A contract for managing the Point Broadband project was awarded last week by the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners.
The board voted unanimously at its Jan. 24 meeting to approve a $96,000 contract with Chris Scherrer of DCS Technology for managing the Point Broadband project despite concerns over further project delays.
When the county signed the contract with Point Broadband in early 2022, it awarded the service provider $5 million — including $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act Funds — and stipulated the network would be completed by Dec. 31, 2023.
The end date was subsequently pushed back to June 1, and now the Opelika, Alabamabased internet service provider says it may not be completed until the end of 2024. However, Scherrer said he believes this is an overly conservative estimate.
“Point Broadband has set their deadline for December of 2024. I believe we can get it done … by the end of summer, we should be able to get it done. It’s just a matter of getting the resources and getting everything in line to get the work finished,” Scherrer the board.
In Scherrer’s opinion, Point Broadband could be budgeting too much time for securing construction contracts partly because they anticipate competition from other providers laying fiber optic cable funded by the next round of Realizing Opportunity with Broadband Infrastructure Networks (ROBIN) grant awards.
Point Broadband received about $5 million in funds from the first round of ROBIN grants. Another provider, Spectrum Charter, applied for the next round of ROBIN grants, hoping to receive just over $1.3 million to build 37 miles of fiber network in “southwestern” Leelanau County, including Cleveland, Empire, Glen Arbor, and Kasson townships.
Earlier in January, Scherrer said that he was working with Charter to address “anomalies in their proposal,” such as passing underserved addresses they could reach during construction. At the Jan. 24 meeting, Scherrer told the board that if Charter receives the ROBIN grant and he can get them to include these addresses, they can propose a contract to the county in late February or early March.
The county board unanimously agreed to pay $25,000 to Scherrer to continue his efforts with Charter to establish a contract for bringing high speed internet to the four townships. This included paying Scherrer for work that he’s already started, and several commissioners voiced their apprehension about not agreeing to this proposal before Scherrer began his work.
“We need an expert like this, and they should be paid for their work,” Interim Finance Director Cathy Hartesvelt said, arguing that neither herself nor Administrator Allen were qualifi ed to negotiate with Charter. “We did do this a bit backwards. We’ve had a few 2023 projects that were done a bit backwards. We’re just trying to right the ship and move a bit forward and make sure people who work are paid.”
In other business Jan. 24 commissioners:
• Issued a proclamation acknowledging Dick Grout’s receipt of the French Legion of Honor award. Grout, a Suttons Bay man who celebrated his 103rd birthday in November, is being recognized for participating in the D-Day landings. According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, the Legion of Honor is France’s highest military decoration.
• Heard a presentation from John Amrhein, a governance educator with Michigan State University Extension, on county finance structure at a committee of the whole session earlier that morning.
