In the second phase of the expansion project, communities in east-central, northeast, south-central and southeast Lee County will receive high-speed broadband coverage.
During Monday’s meeting, the Lee County Board of Commissioners voted to move forward with the next phase of the Lee County Broadband Expansion Grant Program. Up to $3.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding awarded to Lee County will be used for the program.
In 2023, the council approved a motion to allocate a total of $4.3 million for broadband expansion. More than $984,400 of that amount went to projects in Salem, South Central and Loachapoka.
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County Administrator Holly Leverette said these projects have helped the county identify other areas in need of services.
“Through this process, and through the information from citizens that have been sent to us, it appears there are other areas in Lee County that are unserved or underserved,” Leverett said. “We still have identified on the map of the different project areas that you need. these areas. However, there are no conclusive maps in the states where projects are ongoing.”
The above picture is the broadband access map of the entire Lee County, including the area covered by the first phase project and other proposed areas. No specific projects or streets have been identified yet. These are just the areas the Lee County Commission requires internet service providers to check.
Courtesy of Sain Associates and Lee County Commission
District 5 Commissioner Richard LaGrand Sr. voted against the project Monday, which passed in a 4-1 vote.
Applications for the second phase of the funding program are now open on the Lee County website, and the proposed project areas are central-eastern, northeastern, south-central and southeastern Lee County. According to the funding notice attached to each project, each project “requires the construction of broadband infrastructure to provide reliable service with at least 100 Mbps download speeds and 20 Mbps upload speeds.”
Leverette said Lee County will work with ISPs that receive grant money to identify areas of need and priority areas for the county. Leverette said the IAC has created a new application for this phase that will provide a copy of the map with the county’s priority areas but will not simply list the projects the county hopes to complete.
“So they will use their creativity and submit to us areas beyond what we advise them to consider. We will then work with Sain Associates to determine whether those areas actually meet Treasury Department guidelines for being unserved or underserved. “Levillette said. “My hope is that by the last meeting in June we will be ready to award the remainder of the Phase 2 project.”
Applications must be submitted by May 10th. The county has not yet identified specific projects or streets.
Leverette added that there are areas the county can’t address because they come from the RDOF program, a federal grant program that affects rural areas the federal government considers unserved or underserved. She said the federal government provides ISP with funding for the RDOF program, which means the county cannot use ARPA funds in those areas.
Leverette said the county won’t be able to spend all $3.4 million during Phase 2, giving them time to move forward with Plan B or find a way to contract the money before the end of the year. The county has until the end of 2024 to contract out ARPA funds.
Other entrusted business
During Monday’s meeting, Environmental Services Director John McDonald announced that Lee County will participate in the PALS Alabama “Don’t Leave It at Alabama” 2024 spring cleanup event. The campaign will run throughout April and will focus on clearing litter along the roads.
The event is a statewide initiative. Anyone wishing to participate in the program or seeking more information can contact the Lee County Environmental Services Department at 334-737-7013.
The committee approved two resolutions formally earmarking ARPA revenue-in-lieu funds for the project. The first is an allocation of $1 million from the ARPA Revenue Replacement Fund to the Waste Disposal Fund 140. According to the memo, $1 million is needed to help offset additional costs incurred due to a significant increase in the volume of waste processed at the collection site. Pandemic.
The second resolution formally earmarks $250,000 in revenue-in-lieu funds for the design and construction of Loachpoka Park.
The committee voted to approve an update to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Flood Damage Prevention Resolution to more effectively address the need for compliant floodplain development. Chief Building Officer Eric Parten said the resolution shouldn’t have a big impact on his department because they are already complying with the resolution’s requirements.
The committee approved a grant of up to $43,287 in the ARPA Local Tribal Coherence Fund (LTCF) to cover the cost of updating courtroom cameras on the second floor of the Lee County Justice Center. The approval includes a contract with DPS Group for works on the second floor project. The county’s LTCF funding totals $100,000, and as construction progresses, a proposal for the first-floor project will be presented to the Board of Commissioners for approval.
The commission approved a request for bids to purchase 14 or more Chevrolet Tahoe emergency equipment for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. Mobile Communications America won the bid for $148,127.
The committee unanimously raised three questions until its next meeting, the first of which was an update on the Planning Director position. Former Planning Director Joel Hubbard retired Dec. 31, according to a memo included in the commission’s agenda packet. County Engineer Justin Hardee asked the council to bring the project to the next meeting, and it was approved unanimously.
The board also updated Lee County’s venue rental fees. Lee County Parks and Recreation has set rents for recreation leagues who want to use its grounds, but a 501c3 nonprofit recently contacted the department asking about discounted rates.
The committee voted to put the issue on hold so they could get more information about the specific request. Hardy said the commission adopted the fee schedule in November 2020 without considering offering discounted rates to nonprofits at the time.
The committee presented a proposal from Leverette to update county buildings with ProWatch access control technology. According to the memo, the current electronic boards, cards and software are now obsolete and parts will not be available in the event of a failure. This can pose a safety risk to the building, and current technology is not compatible with newer technology.
Leverette explained at the meeting that the department discovered the issues during construction of the new Highway Department building and the committee had two options: Option one was to gradually implement the changes because they were failing; Option two was to update all current system, the entire process takes approximately 12 days in total. New technology will also be installed at the highway department building. Option one is to install outdated technology in the highway department building.
According to Leverette, option one will cost $162,455 and option two will cost $321,178. Leverette said they found out after the 2024 budget was passed and only recently received the offer.
The committee also voted to hold a work session on April 8 at 4 p.m., one hour before the next meeting, to discuss the issues discussed. The next Lee County Commission meeting is scheduled for April 8 at 5 p.m. at the Lee County Courthouse.