[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]