Utilities Committee

The Utilities committee is concerned with public utilities and information technology for the City of the Cleveland.

Today’s meeting has just one item on the agenda: a contract with @DigitalC_org for a citywide broadband network https://t.co/oDw18mqew8

You can find the agenda and the materials for today’s meeting on @CleCityCouncil‘s site here (as of this morning, the links for the Digital C presentation & slide deck weren’t working though): https://cityofcleveland.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1105733&GUID=590C6821-0590-472E-9A12-0E6312AEE848&G=2EB18EF1-2C21-4D1D-85C9-B38100AB8FFD&Options=&Search=

Here’s who serves on the Utilities committee
@kazy_brian @jennyspencercle @KBishopCLEWard2 Deborah Gray @KrisHarsh Danny Kelly, Mike Polensek https://t.co/j4Vci67Tjo

Here’s some recent reporting on this planned citywide broadband network by @signalcleveland‘s @NickCastele: https://signalcleveland.org/cleveland-plans-major-broadband-internet-expansion-to-narrow-digital-divide/

The meeting is scheduled for 1 pm and should be streaming live on @CleCityCouncil‘s YouTube channel and TV20: https://www.youtube.com/@ClevelandCityCouncil/featured

Just waiting for the livestream to begin…

The meeting stream is up - the beginning of the meeting wasn’t captured though

Now the committee is hearing from Joshua Edmonds, the head of Digital C https://t.co/FbN1sS8I07

I’ll try and get screenshots of the presentation. The link for this slide deck in the agenda still doesn’t appear to be working https://t.co/i83LcbMgAC

Edmonds sez Digital C didn’t start as an internet service provider, but grew into it from providing indoor wifi connections.
They’ve been an internet service provider since 2021.
Digital C has 1,000 customers thru a partnership w/ Metro & CHMA https://t.co/3RpGQj6vb0

Digital C’s plan: expand network citywide over 18 months (3 6-month phases), starting with east side wards 5, 6, 7 & 9 https://t.co/OzAXYkPrSd

Digital C is proposing $18 per month service with higher than gov’t minimum standards fir “high speed” internet (although it sounds like gov’t minimum standards will increase soon)

100/100 Mbps is sufficient to support multiple devices + video streaming https://t.co/JCnnw3AQIR

Digital C’s internet service is wireless, delivered via ~120 towers when its citywide. Edmonds says they’ll be able to use existing towers instead of building all new towers

Residents would have a small unit mounted to their residence to connect https://t.co/craGLAJc5S

Digital C is planning to work w/ their partners as well as use door to door outreach to get residents connected to service as well as digital skills classes https://t.co/PThHnD9r2X

Edmonds says they have a $20 million grant lined up from the Mandel Foundation (to match the $20M they’re asking from the City) as well as a $3 million Federal earmark. https://t.co/bIOgr6EUOE

Another look at Digital C’s timeline to connect residents to internet service and digital literacy training https://t.co/Oe4CVYavhl

Ward 17 Charles Slife asked about service to Riverside Park (CMHA property by the airport) considering height restrictions & frequency issues near Hopkins

Edmonds says they’re using existing cell towers. If you can make a cell phone call you should be able to access the service

Ward 15 Jenny Spencer asks how many high speed internet customers Digital C currently has

A: ~2,000

Jenny Spencer also asked about timelines for build out & enrollment (assuming an August 2023 start):

18 months to build out the network citywide,

But it’s 4 years to expand from 2,000 to 23,000 households (and achieve sustainable revenue)

Cleveland has 170,000 total households

nerd tweet:

Digital C is using refractory technology which doesn’t require a direct line of sight. It’s overbuilt with multiple connection points to make sure even when there’s interference (from foliage, for example) to provide consistent 100/100 Mbps service

Ward 8 Mike Polensek asks if Digital C will pay a franchise fee to the city of Cleveland.

City’s Austin Davis says no – state law now bans franchise fees from service providers

Digital C’s $18/month internet service cost is contractually locked-in for five years.

After that (say, 2029) it can go up based on inflation rate

Digital C has a team that does installation and also contracts with Shoreworx, a Cleveland company headed by Chuck Norris.

Digital C has a service hotline staffed at the Cleveland Sight Center to troubleshoot service issues and can dispatch teams if needed

a motion passed to amend the legislation to require Digital C to make quarterly updates to Council re: installation progress

also will need to make its quarterly service optimization records public

Ward 4 Deborah Gray asks about Digital C’s community engagement, esp. in Mt. Pleasant.

Edmonds says that Digital C isn’t planning to hold neighborhood engagement efforts until they have a date they’re confident they can begin installations there.

Ward 16 Brian Kazy asks about the marketing plan. “You’ve been around four years and only have 2,000 customers”

Edmonds says that’s why Digital C has undergone a “rebalancing” and has a new marketing person.

Brian Kazy says Digital C needs a permit to be able to do door-to-door solicitation in the City of Cleveland. Says he’s instructed Ward 16 residents not to open the door to any solicitors w/out a permit

Ward 13 Kris Harsh clarifies something I was confused about: the $20 million is not ARPA money. It’s from “revenue recovery of ARPA funds” (I’m unsure what the difference is)

The 100/100 Mbps requirements for spending ARPA funds don’t apply here

Ward 13 Kris Harsh says Digital C has a “checkered history” of overpromising & underdelivering

2020 had a plan to connect 40,000 subscribers, in 2023 currently has 2,000

Harsh asked about (and I think sounded skeptical) of the org’s ability to break even in 4 yr @ 23k customers

Kris Harsh also asked about connections b/w Edmonds and Mayor Bibb. Asked if Edmonds was at a Miami function w/ Bibb (Edmonds said he wanted to go, but couldn’t)

Also asked if Edmonds knew Digital C’s proposal would be selected before signing on to head Digital C last year

Councilmembers Polensek and Harsh recommended holding the legislation until there’s more information/answers to their questions

Kazy says he’s holding the legislation til July.

Kazy says Digital C “hasn’t proven itself” yet but they’ll “work together to figure something out”

And with that, the meeting was adjourned. ~2 hours 45 minutes long, and about 15 people were watching with me on YouTube at one point

It sounds like Councilmembers are a bit skeptical of Digital C’s ability to carry out this plan, given their previous ambitions and current status (big plans for lotsa subscribers, still sitting at only 2k)

Though the committee ended without moving the legislation forward, it ended on what I thought sounded like an optimistic sounding note ahead of another hearing on this in July.

I wonder what will be different about Digital C’s proposals or council’s thoughts later this summer?

This concludes my coverage of today’s @CleCityCouncil Utilities committee meeting

Have questions? Think we got something wrong? Send any inquiries on the meeting or these tweets to @cledocumenters. Or email us at cledocumenters@gmail.com