Hotchkiss Town Council Supports Region 10 Broadband Initiative

Hotchkiss Town Council Supports Region 10 Broadband Initiative

By Thomas Wills

Hotchkiss Town Council

Special Meeting on Region 10 Broadband and 2016 Budget

November 2, 2015

Present: Mayor Wendell Koontz, Tom Wills (this reporter), Larry Jakubiak, Dustyn Foster and Jim Roberts.  Absent: Carrie Wingfield and Lindee Cantrell. Also present: Michelle Haynes – Region 10, Marshal Dan Miller, Town Clerk/Financial Officer Marlene Searle, Deputy Town Clerk – Ginger Redden, and Public Works Director- Mike Owens.

After several meetings at which mixed messages, confusion and questionable/changing information was presented, the Hotchkiss Town Council appears to finally be getting a firmer handle on the Region 10 broadband project and why it will benefit the future of the Town and Valley. This is due in no small part to Mayor Wendell Koontz’s leadership on the issue along with Trustee Dustyn Foster’s stepping up to attend broadband meetings on behalf of the Town and becoming  conversant in sharing information on the technical issues. Foster is a structural engineer.

At their November 2 work session on the issue along with a review of the draft 2016 budget, the Council had a chance to clarify broadband issues with Region 10’s Michelle Haynes, the point person on the project. The core of the project is that Region 10 will be bringing nearly unlimited broadband capacity to the region via fiber they will own that extends south to the Internet POP (point of presence) at Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is made possible by collaboration with Tri-State Generation, and DMEA, the latter of which is building excess fiber capacity into their internal network to each of their substations.  Region 10 has received over $6 million in grants to build the regional fiber network and this is being matched by contributions from counties and municipalities as well as by significant in-kind infrastructure donation/collaboration from DMEA.

In the case of Hotchkiss, Delta County will contribute up to $54,000 to extend the fiber line from the DMEA substation about a mile south of town on 3400 Road into town and probably to the Delta County Annex building.  From there the Town would contribute a cost share of up to $116,000 to extend the fiber to the Town Hall, Town Shops and to several other possible “anchor” points including the Hotchkiss K-8 School and the public library. Besides the fiber costs of about $11 per foot installed each anchor point would require a $5,500 server system. There would be no monthly maintenance costs to hosting the anchor points other than provision of a suitable secure location. The only costs would be for actual Internet service to the anchor institutions.

Haynes explained that the new network would be a huge improvement on the present TDS network limitations from which acceptable upload speeds are currently available only to those who are able to pay very high costs. In contrast, Haynes estimated that Region 10 could sell 100/100 mbs (the same up and down speeds) capacity to a local ISP like TDS or DMEA for a price that would result in a consumer retail monthly charge of only about $60. That is about the same as what locals currently pay for 5/1 mbs service that only approach those speeds when the user is relatively close to the TDS servers. TDS also currently offers limited 25/5 mbs service.

After considerable discussion Mayor Koontz recommended that the Town budget $50,000 for both 2016 and 2017 for the cost share on the project as it happens within the town. Being a work session there was no vote but there appeared to be no hard objection to this preliminary move.  Koontz said that the Town could then have meetings with the other stakeholders in Town like the K-8 School and library to determine their financial participation in the project and determine a solider cost figure.

Region 10 plans to begin construction on their project in about June of 2016 with completion sometime in late 2017.

The big question that remains is who will build the last mile in getting service from the anchor points to homes and businesses?  In Hotchkiss, Paonia and Crawford TDS would be the obvious leader since they are already here but would they be willing to invest the kind of money necessary to extend fiber optics to homes and businesses?  If they balk will DMEA be willing to step in?

2016 Budget Shows General Fund Deficit

The second version of the Town’s 2016 budget showed a deficit of some $110,000 in the core General Fund. Town Clerk/Finance Officer, Marlene Searle, noted that a 2015 GF budget deficit of nearly $100,000 had been turned into a small surplus  as had had happened to some degree all during the recent recessionary years. Searle works with the other department heads through the year to successfully trim spending.

Searle then underlined the fact that the deficit amount was growing each year and there would come a time when frugality would not be able to overcome the deficit and the General Fund might start drawing from reserves.

The Capital Projects Fund showed a drawing from reserves in the amount of $151,640 leaving an end of 2016 balance of $148,448 in reserve. This last number was before an additional $50,000 for the Region 10 broadband project was added.  Public Works Director Mike Owens suggested that if the Trustees wished to take $50,000 from Capital Projects that the Town trims back on other projects so as not to drain the CP reserves further. An obvious candidate would be $64,000 earmarked for completing the Leonard Trail, a project whose worth has been questioned, that extends a pathway within and from the Town owned park at the intersection of Highway 92/133 south east to the new Fairgrounds entrance. The CPF is funded by one half of the Town’s 2% sales tax

The enterprise funds all appear to be in good shape and besides the already scheduled trash fee increase no water/sewer increases were mentioned.