FAQs • Park County, Colorado • CivicEngage

Will this require a vote?: To approve the LID, a resolution by the county commissioners is required. A hearing will be held and public comments will be heard. In addition if a bond is used to secure the funds for all those property owners included in LID will be required to pass a tabor question the yearly election cycle.

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Bailey Broadband Initiative

1. Who gets connected first?: That will ultimately be managed by the provider/partner but a multiple area approach will be discussed

2. Why does fiber cost so much?: Fiber optic cable is fairly cheap, the labor to install and the electronic equipment required and continued maintenance represent most of the cost. Bailey has big build challenges with our terrain, rocky soils, winding roads and large lot sizes – all contribute to a pricier build

3. If I am not signed up can I get connected either during the project or soon after?: If a local improvement district (LID) is used the inclusive properties must be defined at the date of approval. If an additional phase is considered for the future another opportunity might become available but would likely require a large ‘tap fee’ be paid at the time of connection. Participating in the LID will allow payments to be spread over a long period of time and to stay with the property should you move.

4. Who owns the infrastructure?: By state law, if a local improvement district is used to build a network a provider must own it.

5. How long are these payments?: The Local Improvement District (LID| is financed through a 20 year bond. Payments start when the benefit can be realized to your property and ends 20 years later unless prepayment has been made.

6. Who maintains all this stuff after installation?: The provider/partner has the responsibility based on the agreement.

7. What happens if the project gets into trouble and requires more resources than agreed on?: Projects this size utilize many contractual tool such as performance and surety bonds to guarantee obligations.

8. What happens when I sell my house?: The remaining obligation on the LID remains with the property and collected during the yearly tax process as an assessment.

If your property lies within the boundaries of the approved LID your property will be accessed as soon as the benefit can be used.

10. How much value does this add to my home?: Averages range from 3-5% increase on current value.

11. Is there redundancy with the system?: Local network redundancy will be built into the system. Backhaul redundancy (connectivity out to the Internet) will be dependent on the partner/provider. Currently our area does not have redundant backhaul connectivity. This is desired for the project and a partner/provider who can bring backhaul redundancy will be a more attractive partner.

12. What equipment is required to be mounted to my residence?: Depends on the provider but at minimum, a technician will likely mount a small box to house equipment on the outside of the house and may bring a connection device and cable into the house to connect with customer to connect to devices in home.

13. Who provides customer support?: The provider that’s chosen as our partner.

14. Can we have an open access network and allow multiple provider on the network?: No. A Single provider will be chosen as partner to offer services on the network. To provide an open access network, the public would have to pay for 100% of the infrastructure. This appears to be too expensive a course at present.

15. What happens if we choose not to support this concept?: You will continue to have the same level of service and choices that you currently do. Some new wireless services may become available to parts of the area under discussion.

16. What part of this project is the county involved with?: Should there be adequate support for the project to move forward, the County will assist in the formation of the LID, the selection of the partner, oversight of the construction, the management of the partner contract and performance, the collection of the assessment and payment to the bond provider.

17. Will this require a vote?: To approve the LID, a resolution by the county commissioners is required. A hearing will be held and public comments will be heard. In addition if a bond is used to secure the funds for all those property owners included in LID will be required to pass a tabor question the yearly election cycle.

18. Will there be workman on my property?: Yes. Utility easements will be accessed and some utility poles may need to be replaced or newly installed. A circuit will be added to your panel and some small boxes and fiber will be mounted to the outside of your house. Notifications will be given well in advance.

19. Does this help with cell phones?: Cell towers require fiber back haul to function. The project does not yet contemplate new cell tower infrastructure but should. The existing cell tower will perform at a much higher efficiency if included in the plan,

20. Why doesn’t the federal government pay for it or contribute to the project?: This is a good question to ask your congressman or woman.

21. Why doesn’t the state pay for this?: The state does not have the 100’s of millions of dollars necessary to build the infrastructure needed to serve all citizens of the state.

22. Why doesn’t the provider pay for this, we pay them enough money each month?: The infrastructure and services have specific known costs. Without public financial support, those costs are much to high for any company to sustainably offer services in this area.

24. How does net neutrality affect this project?: It has no affect on this project.