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Vance County Manager Jordan McMillen provided WIZS with the following summary of the Vance County Technology Committee’s meeting held Wednesday, September 11, 2019:

Public Wi-Fi: The committee (Brummitt [C], Taylor & Feimster) met with Rob Cranwell from Open Broadband, LLC on Wednesday, September 11, 2019, to discuss and determine final locations for proceeding with public Wi-Fi. The areas discussed included an existing water tank in Kittrell, the shopping and retail area near I-85 and Dabney Drive and the downtown Henderson area.

Open Broadband recommended moving away from the shopping and retail area as the necessary infrastructure was not in place making it cost-prohibitive to serve the area. The committee then focused their discussion on the downtown area and determined a service area between Rose Avenue to Orange Street to include Breckenridge Street and Chestnut Street around the library and McGregor Hall.

The committee desires to partner with the city for providing coverage in the downtown area and asked staff to discuss joint participation with the city. The committee asked Open Broadband to prepare final coverage maps and costs based on committee feedback.

Following the meeting, Open Broadband presented a cost of $600/month for Kittrell and $2,000/month for the downtown area with a one-time install fee of $4,000 for downtown. The Kittrell area would be served with a connection of up to 200 Megabits per second with the downtown area served by a gigabit capacity service.

The committee intends to review a contract at their next meeting.