Monroe County Commissioners unanimously approved on Tuesday, Aug. 4 to advertise a request for proposal (RFP) for the expansion of fiberoptic, high-speed internet throughout Monroe County.
Monroe County Attorney Ben Vaughn presented Commissioners on Tuesday with a 10-page document soliciting proposals from Internet Service Providers (ISP) “capable of designing, constructing, serving and billing residents of the County with residential and commercial broadband Internet service to currently unserved and/or underserved areas of the County.”
County Attorney Vaughn said the county will partner with the Monroe County Industrial Development Authority on the project and added he created the RFP in partnership with Development Authority Attorney Kevin Brown. Vaughn said the Development Authority is expected to take its own vote in approval of the RFP at its next scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
County Attorney Vaughn said Laura Mathis, Executive Director of the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, will assist the county in mapping the proposals and comparing them with the already served areas of the county.
The RFP set a minimum internet speed requirement of at least 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload, the base line for “high speed” internet as designated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). However, ISPs who submit proposals should also be expected to provide speeds in excess of the minimum up to a maximum of 100 Mbps download and 10 Mpbs upload via a tiered cost structure for users willing to pay more for higher speeds.
The RFP also established the maximum available financing through the Authority to assist an ISP is $5.25 million of which $700,000, which Commissioners dedicated for internet expansion in their 2020 SPLOST, would not be required to be re-paid.
District 4 Commissioner George Emami, who chairs the Monroe County Internet Expansion Committee, said of the county’s potential partnership with an ISP: “The goal is to help create a transaction that would not have happened in the fair market. Without the county helping and producing some additional incentive, this is not a good business decision (for the ISP). . . So that’s part of why we’re trying to help. And one way we can do that is what we’re doing with the $700,000. We’re offering an incentive to bring in someone else to spend their money and induce a project that they would not have otherwise done. The other way we can do that is by offering lower than market debt essentially.”
Harbour Shores Drive resident Mark Miller said he supports the county incentivizing ISPs.
“This is a futuristic thing that’s gonna have to be done,” Miller said. “The internet is gonna have to be done because there’s all this stuff that’s going on. People working at home is going to be common place pretty soon. Kids doing online work at home as well, streaming your television, running everything to your computer as you do already. . . I’d be more than happy to spend my tax money on that because I know it’s an important thing that has to be done. Believe it or not, what’s going to end up happening is people are moving further and further south. We’re going to be getting people in here in Monroe County, and it’s already increasing in population. But I know one thing. If you get fast internet, it’s also going to help as far as getting business in here.”
County Attorney Vaughn said proposals will be due by 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 28 and a public bid opening will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30.
