TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Jon Gjestvang, Chief Information Officer
REPORT BY: Mark Revis, Broadband Project Manager
SUBJECT: Request Approval of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Personal Computing, Inc. d/b/a Valley Internet for Grant Funding for Broadband Deployment Projects
RECOMMENDATION
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Approve and authorize Agreement No. 8682 with Personal Computing, Inc. dba Valley Internet for the pursuit of grant funding for broadband deployment projects. (No Fiscal Impact; Discretionary)
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BACKGROUND
Broadband access is poor in rural areas of Napa County. The low population density in rural areas provides poor returns on investment for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), stalling the provision of services without grant subsidies to offset the costs of construction. The Board of Supervisors recently approved Napa County’s Strategic Plan for Broadband, which calls for the County to develop strategic partnerships with ISPs for new deployment projects in areas that are eligible for grant funding.
Napa County has received funding from the California Public Utility Commission’s (CPUC) Local Agency Technical Assistance (LATA) grant program to create detailed plans to deploy broadband in priority areas within Napa County and to form partnerships with ISPs in order to obtain additional grant funding for the deployment projects. This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will fulfill one of Napa County’s obligations under the LATA grant. Under the MOU, Valley Internet agrees to submit application(s) to the CPUC’s Broadband Infrastructure Account grant program and/or other state and federally funded grant programs in the identified priority areas. Napa County agrees to provide letter(s) of support for Valley Internet’s applications, and to make reasonable efforts to prevent delays in the review and response to Valley Internet’s permit applications, should grant funding be awarded.
In 2023, the Board approved a similar MOU with Comcast for their application for funding of a project in the Rutherford area.
Valley Internet is a local ISP, based in Fairfield, California, that currently serves many residents and businesses in Napa County. They desire to expand their service into areas that have been identified as priority areas by Napa County and further desire to work in cooperation with the County in the provision of those services.
Requested Action:
Approve and authorize MOU A-8682 with Valley Internet to seek funding, as described above, for the deployment of last-mile broadband service to residents and businesses in selected high-priority unserved and underserved areas within Napa County.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
No |
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Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? |
Discretionary |
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.