HomeMy WebLinkAboutICTC Agenda and Packet 2020-10-05TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Monday, October 5, 2020
Electronic Regular Meeting – 5:30 PM
Zoom Meeting Platform
Electronic Meeting
(Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8)
An electronic meeting is being held because a meeting in person is
impossible or impractical due to concerns for the health and safety of
Commission members, staff, and the public presented by COVID-19.
You can participate in the meeting and can comment on an agenda
item by going to
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwvcuugrD0jHdLRQXLkw1VpSF0wTCWsAiM
s via the internet to visit the Zoom meeting’s registration page and submit the
required information.
Once approved, you will receive an email message with a link to join the
meeting. If you are asked for a meeting or webinar ID, enter the ID number
found in the email. A meeting password may also be included in the email.
Enter the password when prompted.
If you have no computer or smartphone, or a computer without a microphone,
you may call in by telephone by dialing (312) 626-6799. When prompted, enter
the meeting ID. The ID number for this meeting is 982 5282 6976.
Once connected, you may dial *9 or click the “raise hand” button to “raise your
hand,” letting the meeting host know you would like to speak. Providing
comments in person is not an option.
Agenda
1. Call to order
2. Approval of minutes
3. Announcements of Commissioners
4. Short public announcements
5. Election of officers
6. Cable TV Office report
7. Council request for information regarding broadband affordability and access
8. Adjournment
If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in this program/event, please contact Ty
Coleman at 319-356-5454 or ty-coleman@iowa-city.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow
sufficient time to meet your access needs.
PRELIMINARY
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
06/29/2020 Meeting Minutes
Page 1 of 3
Electronic Meeting (Pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.8)
An electronic meeting was held because a meeting in person was impossible or impractical due to
concerns for the health and safety of council members, staff and the public presented by COVID-19.
Minutes
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
June 29, 2020 – 5:30 P.M.
Via the Zoom remote meeting platform
Call to Order:Meeting called to order at 5:33 P.M.
Members Present (via Zoom): Matthew Brenton, Adam Stockman, Gina Reyes
Members Absent:Andrew Austin, Kyla Paterson
Staff Present (via Zoom):Ty Coleman
Others Present:none
Recommendations to Council: None
Approval of Minutes:
Stockman moved and Reyes seconded a motion to approve the June 1, 2020 minutes as presented. The
motion passed unanimously.
Announcements of Commissioners:
Brenton noted that his three-year term with the Commission was ending. Coleman said that James Pierce,
who had previously been on the Commission, would be joining the group starting in July 2020.
Short Public Announcements:
None.
Municipal broadband research and report:
Brenton said he and Stockman had edited and put together the report document, found in the meeting packet,
for the City Council. He said they didn’t feel that a recommendation by the Commission was necessary. He
said the report would provide the Council with information so that they could decide the best course of action.
Brenton said they did not include the notice from the Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) in the
section about the current state of broadband in Iowa City since the ICCSD was mentioned in the “why
broadband matters” section.
Brenton noted that the federal and state grants that had been identified were not currently accepting
applications and that funding was not currently available, however, this information was stated within the
report.
Brenton said the report covers the bases of all of the broadband options that are out there, including wireless
mesh, 5G, and low earth orbit technologies.
Reyes said the report did a good job of summarizing the Commission’s previous discussions.
Coleman asked if the group would want to consider adding a closing statement to the report and referred to
PRELIMINARY
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
06/29/2020 Meeting Minutes
Page 2 of 3
an earlier discussion, where the Commission had suggested the idea of mentioning to the Council that they
would be available to discuss the report further. Coleman said he would check with Assistant City Manager
Ashley Monroe about the best way to present the report document to the City Council, whether by simply
putting it in an upcoming information packet or by Commission members presenting it at an upcoming
meeting.
Brenton said the next step after submitting the report document to Council was to wait to hear back from
them. Brenton wondered if that meant the Commission would not need to meet until it hears from Council.
Brenton said he envisioned a few potential responses from Council that might be received. One is that
members of the City Council could express interest in setting up an advisory board. Another response could
be that they decide to proceed with a cost assessment. Another could be that they come to a decision to not
pursue the topic further at this time.
Stockman suggested the group provide the Council with the three options in the report’s conclusion. He said
that if the Council is interested in pursuing things further, the Commission would likely play some kind of role.
Brenton said he added page numbers to the document during the meeting and added the following statement
at the end: “This concludes the ICTC research into municipal broadband. The ICTC will wait for feedback
from Iowa City City Council on what the next step is and whether it should involve the ICTC.”
The Telecommunications Commission voted on whether the document, after implementing the changes
discussed, was ready to be sent to the City Council. All members of the Commission who were present voted
in favor of sending the amended document to Council.
Adjournment:
Stockman moved and Reyes seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously. Adjournment
was at 5:50 p.m.
PRELIMINARY
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
06/29/2020 Meeting Minutes
Page 3 of 3
TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
12-MONTH ATTENDANCE RECORD
Reyes Brenton Stockman Pierce
06/24/2019 vacant x x x o
Austin
07/22/2019 x x x x resignation
08/26/2019 o/c x x x vacant
Paterson
09/23/2019 x x x x o
10/28/2019 x x o/c x o
11/25/2019 o/c x x x o
12/16/2019 o/c x x x o
01/27/2020 x o/c x x o
02/24/2020 x x x x o
03/23/2020
Meeting not held due to
COVID-19 pandemic.
- - - - -
04/27/2020 o/c x x x o
06/01/2020 o/c x x x o
06/29/2020 o x x x o
(x) = Present
(o) = Absent
(o/c) = Absent/Called (Excused)
Date: October 1, 2020
To: The Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
From: Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator, City of Iowa City Cable TV Office
Re: Programs completed from April through September 2020
Programs Completed by the Cable TV Office from April 1 to September 30, 2020
●37th Annual Historic Preservation Awards
●2020 Climate Festival
○Climate Action at Work Awards
○Certified LEED Platinum home in Iowa City
○Climate Action at Work - Compost
○Climate Action at Work - Plants
○Climate Action at Work - Transit Driver
●2020 Community Police Review Board Community Forum
●2020 Friday Night Concert Series
○Flashback Friday featuring Big Wooden Radio
○Brass Tower
○Cedar County Cobras
○City High & West High Jazz Revisited - A compilation of songs from 2010 to 2019
○Crystal City
○Dave Zollo and the Body Electric
○Jordan Sellergren Band
○Plastic Relations
○The Beaker Brothers
○The Bryce Janey Band
○The Johnny Kilowatt Band
○The Muckrockers
○The Recliners
●2020 Iowa Arts Festival
○Abbie Callahan
○Bernemann Brothers
○Brad and the Big Wave
○Ingrid Streitz
○James Tutson
○River Glen
○Sneezy Dollars
●2020 Peace Officers Memorial Day
●Aging in Place Webinar
○COVID-19: Facts, Myths, and Resources
○Starting to Declutter
○Working with Contractors to Modify Your Home
●CDC Recommendations for COVID-19
○Arabic
○French
○Mandarin
○Spanish
○Swahili
●Community Connection
○2020 Census
○Carver School of Medicine
○Center for Worker Justice
○City Response Efforts
○CommUnity Crisis Services and Food Bank
○Community Foundation of Johnson County
○COVID-19 Rules for Bars and Restaurants
○Disability Pride Month
○Dr. Theresa Brennan, CMO of UIHC
○General Election Guide
○Houses into Homes
○Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County
○Human Rights Commission
○Animal Care and Adoption Center
○Iowa City Community School District
○Iowa City Hospice
○Iowa City Juneteenth Celebration
○Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department
○Iowa City Pride
○Iowa City Public Library
○Iowa City Senior Center
○Iowa Freedom Riders
○Iowa Grocery Industry Association
○Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services
○Johnson County Auditor's Office
○Johnson County Public Health
○Mercy Iowa City
○Orville and Billie Townsend
○Preventing Domestic Violence During a Pandemic
○Refugee and Immigrant Association
○Shelter House
○Storm Recovery
○Summer of the Arts
○Think Iowa City
○United Way of Johnson and Washington Counties
○University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
○Virtual Juneteenth Celebration
●Contact-Free Farmers Market
●Economic Development Committee Meeting of 07/13/20
●Happy at Home
○Adult Yoga
○Aquatics On Deck Workout
○Basketball Drills - Part 1
○Basketball Drills - Part 2
○Basketball Drills - Part 3
○Chair Yoga
○Cooking American Cheesy Goulash
○Core & Back Workout for Swimmers
○Dry-land Swimming Workout for Arm & Legs
○Jellyfish Craft
○Kids Yoga
○Making T-Shirt Yarn
○Painting with Nature
○Soccer Drills - Part 1
○Soccer Drills - Part 2
○Taekwondo - Part 1
○Taekwondo - Part 2
○Taekwondo - Part 3
○Tennis Drills - Part 1
○Tennis Drills - Part 2
○Weaving with T-Shirt Yarn
○Zentangle Art
●Iowa City Foreign Relations Council Presents
○Can Youth Reduce Their Risk of Joining a Gang?
○Coronavirus Response in South Africa
○Factors for Risk and Resilience
○Observations from Afar: Recent Elections in Taiwan and Implications
○Political Neutrality in the Military
○From Pandemic to Promise: Rebuilding International Education in the Wake of
COVID-19
○Scaling up our World View in the Face of COVID-19
○Teaching and Learning with Refugees and Immigrants in Iowa City
○Why is Iowa So White?
●Iowa City Bike Library Winter Celebration and Kids Bike Blitz
●Iowa City City Council Meetings
○April 7, 2020
○April 21, 2020
○May 5, 2020
○May 19, 2020
○June 2, 2020
○June 16, 2020
○July 7, 2020
○July 21, 2020
○August 4, 2020
○August 18, 2020
○September 1, 2020
○September 15, 2020
●Iowa City City Council Work Sessions
○April 7, 2020
○April 21, 2020
○May 5, 2020
○May 19, 2020
○June 2, 2020
○June 30, 2020
○July 7, 2020
○July 21, 2020
○August 4, 2020
○August 18, 2020
○September 1, 2020
○September 15, 2020
●ICCWS Leader
●Iowa City City Council Work Session of June 9, 2020
●Iowa City Mayor Issues New Orders Regarding COVID-19: May 13, 2020
●Iowa City Update
○Climate Action Awards
○COVID-19 Cases on the Rise
○COVID-19 Outbreak
○COVID-19 Relief Funds
○Face Mask Order
○Face Covering Order Extended
○Farmers Market Opening Date
○Fire Pit Regulations
○Library curbside holds pickup
○Mask of Wellness
○Police Chief Finalists
○Rummage in the Ramp goes virtual
○South District Recycling Center
○Storm Recovery Efforts
○Tree Planting
○Update on City Services
○Virtual Monarch Festival
○Yard Sign Rules
●History for Lunch / Iowa Stories: Grinnell Stories - African Americans of Early Grinnell
●Johnson County Food Policy Council 2020 Open Forum
●Johnson County Emergency Management Update on COVID 19
○April 3, 2020
○April 7, 2020
○April 14, 2020
○April 21, 2020
○April 28, 2020
○May 5, 2020
○May 12, 2020
○May 19, 2020
○League of Women Voters of Johnson County Candidate Forum
■Iowa House District 85
■Johnson County Board of Supervisors
■Johnson County Sheriff
●Mayor issues mask order for City of Iowa City
●Mayor Teague Addresses the City Regarding George Floyd - June 4, 2020
●MPOJC Urbanized Area Policy Board Meeting
○5/27/20
○07/08/20
○09/23/20
○NAMI Walks 2020 Kick-off Luncheon
●Project Better Together Press Conference - June 25, 2020
●PSA - Use Zoom to Participate in the Next City Council Meeting
●Reach Out to Seniors During COVID-19
●Remote Learning During the Pandemic
●Safe at Home - Roommate PSA
●Soul & Blues Fest 2020
○Damani Phillips Trio
○Kevin Burt
●South District Neighborhood Association: Mural Project and Art Education
●Speak Up, Speak Out
○Mercer Park
○Pheasant Ridge Neighborhood Center
○Wetherby Park
●Project Better Together - State of the Community: Preparing for Fall, Return to Learn
●Virtual Monarch Festival
○Collecting Eggs
○Caring for Caterpillars
○Chrysalis Phase
○Monarchs Emerge
●Vote Absentee during Iowa's Primary Election
●Why do you mask up?
ICTC Municipal Broadband Research
Executive Summary
This paper explores why broadband matters to Iowa City residents and examines various
metrics that can be used to determine whether current access is sufficient. It provides a
summary of results based on a questionnaire sent out to 26 municipalities in Iowa providing
internet access, and examines funding and grant options available to help offset the cost of
municipal broadband deployments. Lastly this paper then compares the technologies currently
available as well as those that will soon be available for providing broadband access to Iowa
City residents.
Why Broadband Matters
Broadband access has become essential to daily life for many Americans. The inequity between
those who have access to broadband and those that don’t is commonly referred to as the
“digital divide”. There have been a variety of studies linking home broadband access to
economic and scholastic success. A 2015 Pew Research study highlights the difficulties those
without broadband access have in seeking employment. A 2017 Senate Joint Economic
Committee study refers to the lack of home broadband access for students as the “homework
gap”; this gap affects 12 million U.S. school-aged kids who are at risk of falling behind their
peers, since 7 in 10 teachers assign homework that requires broadband access but nearly 1 in 2
households don’t have broadband access. A 2019 research article published in The Journal of
Law, Medicine & Ethics goes so far as to call broadband access a public health issue, since
broadband access intersects with several social determinants of health.
COVID-19 has made the impact of lack of internet access even more apparent. The Daily Iowan
reports that the Iowa City School District “has provided cellular hotspots to nearly 750 students
in grades K-12 and has provided internet service directly to the home through Mediacom to
another 130 students”, at an estimated cost of $5,000 to $7,000. Superintendent Stephen
Murley explains the primary issue with students learning from home during the pandemic is lack
of bandwidth rather than access to technology. InformationWeek reports that the temporary shift
to work from home due to COVID-19 is likely to become permanent for many. They cite a
Gartner study indicating that 74% of CFOs intend to move at least 5% of on-site workforces to
remote post-pandemic. Additionally, 17% responded that 20% of those who shifted to work from
home will remain there permanently once the COVID-19 crisis has resolved.
1
Current State of Broadband in Iowa City
The FCC collects detailed information about broadband availability across the US. The data is
collected from internet providers though use of a required Form 477, which providers must file
twice a year. The latest publicly available data set is generated from June 2019.
The data is distilled into a searchable map available at broadbandmap.fcc.gov. The figure below
shows the results of broadband availability, using the definition of 25 Mbps / 3 Mpsps
download/upload speed. It shows that all areas in Iowa City do have access to 25/3 Mbps.
Source:
https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/#/area-summary?version=jun2019&type=place&geoid=1938595&tech=a
cfosw&speed=25_3&vlat=41.65173690288432&vlon=-91.54909460189492&vzoom=11.9301596115349
43
Increasing this to the next available data rate shows availability beginning to diminish. 1.9% of
households do not have access to 100 / 10 Mbps.
2
Source:
https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/#/area-summary?version=jun2019&type=place&geoid=1938595&tech=a
cfosw&speed=100_10&vlat=41.65173690288432&vlon=-91.54909460189492&vzoom=11.93015961153
4943
The table below summarizes this data. It shows that the infrastructure for lowest speed
broadband is available in Iowa City. However, subscribers may not be able to afford the service
in their area. Additionally, higher speeds networks are not available to all residents.
Speed (Mbps, upload/download) Percentage with 0 Providers
25 / 3 0.0 %
100 / 10 1.9 %
250 /25 6.1 %
1000 / 10 86.2 %
Source: https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov
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Other Municipal Broadband Deployments
in Iowa
In an attempt to learn from the experience of other Iowa communities who have implemented
municipal broadband, a survey was developed and sent to key contacts at each of the 26
municipalities identified as offering broadband service. The response rate was low, with only 4
municipalities responding - Indianola, Osage, Vinton, and Waverly. The full survey results are
included in a separate PDF document.
In summary, the four responding municipalities are far smaller than Iowa City with the largest
population being reported as approximately 15,000 in Indianola. The cost of feasibility studies
were reported as ranging from $20,000 to $60,000. Approximate total costs to build the
broadband networks were reported to range between $10 million and $15 million. Cost to
residential customers for 100 Mbps download speed broadband ranged from approximately
$50/month to $64/month, this is comparable to the cost of existing broadband options available
in Iowa City.
Funding and Grant Options
Several grant opportunities exist for building infrastructure, and/or subsidizing access to new or
existing networks. These exist at the Federal, State and Local levels.
Federal Grants
The NTIA currently handles about $4 billion in projects related to expanding broadband access.
This includes $120 million in grants to match state investments.
NTIA no longer has funding available and is not accepting applications for these programs at
this time. It could be worthwhile in the future to investigate future grant opportunities if funding is
made available again at https://www.ntia.doc.gov/category/grants
State of Iowa
The state also has resources to further broadband access including grants, rural initiatives and
tax exemptions.
Unfortunately, the state website states that there are no grant opportunities at this time. Future
grants will be published on the Office of the Chief Information Officer of Iowa’s website at
https://ocio.iowa.gov/broadband-grants
4
Municipal Broadband Deployment Options
This is a relative comparison of currently available and soon to be available technologies. A
feasibility study would have to be conducted in order to determine whether any of the
deployment options would be a good fit for Iowa City.
Currently Available Technologies
Wired
There are three wired options for delivering broadband service - digital subscriber line (DSL),
cable, and fiber.
DSL is the transmission of data over copper telephone lines. While this technology does meet
the requirements of being designated as broadband, its bandwidth is limited and may not be
suitable for the needs of some consumers.
Cable broadband is generally faster than DSL, better suiting the needs of a wider range of
consumers. A disadvantage to cable broadband is that multiple consumers on the same
network segment share the connection. This shared connection can slow down significantly
during peak usage times when multiple residents are accessing the internet at the same time.
The third wired connection technology is fiber optic cable, also known simply as fiber. Fiber
uses pulses of light to transmit data. Fiber provides a higher bandwidth and has a lower cost of
maintenance. Installing fiber can be extremely costly.
Wireless Mesh
A wireless mesh network is a network consisting of multiple radio nodes connected in a mesh
topology, meaning each node can connect to any other node in range. In general there tend to
be two major topologies for mesh networks - community (decentralized) and municipal
(centralized).
Wireless community networks are decentralized networks with multiple gateway nodes (those
with direct internet access). This model requires internet subscribers willing to share their
access. These subscribers can be companies or individuals.
Municipal wireless networks are centralized networks in which there is an operator acting as a
wireless internet service provider. This model is typically architected as a partnership between
the local government and a private firm.
5
Advantages of wireless mesh are they are relatively low cost and can be architected with
redundancy. They are low cost because they don’t require extensive cabling, which is costly
both in raw materials and installation cost. Wireless mesh radios are also relatively inexpensive.
Mesh networks can be designed for redundancy, though in a typical municipal deployment there
are fewer gateways than in a community network, meaning lower redundancy.
Disadvantages of wireless mesh are reliability and latency. Wireless connections are simply less
reliable than wired connections since they are impacted by other signals sharing the same
frequency, physical obstacles, and even weather. Wireless mesh networks can also have
significant latency depending on the number of nodes between the end user and a gateway.
Technologies Being Developed
There are a couple significant technologies that are being actively developed at this time that
have the potential to offer broadband connections without the need for conventional
infrastructure.
5G Wireless
The first technology is fifth generation cellular networking, commonly referred to simply as 5G.
5G networks operate on up to 3 frequency bands, low, medium, and high. The three bands are
deployed depending on desired bandwidth and coverage:
●Low-band 5G – download speeds of 30-150 Mbps, similar frequency range and
coverage as current 4G cellular networks.
●Mid-band 5G – download speeds of 100-900 Mbps, higher frequency than 4G with each
tower covering up to several miles radius.
●High-band 5G – download speeds of up to 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps), much higher frequency
than 4G and due to lack of signal penetration will only be deployed in dense urban
environments and areas where large crowds of people are expected to congregate.
Based on these descriptions Iowa City and surrounding areas should expect to see some
combination of low-band and mid-band. Although low-band download speeds qualify as
broadband per the FCC’s definition (set at 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload), some argue this
is too low. An Ars Technica article from 2019 makes the argument that 5G does have the
potential to replace home broadband, depending on the type of deployment. 5G in various forms
has already been deployed in many major population centers, and according to some carriers is
already available in Des Moines and other parts of Iowa. While there’s little doubt that 5G will
provide increased cellular network coverage and speed for most Americans, when that
coverage will include Iowa City and what speeds at what cost are yet unknown.
6
Low Earth Orbit Satellite
The other technology is low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, the biggest player in which is SpaceX’s
Starlink. LEO satellite differs from conventional satellite connections in that the satellites orbit
the earth at a much lower altitude, significantly reducing latency. This technology has the
potential to provide coverage to hard to reach areas, including rural areas in which traditional
wired infrastructure is far too costly to deploy.
SpaceX has stated that 400 satellites are needed for minimal coverage, and at least 800 are
needed for moderate coverage. On April 22 of this year SpaceX launched 60 satellites to bring
the total number in the Starlink constellation to 422. Fewer details are available about the
Starlink service, though it has been tested by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory since
2018, and has demonstrated a data throughput of 610 Mbps to a U.S. Military aircraft in flight.
As of last year, SpaceX has claimed they will start offering the service to consumers in 2020.
Pricing has not been announced, though SpaceX COO Gwyne Shotwell has specifically
mentioned millions of people in the U.S. pay $80 per month to get “crappy service”, leading
some to speculate the service could cost around that amount.
Conclusion
This concludes the ICTC research into municipal broadband. The ICTC will wait for feedback
from Iowa City City Council on what the next step is and whether it should involve the ICTC.
7