HomeMy WebLinkAboutBC 2025-07-11Town of Dryden
Broadband Committee Meeting
Friday, July 11, 2025 – Via Zoom
Approved Minutes
Attendees
Graham Dobson – Broadband Committee
Tony Salerno – Broadband Committee
Joel Cisne – 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
Brad Penney – Vantage Point Solutions – Project Engineer
Kevin Keough – Vantage Point Solutions – Director of Customer Relations
Adam Monell – Gleamon Technology
Jeff Smith – Municipal Solutions
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
Matt Kinast – Accounting Assistant
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 (June)
Executive Summary – Dave Makar
We have 432 paying customers (+30 in June) and 31 in-bound requests
We are now able to serve 1,807 parcels (30.9% of the Town of Dryden)
• We are now over 3 years since groundbreaking, which was in May of 2022, and with recent
updates with Vantage, we are now on our way to going much faster going forward
Municipal Infrastructure Program (MIP) Updates:
• We have increased the project total to $12.55M from $9.9M, a $2.65M increase
o Partially due to a higher than expected per mile cost, and partially due to 14 missing
miles on the original plan
• We have increased the project grant total request to $11.6M from $8.9M, a $2.65M increase
• We are working closely with the ConnectALL Office to solidify the commitment
• We should have a Grant Disbursement Agreement (GDA) within 30 days (July 15, 2025)
o Once we have the GDA reviewed, it will go to Empire State Development (ESD), the
underwriters of the grant, at their October 2025 board meeting for final sign-off
o Upon ESD sign-off, we can sign, and submit our first reimbursement request, which we
estimate to be around $2M in project expenses from June 16, 2024, through August 31,
2025
o The first reimbursement payment is expected in early 2026
• Groundbreaking is planned for October in the Town of Caroline, and public promotion may go
along with this (we will wait for Empire State Development’s approval in October)
• G Dobson asked, “The timelines don’t change at all, Dave? We are still confident we can meet
those?”
o B Penney expressed confidence in meeting project timelines despite challenges with
pole permit applications
Goals for 2025 – Dave Makar
• As of 7/1/25, we have 432 customers live on the platform
• Current Estimates:
o 65 more each month of 2025 (July-December)
o 822 total by 12/31/25 (-195 from initial goal)
This is largely due to the slowdown in green zone production
We are putting together some marketing efforts to try to reach prospective
customers
The speed of the project will increase substantially as permits come through; In
October/November, we can start green zone updates each week
MIP Scoreboard (Dryden and Caroline) – Dave Makar
• Months to Go: 18 (out of 30) = 60% of time left
• # of Parcels Reached: 236 (out of 2,711) = 8.7% of total parcels reached (this includes 61
locations added through BEAD funding, and the removal of 24 unserviceable locations)
• # of MIP Installs: 41 (out of 400) = 10.25% of total installations
• MIP Miles Completed: 23.1 (out of 186.2) = 12.4% of total miles (this is a 62-mile increase)
• # of Unserved Reached: 4 (out of 470)
• # of Underserved Reached: 0 (out of 74)
Team Reports
Customer Base – Amanda Anderson
We had 30 residential installs in the month of June
No change in commercial customers
Customer Service – Dave Makar
Ratio of Tickets to Customers:
• May = 18% (74 tickets out of 402 customers)
• June = 21% (83 tickets out of 402 customers)
The goal is that customers can self-service their support through the website and customer support
pages, and can request service on their own without having to call and create tickets
The team discussed customer support operations, noting that Netegrity handles all support 24/7/365
for a flat fee of $5,000 monthly, and Clarity Connect recently resolved two service loss incidents within
24 hours
Sales Operations – Dave Makar
Business Tier Prospects: We have identified at least 82 businesses in the green zone
• 18 are customers; 64 are prospects
• Recently, went door-to-door for about 25 of the prospects to try to get them to sign up
Rental Units / MDUs by Count: We have identified 61 rental locations in the green zone
• 34 signed agreements (231 locations)
• 10 agreements sent and not returned (74 locations)
• 17 agreements not yet sent (219 locations)
Rental Units / MDUs by Units (actual number of apartments): We have identified an estimated total of
524 units
• 231 locations that are signed
• 74 locations that are sent
• 219 locations that are identified but no agreement has been sent
There are significant opportunities in the green zone for business and rental property customers
Current installation time is around 7 days for businesses and a quick turnaround for rental units once
paperwork is completed
Installations – Dave Makar
Number of installations completed this month: 30
Number of installations pending (as of July 1st): 8
Installation blockers:
• MDU (mobile home parks and apartment buildings) work requires substantial information and
engineering planning)
o Getting enough fiber to the location (having enough fiber to reach 100% of tenants)
o Determining how to get fiber from the property line to the units (mobile homes)
o Determining how to get fiber from the building to the individual units (apartment
buildings)
o Vantage has assigned engineering resources to help address these issues
• Construction pause leads to installation slow down (early adopters propel growth)
Marketing – Dave Makar
Total Under Contract = 432 (+30 in June)
Total Requests (since 1/1/23) = 1,345 (+31)
Serviceable Live = 83.5% (the number of people who have requested service that are in the green
zone)
Website visits were up from the month of May
• Likely due to our participation in the Dryden Dairy Day Parade, where we handed out 200
postcards with our QR code
Marketing Efforts:
• Working on hiring a part-time marketer for door-to-door
• Working with Kyle Jensen on email marketing, website, and social media
• Added more signs this month
• Social media posts
• WHCU radio interview on July 10
Operations – Demarcation – Dave Makar
Demarcation Point (Demarc) – the physical location where a telecommunications service provider’s
network ends and a customer’s network begins, marking the boundary of responsibility for
installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting between the service provider and the customer
For residential connections, the demarc is typically at the ONU or plume device, while for apartment
buildings, it’s at the utility room equipment
G Dobson made a suggestion to set the demarc at the ONU as to not be responsible for any wiring
(while also providing the customer with troubleshooting)
• T Salerno added that Spectrum sets their demarc at the modem
• B Penney explained that apartment buildings require case-by-case solutions, with ideal
scenarios having one ONU per unit for clean billing and serviceability
o D Makar discussed the idea of providing educational materials (pamphlet, brochure,
video) to all new MDU construction companies that focus on incorporating fiber in new
builds
o T Salerno added that this is something that the Planning Board and the Planning
Department could discuss
Engineering Updates – Brad Penney
Pole Applications Update
• Our biggest challenge of the project is getting pole applications cleared
• Some gaps have been identified and have been put into applications that will be submitted
today (to NYSEG, Frontier, and Verizon)
• B Penney shared a map that shows the status of all pole applications
o Green = We have a conditional license to attach to a pole
o Yellow = We got quotes back from various make-ready firms, and it is in its final review
phase
o Orange = We have a make-ready work package submitted and they are going out to
bid
o Pink = Out for make-ready construction right now
o Red = Design is submitted to the joint owner of the pole
o Purple = Design input has been submitted to Avangrid for review
Construction
• Bid Process Plan: We are going to issue a bid package for Dryden in the next 2 weeks, which
will put us at mid-August for construction on pole lines where we have green poles
• D Makar emphasized that the project’s direction changed significantly since Vantage joined in
February, noting that they are building for long-term sustainability rather than temporary fixes
Design Update
• We’re in the final QC stages of our designs for all of Dryden and Caroline
Caroline Huts
• Originally, we were going to have one at Town Hall and one in Speedsville
• We have condensed these into just having one site at Town Hall
Financial Reporting (as of June 30) – Amanda Anderson
While June expenses were lower due to slower construction, July saw higher expenses with some bills
finally coming through
Accounts receivable efforts have been successful with Allison Kjellander-Cantu, Deputy Town Clerk,
collecting outstanding payments
We will be borrowing from the Town over the next few months as we wait for MIP expenses to be
reimbursed
We are getting close to breaking even on our monthly operating expenses
D Makar added that after covering monthly expenses, there was $6,000 remaining which was
absorbed by installation costs and capital expenditures
HR, Admin, and Insurance – Amanda Anderson
A Anderson introduced Matt Kinast, who started in June and has focused his time on gathering
documents for the MIP grant reimbursement and reporting
• He has been hired to assist with research as well, and has been helpful in managing invoices
and providing a second set of eyes on projects
A Anderson received the first insurance quote for Dryden Fiber’s infrastructure, with another expected
to arrive next week
Permitting Steps – Dave Makar
D Makar discussed the permitting process for utility poles, emphasizing the complexity and
importance of following a consistent process to avoid disrupting existing services
The meeting adjourned at 12:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Cassie Byrnes
Confidential Secretary to the Town Supervisor
DRYDEN FIBER
MONTHLY REPORT
for June 2025
TOWN OF DRYDEN BROADBAND COMMITTEE MEETING on July 11, 2025
And
DRYDEN TOWN BOARD on July 17, 2025
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY –7/11/2025
▪We have 432 paying customers (+30 in June);We had 31 in-bound requests
▪We are now able to serve 1,807 parcels (30.9% of the Town of Dryden)
▪The Municipal Infrastructure Program (MIP)Updates:
o We've increased the project total to $12.55M from $9.9M, a $2.65M increase
▪Partially due to higher than expected per mile cost; and due to missing 14 miles of fiber
o We've increased the project grant total request to $11.6M from $8.9M, a $2.65M increase
o We are working closely with the Connect All Office to solidify the commitment
o We should have a Grant Disbursal Agreement (GDA) within 30 days (July 15, 2025)
o Once we have the GDA reviewed, it will go to Empire State Development (ESD), the
underwriters of the grant at their October 2025 board meeting for final sign -off
o Upon ESD sign-off,we can sign, and submit our first reimbursement request, which we
estimate to be around $2M in project expenses from June 16, 2024 through August 31,
2025. We expect to receive this payment in early Q1 2026.
MIP Scoreboard –July 2025
Projected New Plan
Months to go:
23.1
----------
186.2
(12.4%)
MIP Miles Completed
236
----------
2,711
(8.7%)
# of Parcels Reached
4
----------
470
(0.9%)
# of Unserved Reached
0
----------
74
(0.0%)
# of Underserved Reached
41
----------
400
(10.3%)
# of MIP Installs
18
--------
30
(60%)
Goals for 2025
▪As of 7/1/25, we have 432
customers live on the platform
▪Current estimates:
o 65 more each month 2025
(July-Dec)
o 822 total by 12/31/25 (-195
from initial goal)
▪Note:Demand is strong:
1,356 sign-ups on the online
form: 828 are not yet in
green zone
Month Projected
New
Goal
Totals
Actual
New
Actual
Totals Diff
December 65 240 65 240 0
January 62 302 54 294 -8
February 65 367 42 336 -31
March 65 432 28 364 -6
April 65 497 22 383 -114
May 65 562 22 402 -157
June 65 627 30 432 -195
July 65 692
August 65 757
September 65 822
October 65 887
November 65 952
December 65 1017
Project Highlights
Project Name:Dryden Fiber Expansion
for Towns of Dryden and Caroline
Applicant and Partner(s):Town of
Dryden dba, Dryden Fiber and Town of
Caroline
Construction Miles (Fiber): 124.6
Total Locations Served:2,674
ConnectALL Grant Amount:$ 8,995,979.00
Local Contribution:$ 906,321.00
Total Project Investment: $9,902,300.00
Team Reports
▪Customer Base – Amanda, Town of Dryden Director of Finance and Personnel
▪Customer Service - Netegrity
▪Sales Operations – Gleamon
▪Installations – Clarity Connect, Netegrity, Gleamon
▪Inventory Management - Gleamon
▪Marketing – Exec. Dir. Dave Makar
▪Construction Permitting Updates – Vantage
▪Construction Implementation Updates – Vantage
▪Finance – Amanda,Town of Dryden Director of Finance and Personnel
▪Facilities and Grounds - Department of Public Works
▪Network Operations - Netegrity
▪HR, Admin, and Insurance – Dave Makar, Amanda Anderson
▪Legal and Policy – Dave Makar
Customer Base
As of July 1st, 2025 (billing date is 1st of month)
Customer Service
As of July 1st, 2025 (billing date is 1st of month)
Helpdesk Call Report June 2025
•Bandwidth Complaint (Speed Concerns)
•1
•Billing Related Call
•8
•Downed Drop (Damaged Service Line)
•1
•Email (Calls related to email difficulties)
•0
•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)
•19
•Outage
•0
•Install Orders / Create Service
•25
•Router Issue
•2
•PC / Laptop Issue
•0
•Sporadic Connection
•0
•Streaming Related Issue
•0
•User Error / Education
•22
•Wireless
•4
Tickets: 83 Customers: 402 Jan: 150/294 Feb: 109/336 Mar:
145/364 April: 102/383 May: 74/402
Ticket / Customer Ratio: 21%Jan: 51% Feb: 32% Mar: 40% April: 27%
May: 18%
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)
Support@drydenfiber.com
607-391-3500 (direct support
number)
User Error / Education:
User Error / Education:
Service inquiry (non-green)
Hardware Q's
Range Extenders
Sales Operations
As of June 1, 2025 (billing date is 1st of month)
▪Business Tier Prospects: We've identified at least 82 businesses in the green zone
•18 are customers;64 prospects
▪Rental Units: We've identified 61 rental locations in the green zone with an estimated total of 524 units
•34 signed (231 units)
•10 sent and not returned (74 units)
•17 not yet sent (219 units)
Installations
As of July 1, 2025 (billing date is 1st of month)
▪June 2025 Install Summary
o Number of installations completed this month: 30
o Number of installations scheduled (as of July 1st): 8
o Installation blockers / questions:
▪MDU work requires substantial information and engineering planning:
▪Getting enough fiber to the location (having enough fiber to reach 100% of tenants)
▪Determining how to get fiber from the property line to the units (mobile homes)
▪Determining how to get fiber from the building to the individual units (apartment buildings)
▪Construction pause leads to installation slow down (early adopters propel growth)
Marketing: Inbound Requests; Website
As of May 1st, 2025 (billing date is 1st of month)
9/1/23 12/1/23 3/1/24 6/1/24 9/1/24 12/1/24 3/1/25 4/1/25 5/1/25 6/1/25 7/1/25
Total Under
Contract
22 28 (+6)
Sept-
Nov
32 (+4)
Dec-Feb
44 (+12)
Mar-
May
91 (+47)
Jun-Aug
180 (+89)
Sept.-
Nov.
336
(+156)
Dec.-
Feb.
364
(+30;-2)
Mar.
383
(+24,-3)
Apr.
402
(+22,-3)
May
432
(+30)
June
Requests
(since 1/1/23)
174
(+11)
274
(+100)
363
(+89)
429
(+66)
638
(+209)
875
(+237)
1217
(+332)
1251
(+34)
1293
(+42)
1314
(+22)
1345
(+31)
Available 38 44**TBD 87 172 (+85)292 (+120)425
(+133)
453 (+28)483 (+30)500 (+17)517 (+17)
Not Available 136 226 TBD 342 466 579 792 798 810 815 828
Serviceable Live 76.3%72%TBD 51%
(44/87)
53%
(91/172)
62%
(180/292)
79%
336 / 425
80%
364/453
79%
383/483
80%
402/500
83.5%
432/517
Website Visits 8/25-9/7 11/17-11/30 2/1-2/29 5/1-5/31 8/1-31 9/1-30 2/1-2/28 3/1-3/31 4/1-4/30 5/1-5/31 6/1-6/30
Users 226 140 392 516 661 713 866 717 559 503 579
New Users 211 115 346 471 567 619 760 597 458 418 498
Sessions 324 194 617 739 1104 1110 1323 1250 1000 884 959
Engagement
(secs.)
0m
46s
42s 1m 30s 58 s 1m 13s 1m 10s 1m 14s 1m 29s 1m 19s 1m 30s 1m 10s
Marketing
As of May 1st, 2025
▪Dairy Day 2025: Saturday, June 14, 2025
▪Working on Hiring Part Time marketer for Door-to-Door
▪Working with Kyle Jensen on email marketing, website, and social media
▪Added more signs this month
▪Social Media Posts
▪WHCU Radio Interview on Thursday, July 10
Dairy Day 2025
Saturday, June 14, 2025
▪Three Vehicles: Dan's
car; Syracuse Utilities
truck; Clarity Connect
Van
▪Jason, Dan, Dave, and
Natasha
▪200+ postcards with
candy attached
▪300+ other individual
candies handed out
▪Truck magnets
▪T-shirts
Dairy Day 2025
Dairy Day 2025
Operations – MDUs
▪Multiple Dwelling Units (MDUs) represent a great opportunity for Dryden Fiber
▪To date, we have not deployed to any MDUs that require utility room level support
▪We have brought fiber to individual apartments one at a time from exterior pathways
▪We have not brought fiber to a utility room to be split out to each individual unit
▪We have the following MDUs in the green zone
▪1062 Dryden Road – 22 units, 4 buildings, hamlet of Varna
▪Willow Brook – 50 units, 2 floors, village of Dryden
▪12-14-16 Lake Street – 20 units,2/3 buildings, village of Dryden
▪Problems to Solve:
▪Making sure we have enough fiber for the number of units at the location / parcel
▪Making sure we provide the right equipment inside the utility rooms / equipment rooms for splitting fiber for each unit
▪Making sure we have an understanding of the ownership and limitations of the material used to get from a utility room splitte r to an
individual unit or apartment
▪Coax
▪Cat-6
▪Fiber drop cable (glass)
▪Where is the demarcation (see next slide)
Operations - Demarcation
▪A Demarcation point (also called a "demarc") is the physical location where a telecommunications
service provider's network ends and a customer's network begins. It marks the boundary of
responsibility for installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting between the service provider and the
customer.
▪Suggestion 1: We could use the outside NID as the clear demarcation point
▪Suggestion 2: We could set it at the ONU or ONU – CAT 5 - Plume or ONU and CAT 5 that goes into
customer owned equipment.
▪Note: As for wiring beyond the demarc, if Dryden Fiber does the installation, it should be clear that this
will be customer owned and maintained wiring. For special cases:i.e. between buildings or floors
should be considered customer owned and maintained. At some point installing beyond a single
ethernet connected Plume should probably be done on Time and Materials basis.
▪In the case of MDU I think we are probably going treat each one differently depending on how they are
provisioned.
▪Here is information on setting up a standard for MDU from Google Fiber:
https://fiber.google.com/legal/apartment -construction/
▪We could not find much documentation from searching the competition on how they addressed
demarcation.
Engineering Updates
▪Pole Applications Update
▪Pole Apps All will be submitted as of 7/11
▪Review Status Map
▪Construction Notes
▪Bid Process Plan
▪Design Update
▪Final QC
▪Ike Complete
▪Caroline Huts
▪Town Hall Site is the only POP
Financial Reporting
as of June 30, 2025
Revenue and Expenses Balance Sheet
Jun-25 2025 to date 2021 to 2024 6/30/2025
Revenue Assets
Customer Subscriptions 20,865.00 133,348.00 62,500.45 Cash 115,984.41
Grants and ARPA funds 624,614.00 1,278,067.17 Accounts Receivable 355.50
Other Revenue Sources 212.66 12,833.29 233,326.49 Grants Receivable - MIP 1,205,297.02
Total 21,077.66 770,795.29 1,340,567.62 Total Assets 1,321,636.93
Expenses
Construction 112,564.93 1,933,628.62 8,710,189.87 Liabilities
Installation 27,450.25 213,507.32 687,482.12 Accounts Payable (est)450,000.00
Operations 17,061.56 106,423.34 306,365.23 BAN 9,460,000.00
Total 157,076.74 2,253,559.28 9,704,037.21 Loan from Town 235,705.64
Total Liabilities 10,145,705.64
HR, Admin, and Insurance
July 2025
▪Administrative resources are being stretched thin: We budgeted hiring a part -time accounting clerk to
support the project in the 2025 budget
▪Matthew Kinast started in June and has focused his time on gathering documents for the MIP grant
reimbursement and reporting
Part-time Marketing Position – job has been posted on the Civil Service website. Will be reviewing
applicants next week
▪Insurance
▪Dryden Fiber Insurance search has started
▪Sent beginning information to two possible providers. Information on assets has been provided to the insurance
agents, awaiting quotes.
▪We are comparing potential providers
Legal and Policy
▪Force Majeure Events approved last month, sent to website editor
to publish new SLAs
▪Credit Schedule approved last month, sent to website editor to
publish new SLAs
APPENDIX A
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
Financial Reporting
Review of Construction Costs from beginning of project
Subcontractors (Syr. Util., Lghtspd, etc.), 50%Equipment Purchases, 28%
Professional Fees (Leg.,
Eng., etc.), 13%
Permit and Pole
Applications, 5%
Loan
interest,
2%
Misc
Constru
ction
Exp, 1%
Construction Costs 1/1/21 to 12/31/24
Subcontractors (Syr. Util., Lghtspd, etc.)
Equipment Purchases
Professional Fees (Leg., Eng., etc.)
Permit and Pole Applications
Loan interest
Misc Construction Exp
Permitting Steps
1.Final Design Edits = Survey has occurred and Prelim in is design edits
2.Prelim Sent = Sent to Engineering Firm (VPS) to review/approve and then to NYSEG/Frontier to review
3.Final NYSEG Design Sent = NYSEG reviewing final design before sending the Final Make Ready Package
4.Telco Recon = Telco Review prelim design
5.Frontier Billing Outstanding = Frontier awaiting payment to proceed
6.RFB = Request for Bid sent to contractors
7.MR Construction = Make Ready Contruction - Moves are in progress
Other Statuses (from slide 8):
▪Attached – definition...
▪Elec make-ready in process – definition...
▪Telco make-ready in process – definition...
▪Final ELEC Design Input – definition...
▪Avant Grid is NYSEG
Permitting Map Colors
1.Green = Conditional license to attach
2.Yellow = non-billable quote approved, quotes back from electrician sub-
contractors (i.e. HRS, Davella), when NYSEG gives ok, this moves to Green
3.Red = Design submitted to joint pole owner
4.Orange = make ready work package approved, heading to bid
5.Pink = out for make ready construction
6.Purple = design input (LaBella)