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Home My WebLink AboutBC 2025-08-22Town of Dryden Broadband Committee Meeting Friday, August 22, 2025 – Via Zoom Approved Minutes Attendees Graham Dobson – Broadband Committee Tony Salerno – Broadband Committee Arthur Sommer – Broadband Committee Dan Lamb – Town of Dryden Deputy Supervisor Mark Witmer – Town of Caroline Supervisor Brad Penney – Vantage Point Solutions – Project Engineer Kevin Keough – Vantage Point Solutions – Director of Customer Relations 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 Matt Kinast – Accounting Assistant Dave Makar called the meeting to order at 10:34am Second of 2 Monthly Meetings – Discussion Meeting Introductions – Dave Makar G Dobson 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 G Dobson, “Is this mission still aligned with your thinking of the Broadband Committee and the project?” o G Dobson answered, “Yes, I think it’s definitely aligned, and because we’re expanding out to Caroline, that it fits it better than just being a Dryden-town totally centric, although that is our first priority.” o G Dobson added that he has been very happy with the service Point Broadband Agreement/Master Service Agreement for Dark Fiber Licensing – Dave Makar The Town Board approved a 10-year agreement with Point Broadband to use 3 miles of their dark fiber network for our backbone (from Deerhaven Drive to Mount Pleasant Road) • We paid for this agreement back in 2022, so we have 7 years left • We will not be able to build off this network directly • The houses in this area (on Baker Hill Road) have access to fiber through Point Broadband • There are 22 prospective customers in this stretch, and 18 of them have signed up for fiber • We will build our own backbone by the end of the term (3 miles) • We will build our own local service (Baker Hill Road, Mount Pleasant Road) post MIP D Makar encourages these 22 residents to contact their current providers for better deals while waiting for Dryden Fiber Project 1 is “Freeville Extension RFP” – Dave Makar We are dividing the rest of the project development (project construction and splicing) into 5 major regions, prioritizing the first four regions because of state funding: 1. North half of Dryden 2. South half of Dryden (MIP-related) 3. Western side of Caroline 4. Eastern side of Caroline 5. Everything remaining in Dryden that is not MIP Project 1 – Freeville Extension RFP • The project will go out as a Request for Proposals (RFP) and will be sent out as a public notice, will be on the Town’s website, and will be published on Contract Reporter • The RFP Package contains: o Legal Contract with Bid Requirements o Engineering Requirements o Timeline / Deadline • For NYS / Empire State Development requirements, it must be open for 15 business days, and it must go to NYS for their review and approval once we have selected a recipient o Was originally supposed to go out to bid on August 21, be due on September 11, and go to the Town Board for their review on September 18 o We are now hoping for a quick turnaround once everything is finalized so that it can still get to the Town Board for their September 18 meeting o If approved by the Town Board on Thursday, September 18, we can then notify the recipient on Friday, September 19, and potentially start work on Monday, September 22 • B Penney provided a high-level overview of the project, including its scope and the need for additional capacity at the Freeville PoP, and mentioned that more detailed information will be shared with the committee once the RFP is finalized The committee discussed the Freeville Extension Project details, which involves building and extending fiber infrastructure across various roads and areas • D Makar explained that while some construction was completed last year, there are still sections that need splicing, increased fiber count, or full build • G Dobson raised concerns about updating the drydenfiber.com map, referencing customers on Upper Creek Road who were promised service but haven’t received it yet • D Makar showed the map, highlighting areas funded by MIP and discussed the need to update the map once the Grant Disbursement Agreement is signed in October • The committee discussed the geographical scope of the project, including which areas would be served by the Freeville and Pinckney PoPs, and the need to bring another Ciena device to handle the increased load in the Freeville area Network Infrastructure Audit – Dave Makar We are working on the process of getting the entire network audited, which will tell us every single road, street, MST, and house that goes to each PoP, as well as the fiber counts • We have a quote from a prospective vendor who can perform the audit • Will take approximately 3-4 weeks to complete Construction – Dave Makar PoPs: Generators have been installed (by winner of bid for project) • Freeville and Pinckney are on natural gas • Yellow Barn propane is coming next week • Fencing to follow (posts are installed at Pinckney) • Cutover happened on 8/20/25 with no down time except for 3 minutes at Pinckney where the UPS did not activate T Salerno mentioned experiencing a brief network outage around 3:30am today, likely due to system updates • D Makar suggested that T Salerno submit a support ticket so that Netegrity could investigate • G Dobson praised Netegrity’s communication about planned outages and encouraged regular testing of system resilience o D Makar noted that the network has been significantly improved with three backbone providers, generator installations at the three PoPs, and various hardware upgrades since their early days serving only 40 customers Hanford Drive – Splicing Completed • Installations have started (7 of 8 homes are now live on Dryden Fiber) Caroline Construction of Central Office (PoP) • This is out for bid • Due back on Tuesday, September 2, by 4pm • Groundbreaking planned for October, pending the Governor’s availability Pole Permits for MIP Project • Moving through LaBella, NYSEG, and Electrical Make-Ready vendors • We’ve awarded 5 to Danella and 6 to H. Richardson & Son o H. Richardson & Son submitted lower bids for 5 recent permit projects compared to Danella o B Penney explained that while H. Richardson & Son has been more committed to the project, they maintain a balanced approach between vendors to manage workload o G Dobson inquired about timeline commitments and penalties, to which B Penney clarified that while timelines are requested from vendors, we do not have contractual enforcement since we are working under NYSEG’s contract (Vantage Point staff will monitor the progress though) Grant Disbursement Agreement (GDA) – Dave Makar We heard from NYS on 7/24/25 The GDA will be available to us after the Empire State Development board meeting in September The goal is to sign the GDA in October after careful review (double-checking location updates) First reimbursement submission will be for spending through 8/31/25 and will be submitted on or before 10/31/25 • The first reimbursement will be around $2 Million New Topics – Dave Makar Extend Meeting Time • D Makar suggested extending the Public Broadband Committee meeting end time from 11:30am to 11:45am to accommodate the increasing amount of business and legal matters being discussed, and the meetings tend to go to about 75 minutes each month o A Sommer suggested the meeting end time be 12:00pm o D Lamb suggested that the committee front-load things that really need to be focused on in the meeting, and move discussion items that might be more optional towards the back o The committee agreed to change the meeting end time on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of each month to 12:00pm Build Out Website • D Makar suggested building out the drydenfiber.com website to include an “About Us” section, which would include the background of the project and bios of team members including the Public Broadband Committee o T Salerno liked this idea Marketing • D Makar reported a 25% penetration rate with 450 customers out of 1,800, noting that while some residents may never sign up, there are still 1,350 potential customers who could benefit from additional advertising • The committee agreed to consider advertising for the remainder of the year to reach more residents • D Makar reviewed the process for tracking agreements with property owners, showing that there are currently over 65 property owners who have contracted with Dryden Fiber o The property owner agreement permits fiber to be installed on their property and allows their tenants to sign up for service • The committee addressed customer requests for a “vacation mode” service o A Anderson explained that customers can currently suspend their service temporarily, but a lower bandwidth option during extended absences would require further discussion due to billing complexities o The committee decided to research how other ISPs handle similar requests before considering any changes The meeting adjourned at 11:49am Respectfully submitted, Cassie Byrnes Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor