Thread by @shayshinecastle

OK, now broadband. This is a citywide project that has received incredible amounts of public support. What we're talking about here is building the "backbone" — about $19M of the total $40M cost to bring fiber internet to the city.

That's $15.8M for the backbone and $2.3 or so for lateral connections to key sites such as low-income housing, the library, etc. boulderbeat.news/2019/04/23/cou…

An update since last time: The city *can* reuse some of its existing conduit, so that will save some money, Julia Richman, CTO, says.

Correx to earlier tweet: Connections will cost $2.7M, for an $18.5M backbone build.

Property will be used as collateral for the COPs. The Boulder Municipal Property Authority issues those. The collateral buildings are sold to BMPA, which leases them back to the city.

Municipal and Atrium buildings are proposed as collateral. (We're in the municipal building right now.)

“The properties were chosen because of their value and because they are an essential part of the City’s operations to show that the City has an interest in making the annual appropriation necessary to the annual payments on the certificates. The essentially test is required."

Some stipulations: City won’t pay back more than $1.6M a year on COPs (actual amount is expected to be $1.4M annually)
Lease won’t extend past 2039
Interest of COPs won’t exceed 5% (estimate is 3.5%)

Moody's will be rating the COPs; the city is doing a presentation to them Aug. 15.
August 30, 2019: Post Preliminary Official Statement
September 10, 2019: 9:30 a.m. Public Sale of 2019 Certificates – Bids received from underwriters for the estimated $20M

September 26, 2019: Closing on the 2019 Certificates and the receipt of the estimated $20M

This is all a little tedious and boring, I know. But I'm here in case you want to learn something.

Council technically has to convene as the BMPA board or whatever to OK this funding.

Construction of the backbone is to begin by the end of the year.

Some of the lateral connections I referenced earlier are going to BHP properties. The city will essentially provide free WiFi to those in the interim while it figures out the operating model for the network as a whole.

Which is so nice! Free high-speed internet to low-income residents. A great social equity tool.

Carlisle correcting some language in the ordinances.

The city has some new financial advisors who put these together, Richman says. These are preliminary documents, but we can make changes.

Boulder's total COP debt at the end of 2018 was $37M.

Morzel is concerned about adding debt. (She's expressed these concerns before during previous discussion of this issue.) "I’m very nervous doing this bc this is putting us in debt." Total COP debt after this will be $57M; staff has said before we're reaching our capacity.

Construction of the backbone will take 2 years. The city has been placing fiber infrastructure as it does road replacements and other projects, to save disruption and cost. They'll continue to do so during this project, staff says.

Brockett: Is it true that you won't always have to dig up the streets for this?
That's correct, staff says.
Brockett: So this will be lower impact.

Carlisle: I'm looking at where the backbone is going: Up 119 and then "cross-country" digging into the red rocks up Sunshine Canyon. Why was that route chosen?
Richman: We have existing conduit and infrastructure there.

Nagle asking how much COP debt other cities of our size have.
Staff doesn't have a figure, but it's a very common financial practice and that some cities have up to $100M.

Morzel: We just started doing it. So how is it common? Did everyone else start doing it, too, or are we late?

COPs are a way around TABOR, staff says, bc that requires debt to be approved by the voters.

Talking a little about racial equity and how broadband fits into that.

Sorry I don't have more details on that; I was listening and not typing. But basically, this will be one of the first projects not specific to racial issues that will include a racial equity component. (Via access to the internet network)

We have three public speakers. Two of them are anti-5G folks. I recognize them from the hearings.

Good time for me to pee.

You, our second speaker, glad that broadband will be under city control. We don't need these wireless corporations in charge, she says.

Lynn Segal thanks council for doing the connections to lower-income neighborhoods so they will get service sooner.

James Feeney is back!

Public hearing is over. Yates moves to OK the funding. Now he's giving a little speech.

"I feel like this is a milestone." Thanks staff for their hard work, and asks them to explore lateral connections to mobile home parks, to let council know what it will cost.

Unanimous vote to fund the backbone construction.

Brockett: "This is a very exciting project. It's a great step forward."

That's it for this one. Please unroll @threadreaderapp. Thank you!