HomeMy WebLinkAbout#8 Broadband
To: Board of Directors
From: Peter L. Holzmeister
Date: December 29, 2000
Broadband Business Planning
a) Meeting with LAFCo committee: On December 28, 2000 Jim Maass and I met with SR Jones, Don
McCormack, and Paul Norsell. We discussed the revenue projections contained in the Vectren
report. At one point we patched in Dwayne Tutt by telephone from Lexington Kentucky and
discussed details of the assumptions and projections.
At the end of the meeting the LAFCo committee told us that they are prepared to recommend
activation of the latent communications power subject to four condtions:
i) We need to enter into an indemnification agreement by which we hold Nevada County LAFCo
harmless if sued for approvinmg the latent power
ii) We need to enter into agreements to pay in-lieu-of franchise fees to the Town of Truckee,
Placer County, and possibly Nevada County so there is revenue neutrality.
iii) There will be sunset to the approval of activation of the latent power such that if we do not
proceed to construct the broadband system within forty months the communications power
reverts to latent.
iv) We must implement a risk mitigation measure. With respect to risk mitigation, LAFCo will
retain the services of a public accounting firm to review the level of protection offered by the
final agreement, and will render an opinion regarding its adequacy.
The LAFCo committee proposed that this matter be agendized for the January 18, 2001 LAFCo
meeting, to be held in Truckee. If the full commission approves the committee recommendation we
will have received conditional approval for activation of the communication power. The conditional
approval will be made final after we have demonstrated that the four conditions are satisfied.
b) Consideration of an indemnification agreement between the District and Nevada LAFCo: Steve
Gross and Scott Brown, attorney for LAFCo, have been working on the language for an
indemnification agreement. Steve Gross is on vacation this week, so I do not know the status of the
agrteement as of this writing. When I spoke with Steve last he and Scott were close to agreement on
the language. I will talk with Steve on Tuesday and get the ageement to you.
c) Status of risk management issue: Alan Harry has been working directly with Aon to develop a
detailed risk mitigation contract. Alan too is on vacation this week. When he returns on Tuesday I
will have him focus on completing the risk mitigation agreement for consideration on Wednesday
evening.