An agreement between Gloucester County and Open Broadband, LLC, that would have the North Carolina-based company place equipment on existing county-owned towers to provide broadband service to 113 households was approved unanimously following a public hearing Tuesday.
The small number of homes in the agreement is due to the funding source for the project. Gloucester was awarded the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative Grant to fund broadband projects in the county.
The VATI grant does not allow Open Broadband, LLC, to overlap its signal with existing Cox Communications territory.
Open Broadband serves 15 different rural counties in North Carolina; Gloucester will be its first venture in Virginia. Open Broadband CEO Allen Fitzpatrick said that the company doesn’t intend to make a large profit in Gloucester because of its size. He said if Gloucester was a more profitable market, Cox would have already installed infrastructure throughout the county.
In the agreement, Open Broadband will have access to existing towers for free for three years; however, Gloucester will get a portion of earnings made from subscribers of the new service. Acting County Administrator Carol Steele said that it’s important for the board and county residents to understand that Gloucester has had no other offers for some time.
Steele said Gloucester had put out requests for proposals to contract for broadband installation, and got zero replies.
After extending the request for proposals, the county was able to contract with Open Broadband. She said Gloucester already has approximately 86 percent broadband coverage in the county, which makes the county a less-than-favorable location. She said that without the VATI grant this wouldn’t be possible without Gloucester putting up more funds.
Steele also said with additional funding from future grants or from county coffers, the agreement with Open Broadband would allow them to install more equipment to reach more of the county. This work would not be eligible to be funded by the current VATI grant the county has been awarded.
A new VATI grant will go through the General Assembly in the near future, and Steele said she believes it will contain fewer restrictions, and more money than the current one. There are about 2,500 homes that will not have broadband after the 113 homes are served. The current VATI grant provides about $200,000 in support for Gloucester and Open Broadband and the county committed about $200,000 each to matching the grant. To service the remainder of the county, it is estimated to cost more than $1 million.
Board member Ashley Chriscoe suggested another source of funding to have Open Broadband start setting up equipment to reach the rest of the county. On the board’s agenda was a decision to accept or deny funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. Under ARPA, Gloucester was awarded $7,254,411 with half being made available in 2021 and the second half in 2022.
The board accepted the funding unanimously, and Chriscoe suggested that a portion of those funds be used to provide broadband throughout the county. Though no formal motion was made, the board seemed to agree that using the funds to provide broadband throughout the county would be impactful for Gloucester residents. A resolution for funding will be drafted to be considered by the board at a future date.
Second Amendment
Also, during the meeting, board member Phillip Bazzani presented a resolution that seeks to further protect Gloucester residents’ Second Amendment rights. The resolution stated that neither the county nor supervisors would enforce any unconstitutional laws enacted by the state or federal government that would restrict gun ownership in Gloucester. This includes federal tracking or the confiscation of firearms. Several Gloucester residents voiced their support for the resolution.
Concerns of the legality of the resolution were raised by Ronnie Cohen during the public comment period. She questioned the board’s authority to enforce laws that would supersede federal laws. County Attorney Ted Wilmot said the resolution states that Gloucester would not enforce unconstitutional laws. Wilmot said that the U.S. Supreme Court rules on what is or is not constitutional and that Gloucester would have to follow the court’s decisions, but the resolution was legal.
The resolution, named the Second Amendment Preservation Act of Gloucester County Virginia, was approved by a vote of 6-1. Board chairman Robert “JJ” Orth was the only one who voted against the resolution. Orth said that the passing of the Second Amendment Sanctuary in December of 2019 was all that the county needed.