Dane County

Minutes - Final Unless Amended by

Committee

Dane County Broadband Task Force

Thursday, October 7, 2021

9:00 AM

Virtual meeting

A. Call To Order

Staff present: Lauren Kuhl, Sharon Lezberg, Majid Allen, Josh Schroeder

The meeting was called to order by Ratcliff at 9:00 a.m.

Ghee joined at 9:15 a.m.

12 -

Present

DAVE RIPP, KATE MCGINNITY, TODD VIOLANTE, RENEE LAUBER, MELISSA

RATCLIFF, BOB WIPPERFURTH, BILL DICKMEYER, DEANA ZENTNER, JOYCE

TIKALSKY, PETER WEIL, CATHY SUTTER, and SARAH GHEE

3 - MICHELLE JENSEN, ANDREW HOYOS, and JAMES DANKY

Excused

B. Consideration of Minutes

Minutes of the September 2, 2021 Dane County Broadband Task Force Meeting

1. 2021

MIN-333

Attachments: 2021 MIN-333

A motion was made by WIPPERFURTH, seconded by MCGINNITY, that the

Minutes be approved. The motion carried by a voice vote.

C. Public Comment on Items not on the Agenda

D. Action Items

Joint Letter to Dane County Municipalities

1. 2021

ACT-229

Attachments: Draft Letter

Discussion ensued about amending the Letter.

A motion was made by LAUBER, seconded by RIPP, that the Letter be amended

to replace first sentence in second paragraph with "At approximately the same

time that the Task Force was created, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

(ARPA) included funds for states, counties, and municipalities". The motion

carried by a voice vote.

A motion was made by LAUBER, seconded by RIPP, that the Letter be approved

as amended. The motion carried unanimously.

E. Presentations

1. Grant Requirements

Presented by Lauren Kuhl

Kuhl reviewed 2018 broadband expansion requirements with taskforce.

2. Understanding how one community champion worked to get broadband - Town of

Vermont

Presented by John Hallick of the Town of Vermont

Hallick presented to the task force on how he was able to get funding for broadband

expansion for the Town of Vermont.

-Research on broadband expansion

-Discussion with ISPs about providing service and costs factors

-Mailing of surveys with 600-800 signed letters from residents

-Discussed survey with representatives

-Discussed funding with Governor with support from ISPs

-Funding received for broadband expansion

-Construction of seven fiber hubs used for broadband expansion

Legislative process took about nine months and the construction process took about a

year.

Funds were allocated through the Public Service Commission (PSC).

F. Reports to Committee

1. Discussion - Our Survey Process

Presented by Lezberg

Supervisor McGinnity and Taskforce staff met with current and former Director of UW

River Falls Survey Research Center. The following five topics related to surveys were

discussed at this meeting with recommendations and from the research center.

1)Geography to be surveyed

-Recommend to remove urban area since they might require a different type of survey

or methodology.

-Recommend removing urban areas will leave areas on the fringe of the county. Some

of these areas will be served, but will have pockets that under-served.

2)Population to be surveyed

-Is the random sample of survey what we want?

-Do we want to include business in the survey?

3)Methodology

- Research center uses the same methodology as the standard mail in survey. This

standard mail-in survey includes sending out a pre-survey letter, then to send out the

survey along with return envelope and online options, sending out a reminder letter, and

finally sending the survey again. The online survey could pushed with social media and

QR code with links.

-Task Force can add on more methodologies such as target questionnaires for target

populations and community follow-up

4)Length of survey & questions to ask

-Recommend survey should less than four pages to lessen cost and increase returned

survey

-Limit open-ended questions because they are harder to analyze and take more time.

-Include speed test within survey.

-Several more internet related questions like quality of broadband, reliability, cost,

etc...

5)Timing of Survey

-Recommend to not send survey from October through the end of the year.

-Prepare survey by end of year.

-Send survey in January with two month collection time frame.

-4-6 weeks analysis of the survey.

-Results from survey would be available in May or June 2022.

Task Force members discussed the previous areas of focus and how it relates to any

future surveys the Task Force plans to craft.

Webpage created on county website.

https://board.countyofdane.com/initiatives/Broadband-Task-Force

10 -

Present

DAVE RIPP, KATE MCGINNITY, RENEE LAUBER, MELISSA RATCLIFF, BOB

WIPPERFURTH, BILL DICKMEYER, DEANA ZENTNER, PETER WEIL, CATHY

SUTTER, and SARAH GHEE

5 -

Excused

TODD VIOLANTE, MICHELLE JENSEN, JOYCE TIKALSKY, ANDREW HOYOS,

and JAMES DANKY

G. Future Meeting Items and Dates

November 4th, 2021 at 9:00 a.m.