3/36/09 minutes

Please find attached the minutes from the IT Committee’s 3/26/09 meeting.  Minutes have also been posted to the blog.

03/26/09 Meeting Minutes

St. Lawrence County Information Technology Advisory Committee
03/26/09 Meeting Minutes
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: 2nd Floor Conference Room, Human Services Center

Laura Perry called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.

1. Welcome New Committee Members & Meeting Attendees
Introductions – Present:

2. Review/accept minutes from 1/22/09 meeting
The committee made no changes to the 1/22/09 minutes.

3. Presentation: Dan Churchill, RidgeviewTel -
Dan Churchill and Vince Jordan (via voice call) of RidgeviewTel made a presentation to the committee regarding their intent to submit a proposal to the NTIA for a broadband expansion project in St. Lawrence County. They have prepared a plan which involves a build out of 92 miles of fiber which would be extensions on the exiting DANC network. Their plan builds into 11 business districts, includes 29 wimax sites which would serve a 2 mile radius for each site with wireless internet access. The cost totals $6 million dollars. Their plan includes a partnership with DANC to build out the fiber. The presentation included an online view of their proposed service coverage, along with Q&A’s from committee members. RidgeviewTel is asking for 4 things from the committee: 1) recommendations on where to provide service, 2) recommendations for a model community to provide fiber to the home. The primary criteria are to identify communities that have Internet access only via satellite (no other wireless or wireless high speed service throughout the community). 3) assist them in conducting a survey to gather data on where demand for broadband service exists. 4) formal support for their application.

Following the formal presentation the committee discussed reactions to the presentation and the committee’s next steps. The committee scheduled a follow-up subcommittee meeting for 4/1 at 10am to review in greater detail the proposed service coverage. Ridgeview agreed to provide greater detail regarding the proposed service coverage and the overall proposal. Dan will forward to Jon Montan electronic maps and forward additional info to Laura. In regards to #3, it was decided the committee’s survey conducted in 08 is sufficient at this time. No further action at this time. In regards to #4, the committee decided to delay decision of support pending the following:
• review of additional information provided by RidgeviewTel
• DANC decision whether or not to proceed
• a review of responses from other service providers – Committee will invite service providers to share plans with the committee regarding proposals to NTIA. Committee will review to identify best solution for SLC. Laura will issue a letter to service providers and issue a press release about this.

4. SLC IT Director position – Laura informed the committee that the SLC BOL intends to appoint a new director at their April 6th board meeting. The new director’s name is Rob Hack, he comes from central NY, and he has a broad range of experience as CIO of several major corporations. The search committee completed a review of over 60 applications, and unanimously endorsed Rob as the successful candidate. The committee can look forward to having Rob join our efforts in the future.

5. IT Committee’s strategic plan – Laura shared that the Strategic Plan is nearly complete. All sections have been fleshed out and revisions have been completed. There is a need to review the current document for final editorial corrections and any final suggestions for change. The document will be posted to Google Doc’s. Laura asked all committee members to review the posted document to make final suggestions for change. Helene Melon volunteered to do a close reading for editorial changes. Committee should expect to formally adopt final document at April’s full committee meeting. Plans are then to present it to the BOL for review, presentation and adoption as SLC’s IT Strategic Plan.

6. Newton Falls Grant – SLC Planning office is in receipt of a contract from New York State. Contract negotiations have commenced and more will be forthcoming in the near future (we hope).

7. New Visions Power – Rick made contact with the CEO of New Visions Power, Carmen Branca. He has agreed to meet with the committee and discuss current plans for service deployments in New York. He is available to meet with us at 11am on 4/23. Committee members present agreed to change April’s meeting time to 11 to accommodate the speaker.

8. Stimulus Money – Rick Johnson is active with the State’s broadband initiative committee meetings. They are currently working to organize a statewide method for developing a statewide broadband access map. He is waiting to hear how & where to submit info. The committee also talked about the availability of this funding and identifying ways in which we might encourage applications to it. NYS is hosting a meeting on 3/30 in Albany regarding OFT’s plans for universal broadband. Tom Sauter indicated that DANC will have a representative present at the meeting. The committee will review OFT’s & NTIA’s websites for upcoming announcements. The committee aired a few ideas, no action items resulted at this time.

At 4:00 pm, agenda items 9 – 13 tabled until April’s meeting.

Next Meeting: Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 11:00 am – NOTE NEW TIME!

The meeting adjourned at 4:10 PM.

Re: IT Meeting announcement and materials

All,
Attached is a good overview of the $7.2B set aside for broadband development, who and how it will be administered, and the process for applying for it.
Its interesting to note that up to $350M have been set aside for broadband mapping to “establish a comprehensive nationwide inventory map” of broadband capabilities in the United States(see page 5) and also that some local municipalities have already started !

See you Tomorrow,
Greg




Laura Perry wrote:

Dear IT Committee Members – I recognize communications have been quiet.  Be assured, efforts have proceeded on several fronts since we last met.  Please be reminded that the  IT Committee is scheduled to reconvene for a full committee meeting Thursday, March 26^th at 2pm at the 2^nd Fl Conf Rm in the Human Services Bldg on Cty Rte 310 in Canton.  I look forward to catching up with all of you. 

 

Please review the agenda & associated materials prior to the meeting.  We will begin promptly at 2pm. 

 

 

Laura J Perry

 

Home/Office:

28 Cassidy Rd.

Parishville, NY 13672

 

V - (315) 265-4233

C - (315) 267-6857

F - (775) 261-9009

E - laurap@slic.com

IM - LauraSlic

 

IT Meeting announcement and materials

St. Lawrence County
Information Technology Advisory Committee
Meeting Agenda
3/26/09, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: Human Service Building, 2nd Fl Conf Room

1. Welcome New Committee Members & Meeting Attendees

2. Review/accept minutes from 1/22/08 meeting

3. [TO BE CONFIRMED] Presentation: Dan Churchill, Ridgeview Tel
Dan Churchill is a representative of Ridgeview Tel. The company is seeking the help and support of the County in making an application to the NTIA’s Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program. Here is a link describing the program http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/index.html

4. SLC IT Director position – update

5. IT Committee’s Strategic Plan

6. Newton Falls Grant – project status, update

7. New Visions Power – proposed to present to us on 4/23, at 11am (note meeting time change)

8. Stimulus Money
a. State Broadband Initiative – Rick Johnson
b. NTIA Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program
c. Other?

9. Rte 28/Lisbon Connection Request (see email enclosed with agenda)

10. Recap of discussions with Four-Lane Highway Working Group

11. Recap of discussions with Sheriff

12. Jerry Schell/Library System

12. 2009 Work Plan –DRAFTS of the following documents included with this agenda.
Please review and plan to use these as working drafts during our meeting. Feel encouraged to suggest items I’ve omitted.
1. 10-minute presentation
2. Directory of service providers & resources
3. Profile of committee members
13. New Ideas Proposed:
• Sponsor a contest honoring innovative uses of technology to accomplish organizational mission
• North Country IT Symposium, Fall 2009 – a forum for Business & IT in the North Country
• Sponsors: CU, County
• Do a call for presentations, ask North Country Businesses to talk about how they use technology to grow their business
• Have several tracks for different constituencies (perhaps 3-4 50 minute sessions, with 5 concurrent sessions for 15- 20 presentations).
• We’d arrange for a keynote
• A vendor display area in the Cheel concourse (local and national vendors could come and market their wares to business people).

Questions & Discussion


Action Items for Next Meeting


Next Meeting: TBA

01-22-09 Meeting Minutes

St. Lawrence County Information Technology Advisory Committee
01/22/09 Meeting Minutes
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: 2nd Floor Conference Room, Human Services Center

Laura Perry called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.

1. Welcome New Committee Members & Meeting Attendees
Introductions – Present:

2. Review/accept minutes from 12/18/08 meeting
The committee made no changes to the 12/18/08 minutes.

3. Strategic Plan-
It was indicated that the Assessment and Vision sections located in the industry segments that are noted below with a ‘*’ need to be updated with the new SLC Benchmark.

3. Where Are We and Where Are We Going?
*Business & Industry……
K-12 Education
*Healthcare
*Libraries
*Higher Education
Community Based Organization
*Government
Tourism, Recreation and Parks
Agriculture

Laura made additional revisions to the Project Concepts portion of the plan, and will finalize for review prior to next meeting.

The committee discussed action items for 2009 to consist of the development of the ten minute presentation and the directory of IT service providers as a priority.

Also, the committee further discussed the focus on possible grant funding sources, and would like to invite April Bender for an upcoming meeting.

4. Old Business—
St. Lawrence County IT Director
Laura Perry indicated that at this time there have been 38 applications submitted to the board; the application deadline is January 30, 2009.

Next Meeting: Thursday, February 26, 2009

The meeting adjourned at 4:20 PM.

What the broadband stimulus package means to rural telcos

Powered by    * Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified.       This came to me via Greg Stahl...             Click the following to access the sent link:       What the broadband stimulus package means to rural telcos*                 Get your EMAIL THIS Browser Button and use it to email content from any Web site. Click here for more information.   *This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser. http://telephonyonline.com/independent/news/broadband-stimulus-rural-telcos-0223/index.html

volunteers wanted

Jason Clark of the Four Lane Highway Working Group and I have had a couple of telephone conversations over the past month regarding the IT Committee’s willingness/interest in aiding the Four Lane Highway Working Group in achieving its mission through the use of technology.  For those who attended our full committee meeting in January, you’ll remember I brought this suggestion forward and it was received warmly by those present.  Jason and his group are receptive to our cooperation and are interested in hearing how we might help. 

 

To get the ball rolling, Jason and I have set a time to sit down with a few members of each of our committee’s to brainstorm some possible ideas for them to explore as they move forward with their mission.  Jason & I also believe that our efforts are closely related as we have discussed the importance of developing both sets of infrastructure – technology & roads.  For those reasons, we feel a good working relationship between the two groups makes sense.

 

I would appreciate approx two other members of the IT Committee to step forward with a willingness to participate in this effort.  Jason & I are scheduled to meet Thursday, March 5th at 11:00 am in Canton and I would appreciate involvement from those volunteers.  Please reply to me to let me know if this is something you can help with!  Thank you! 

 

 

Laura J Perry

 

Home/Office:

28 Cassidy Rd.

Parishville, NY 13672

 

V - (315) 265-4233

C - (315) 267-6857

F - (775) 261-9009

E - laurap@slic.com

IM - LauraSlic