[0:00] [Music]

[0:29] if everybody could please rise and say the prayer of the pledge

[0:35] Heavenly Father we come before you we ask that you'd be Lord of this meeting

[0:39] give us wisdom and knowledge truth and understanding that you would be in

[0:43] charge for the decisions we make for the citizens of Hancock County we ask this

[0:46] in Jesus name amen amen amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[0:52] United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation

[0:58] under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all

[1:03] thank you

[1:07] call the meeting to order for the Hancock County Commission this Thursday

[1:10] October 27th of 2022 at 2 30. roll call please Mr President all Hancock County

[1:18] Commissioners are present thank you the first is the approval of the minutes the

[1:22] approval of the County Commission minutes for October the 13th of 2022 and

[1:27] special meeting minutes from October 21st of 2022.

[1:32] I moved to approve the minutes as presented any discussion

[1:36] all in favor aye aye motion carry 3-0

[1:40] first thing we have on the agenda for a government agency presentations we have

[1:44] Mr paparaki from the bhj concerning the Comcast pro project update

[1:51] no no maybe he got lost company we also head down for Nate

[1:57] I do have something to talk about Comcast in itself

[2:03] to give you an update on the project Maybe

[2:07] fast enough to maybe he'll get here in time how you

[2:12] doing this afternoon and you're taking the notes oh no no no over here here we

[2:18] go thank you

[2:21] I don't get paid that much [Laughter]

[2:27] there's um a couple of programs that'll be coming out

[2:32] thank you sir call

[2:39] and there's two programs that are coming out through the ntia that's the national

[2:46] telecommunication

[2:49] um infrastructure Administration I do

[2:53] believe it is and

[2:56] um they have no affiliation with the FCC they're part of the Department of

[3:01] Commerce and these are two programs that are coming out

[3:05] through what we call the iija that's the um the infrastructure

[3:12] and jobs act did he show up yes okay he's here on time I

[3:19] I was able to stall them long enough so um the first program is is called the

[3:25] bead program and this one is the Broadband Equity access and deployment

[3:31] program and you know the the purpose is to uh

[3:37] make internet affordable and reliable to all

[3:41] uh that's part of the program um examples of eligible uses

[3:47] um you know it's deploying and upgrading the internet and unserved and

[3:51] underserved areas installing internet and Wi-Fi and and

[3:57] multi-unit residential buildings adoption of these Equity programs that

[4:02] we'll talk out on the second sheet and also Workforce Development programs and

[4:07] vocational training and the reason why I bring this up and I'm going to be

[4:11] visiting also um Brooke County and and a couple of the

[4:15] other towns in the area is that uh the state of West Virginia has to come up

[4:20] with a plan and they've asked us as Regional

[4:24] councils to start reaching out and we're going to be going out to

[4:30] different organizations and having Roundtable discussions and our

[4:35] discussions and and our meetings will become part of the state plan which is

[4:40] uh part of what we call the digital Equity act in the programs and that's in

[4:46] the second page and and the first part is the state planning program

[4:51] and also the state capacity program there's going to be 60 million dollars

[4:56] for each state to develop these Equity plans

[5:01] and also um

[5:04] 101.44 billion dollars to fund an annual grant program for five years to support

[5:11] these types of projects and there's also going to be a competitive program of

[5:17] 1.25 billion dollars and it will fund annual programs up to five years to

[5:22] implement digital Equity projects and some of these projects

[5:28] um could be education for uh people that that don't have

[5:35] access and you know there might be ways to buy computers laptops

[5:41] for school kids is part of it another program that we can go after are the

[5:48] veterans people that are on SSI that would be our

[5:53] school children and have what the free meals you know breakfast and lunch

[5:59] and also um you know trying to cover you know

[6:03] identify those populations and in areas I know we have a few of them here in in

[6:10] Hancock County which would be up in the Knoll area they're they're called a

[6:15] underserved area uh try to reach out and and you know

[6:21] come up with Community programs and also education programs on how to use the

[6:27] internet a lot of that may be going up to people my age and upwards uh getting

[6:32] access to that also some people don't have uh I know I dealt with this with my

[6:38] mother-in-law you know we we were able to get our equipment so she could see

[6:43] the computer you know large keypads to work with you know those types of things

[6:48] you know is is what we're looking at to do with these types of programs so

[6:53] you're going to be hearing a lot about this probably over the next year or or

[6:57] less than you know about the next 12 months and we'll be reaching out to

[7:02] other uh Community areas and and we're going to be getting more information

[7:06] through the state of West Virginia I do believe their plan

[7:11] um their application has been accepted so uh sometimes starting soon probably

[7:17] after the holidays is probably when we're going to start reaching out you

[7:22] know with these two programs if you have any questions I'd be happy

[7:26] to answer or get you the information on I don't know if I could answer you know

[7:31] we'll see but um

[7:35] with me today I think I'm on the wire here is Mr Nate regatti uh Mr rigati is

[7:45] represents Comcast uh as as the business contact I think they have you uh

[7:52] legislated as that some mate you want to address the Commissioners sure okay

[8:03] well good afternoon nice to meet you all uh my name is Nate regatti I am fairly

[8:07] new um to Comcast I've only been uh with a

[8:11] company for about five months now I previously spent about eight years

[8:15] working for the Pennsylvania state legislature uh working for a woman named

[8:19] state representative Pam Snyder who is currently now the chairwoman of the

[8:22] Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority working on Rural Broadband

[8:25] issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania so she's retiring at the

[8:28] end of the year and I made the move over uh to Comcast to continue that

[8:32] conversation that we started in her office

[8:34] on Rural broadband and at rural Broadband expansion uh I'm I'm sure the

[8:39] commission is aware that Comcast was awarded not one but two State programs

[8:45] that we'll cover uh Hancock County one of them is uh the lead program and the

[8:51] other is Mbps so those grants that they cover most of

[8:56] the Panhandle between those two programs and the ardoff funding every unserved

[9:03] address identified by the state should have Broadband access here in the next

[9:08] few years the lead program we are now under contract with the state of West

[9:14] Virginia we've signed those agreements that is a one-year timeline to build out

[9:20] that program from the signing of that contract

[9:23] of course there's language in that contract everybody knows supply chain

[9:28] issues there's been issues and delays with poll attachments that that one year

[9:31] is is is not a exact hard deadline we're hoping that we get it done in less than

[9:37] a year for seeing any type of challenges in the future and then Mbps which is

[9:45] double the amount of fiber miles is a two-year build process from the time we

[9:52] we enter into that contract I will tell the commission that we have not entered

[9:56] into the contract quite yet with the state of West Virginia we're going back

[9:59] and forth with the governor's office and his team

[10:02] on that contract to get that done we're hoping we're hopeful that it could

[10:06] possibly done be done before the end of the year

[10:09] um I I don't know where we are in negotiations at the moment but we assume

[10:15] that contract negotiation will be a little bit smoother or not smoother but

[10:18] faster than the first one is that was a learning experience for all of us

[10:23] through that that first contract with lead so we're excited to get started you

[10:26] will see folks before the end of the year and the

[10:30] lead addresses you'll see folks out they'll be identified starting to survey

[10:36] the polls and things like that they will be in the community before the end of

[10:39] the year we were awarded a a grant in Pennsylvania we're starting uh there

[10:43] first because there's several projects there and then our folks will move from

[10:47] that project over to the West Virginia Panhandle and start surveying in in

[10:52] Hancock Brook Ohio and Marshall counties where those Grant programs were awarded

[10:58] those folks who will have our service will have our full Suite of pro of of

[11:04] products it's not just our internet product but they will have the cable

[11:08] home security and those type of of products as well not just our internet

[11:13] our internet will be you'll be able to get a gig you should be able to run

[11:17] pretty much anything off of of the internet that you're going to get from

[11:21] Comcast

[11:26] anybody have any questions for me this time and the other Commissioners I

[11:31] do I just have a point of clarification sure thanks for being here absolutely

[11:35] did I hear you say that in four years every address should have internet every

[11:40] targeted address by the state so anything that the state has identified

[11:44] so I think and and just to be clear coming from the Pennsylvania side of

[11:50] things and working in four states for comcasts uh I think West Virginia is one

[11:53] is the best out of the four states that I work with and they're mapping so it

[11:57] would any any unserved address that the state has identified will be covered by

[12:02] the time we build out uh all of those projects there's some ardoff money in

[12:07] there from the federal government too those have that six year timeline so

[12:11] again in the next four years every unserved address that the state has

[12:15] identified as of today should have service by then yes

[12:19] okay one more to expand on sure we've worked with Mr Pop Rocky for a long time

[12:25] yeah we've seen a lot of maps about what

[12:28] we're going to try yeah we're going to try and serve sure can you share with us

[12:32] the map that the target map yeah that you're talking about yes so I brought a

[12:37] general map today that's kind of the whole Panhandle supposed to have my

[12:41] colleague with me here today unfortunately she got coveted and she

[12:44] had the whole interactive map we could have sat here and zoomed in on every

[12:47] street unfortunately I'm not the the tech Wizard and I don't have that but I

[12:51] can provide you yes that map what we've also done for some other counties we all

[12:56] know that the FCC is working on new data so counties will have the opportunity to

[13:01] work with the FCC and get what's called a cost Quest license they're the FCC

[13:05] contractor that's doing a lot of the FCC fabric

[13:08] so we are providing the FCC our data so that they can make that correct map what

[13:15] if the county shows as of today Comcast policy is if the county shows that they

[13:20] have that cost Quest license we can provide some of our data uh that we're

[13:25] that we're submitting to the FCC with that fabric so that you can get that

[13:29] that really granular data from us you're a welcome commissioner

[13:33] commissioner Davis uh do you know of any uh cost sharing that may be associated

[13:38] with this whether Comcast is going to do uh with their contract with the state of

[13:42] West Virginia or look to the counties for cost sharing in these projects when

[13:47] you say cost sharing what do you mean the cost of the project sharing in the

[13:50] cost so we we um here I'll show let me get out my

[13:55] exact note here just so we have the numbers correct so

[14:00] in the lead program we were awarded a 4.7 million dollars Comcast is

[14:06] contributing 2.1 million to that project um for Mbps because of the it's

[14:12] literally it's double the amount more than double the amount of fiber and and

[14:17] miles um it's 1400 passings in both by the way

[14:20] this is for the whole this is for the whole Panhandle this isn't Hancock

[14:23] County specifically this is for the two projects that were awarded through the

[14:26] whole Panhandle um the Mbps 14.7 million dollars was

[14:30] awarded and we'll be uh supporting that with a

[14:34] capital match of 6.2 million from Comcast so we're not asking the counties

[14:40] or any municipalities to contribute any of that we have our own capital

[14:44] investment that um that we put in when we receive the state Grant do you have

[14:48] any idea how many new customers uh would be in the Hancock in Hancock County area

[14:54] uh let me pull that up here for you for a second

[15:00] it does believe Target address is in lead and Hancock was 182.

[15:09] and targeted addresses and the Mbps is 483.

[15:17] so again those 483 those were pre-revisions and we'll make sure that

[15:22] as we continue to build this out and look at it we'll make sure that we stay

[15:26] up to date with you regular meetings regular contact with your staff with you

[15:30] so that we have that up-to-date total project it's so it's over 2 800

[15:35] addresses so um for Hancock County math there close

[15:40] to 700 or so or in Hancock County any maps that you could provide us that

[15:45] would be greatly appreciated here I'll give you can I give you this to you now

[15:48] this is this is just a specific this is for the whole Panhandle

[15:54] the dark green is the leaves so those are the areas we'll do first and then

[15:59] the light green that you see on here um is the Mbps grants the yellow that

[16:05] you see on there is actually where we currently serve that that's our current

[16:09] service territory so we call those node boundaries these are rough I can get you

[16:14] when you show me that Costco if the county goes and gets a cost Quest

[16:17] license to see the FCC fabric we'll be able to get you some more granular data

[16:22] that we're providing directly to the FCC the questions we normally get

[16:27] brought to us are is my road going to be searched sure and we've seen some maps

[16:32] over the years sure we're a little reluctant on on saying yes your area

[16:37] will be served or it won't be served but if you have a definite roads that's

[16:42] going to be served we appreciate that if you could share it with us the easiest

[16:46] thing for you to do too for you and your staff you get that from one of your

[16:50] constituents you shoot it right to me and we'll be able to answer that here as

[16:54] these projects go forward too that's already been built we're going to get

[16:57] there next month we're going to get there in two years we'll be able to to

[17:01] line that to lay that out for you more specifically so any constituent that

[17:05] reaches out to the commission to you individually as Commissioners to any of

[17:09] your staff please send them my way and I'll be happy to get those answers for

[17:12] you as soon as possible I can usually have them same day second day day after

[17:17] but I communicate with you so I have my card to to give you and I have some

[17:22] information as well so one thing that that we're really big

[17:25] on right now at Comcast I think um not patting ourselves in the back a

[17:30] little bit but we're really focused on digital equity

[17:32] so um there's a lot of conversations about

[17:35] the Royal broadband and not having access not having high-speed internet

[17:39] outside their front door to run to their house but

[17:42] um I personally do not believe there's been enough conversation about the folks

[17:46] being able to afford that internet um once it's there just looking at some

[17:51] some data City of Pittsburgh 20 of people in the city of Pittsburgh do not

[17:55] have internet and it's not because it's not in the city of Pittsburgh it's

[17:58] because they don't adopt it they either don't know how to use it or they can't

[18:02] afford it so we're really focused on finding Community Partners to help

[18:06] people make sure that they can sign up and afford that internet the federal

[18:09] government has the affordable connectivity program which is thirty

[18:12] dollars per month we have a low-cost low-income program internet for 29.95 a

[18:18] month you take your 30 a month credit from the federal government and you can

[18:22] get free internet inside your home from Comcast and all of our customers that

[18:27] would qualify as low income would qualify for that program

[18:32] or I'm looking for Community Partners um non-profits that we can help get that

[18:37] word out about that program we're not seeing a strong adoption rate of that

[18:41] across the country of folks knowing about that program or signing up for

[18:46] that program if you're already qualified for a federal subsidy like a snap

[18:51] Medicaid things like that you're already pre-qualified through the federal

[18:54] government it's very easy to sign up for that program

[18:57] if you're not it's 200 percent of the poverty guideline so if you're not on

[19:02] one of those programs already then you have do have to submit your proof of

[19:06] income but if you're already on a federal subsidy you do not have to go

[19:09] through all the steps of submitting your income it's already verified by the

[19:12] federal government uh you're you're that you're qualifying for these programs so

[19:16] I'll leave a folder with you with some of that information some stuff that

[19:19] we've done in the state of West Virginia as well and my cards in here too thank

[19:23] you give me to leave any of this with your

[19:26] staff as well if we could definitely have one for our staff because

[19:30] absolutely thank you you're welcome appreciate it thank you very much

[19:38] you're welcome any other questions commissioners

[19:42] anybody else yeah thank you for stopping for your time absolutely any questions

[19:45] please feel free to reach out thank you Mike

[19:54] we'll move down to new business under the commission consideration of approval

[19:58] of the West Virginia local government election and release forms

[20:06] thank you move to approve as presented any

[20:11] discussion all a favor

[20:14] aye aye motion carry 3-0 next we have consideration of approval

[20:18] to accept Cass Valley uh Pavilion bids we did have the bid opening today as

[20:23] advertised we accepted one bid in that was given to us and

[20:31] that was a bid for eleven thousand and eighteen dollars from the electric

[20:35] company in Weirton for the electrical work on the Pavilion

[20:42] do we need to make a motion just to make this a matter of a record

[20:47] if um you may if you wish

[20:53] or you can simply ask for a motion if there's no motion you just move forward

[20:56] okay I love to approve this bid okay any

[21:00] discussion all in favor to accept the bid this is

[21:04] for the 11 000 and 18 from the electric company or electric go

[21:08] all in favor aye aye aye motion carry 3-0

[21:12] next we have consideration of approval of the general County budget revision

[21:16] number two for physical year 22 23

[21:21] moved to approve any discussion all in favor

[21:26] aye aye motion carry 3-0 under the animal shelter a consideration

[21:30] of approval of July August and September of 2022 in and out reports

[21:36] move to approve any discussion all all a favor

[21:42] aye aye motion carry 3-0 next under the county clerk Mr Lucas is

[21:48] there any action needed on this no it's no longer needed parties the parties

[21:52] have filed this withdraw it they were they found the original will so it's not

[21:55] needed I'll go under Finance approval of the

[21:58] exoneration orders I guess there you have eight eight

[22:02] move to approved any discussion

[22:06] all in favor aye aye motion carry 3-0

[22:10] approval of any County Commission travel um commissioner check has traveled being

[22:16] this is a personal matter I'll excuse myself

[22:22] foreign

[22:25] travel is 669.46 let's note that was for nine

[22:31] months nine months okay

[22:34] Mr President I move that we approved the travel okay any discussion

[22:38] all in favor aye aye motion carries two to zero one

[22:42] of detention

[22:45] can someone bring in commissioner check

[22:55] foreign

[23:01] next we go to approval of the general County bills

[23:05] um General County bills are 22 708

[23:13] 387.50

[23:16] we pay the bills is there any discussion all in favor all right motion carries

[23:22] 3-0 approval of the animal shelter Levy Bill uh Levy fund bills and record

[23:27] requisitions they're okay okay to pay

[23:31] any discussion all in favor

[23:35] aye aye motion carry 3-0 approval of the library Levy fund bills

[23:39] and requisitions two libraries submitted they're okay to pay

[23:42] even though we pay the bills any discussion

[23:44] all in favor aye aye motion carry 3-0

[23:48] approval of the sheltered workshop Levy fund bills and requisitions okay to pay

[23:54] I moved to pay the bills any discussion all in favor

[23:59] aye aye motion carry 3-0 go to the order anything from the county

[24:03] clerk's office nothing today anything from the circuit clerks Cindy

[24:09] anything from the prosecuting attorney's office not today

[24:12] commissioner Davis um just like to wish Anne blank and ship

[24:17] farewell she's leaving the Commission office tomorrow will be her last day and

[24:24] we wish you well in your new Endeavors it's been a pleasure having you here

[24:28] with helping us out for the last couple years

[24:34] commission check I'd just like to make a couple remarks

[24:37] about the time that Anne has been with the Commission office

[24:41] she's leaving this office in a much better place than she found it

[24:46] the work that she's done in the Commission Office she's developed

[24:50] processes that allow us to work more efficiently

[24:54] that will allow the next person to that takes her place to

[24:59] do a better job for the people and I'm also thankful I'll get to work

[25:04] with you in your capacity as councilwoman

[25:08] I also like to thank Ian for her time she's done a great job and they didn't

[25:12] matter what time of day if we needed something give her a call she's always

[25:15] got back to us so really appreciate everything you've done for us here and

[25:18] couldn't uh congratulations on your new position I hope everything works out

[25:22] well for you and your family I also want to remind everybody that

[25:27] early voting started yesterday for the county so I want to let you know about

[25:31] that election day is on Tuesday November the 8th next meeting scheduled will be

[25:37] Thursday November the 10th at 2 30 pm and if there is no other objections I

[25:43] call this meeting adjourned

[25:48] [Music]

[26:15] foreign

[26:27] [Music]

Commission Meeting 10-27-22

Transcript