the project in the 2025 budget • We need to begin this search and have someone join the team in May or June 2025 Department of Labor Administration • We are required to have all subcontractors report job titles and demographic information for the project (due to NYS by April 30, 2025) Insurance • A Anderson explained that the Town’s insurance provider has no way to cover the fiber and the equipment, so even though it is lumped under the Town, it is not covered specifically • We are comparing potential providers Marketing – Dave Makar Total Under Contract = 364 (+30/-2 in March) Total Requests (since 1/1/23) = 1,251 (+34) Serviceable Live = 80% (the number of people who have requested service that are in the green zone) What we are doing for marketing: • Door-to-Door Campaign • Community Connections Event • New Spring 2025 Postcards o 1,000 postcards to all residents in the green zone who haven’t signed up for service • Website Updates – Focused on “Contact” and “Support” pages o G Dobson suggested adding a blurb about the difference between copper and fiber optics and the speeds Executive Session D Makar requested to move to Executive Session with members of the Broadband Committee only, to discuss items related to pending litigation Executive Session Attendees: • D Makar • G Dobson • J Leifer • D Lamb • M Wilson The meeting adjourned at 11:42am. Respectfully submitted, Cassie Byrnes Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor