The MN Broabdand Task Force met today. They got a very quick update on what is happening with the Office of Broadband Development. Then a panel of broadband and power providers on pole attachments. It was an interesting look at the pole attachment process and cost from the provider perspective. Also, a very quick update on MN Legislature. A reminder that there’s no funding for broadband but no updates on broadband-related bills that have been introduced.

10:00 a.m. – 10:05 a.m.               Welcome
Teddy Bekele, Chair, Minnesota Governor’s Task Force on Broadband
10:05 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.               Approval of minutes from January Task Force Meeting

10:10 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.               Minnesota Legislative Updates

• Governor released budget – broadband is not in the budget
• Total general request from DEED was $1.5 million/year
• Folks are still interested in broadband

10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.               Office of Broadband Development Overview + BEAD and Digital Opportunity Updates
Bree Maki, Executive Director, OBD

• Jenn Frost is new Federal In-State Manager. Congrats!
• Hiring for new jobs
• OBD presented to House and Senate – Task Force may also be invited to present
• Still working on grant closeouts
• Planning site visits
• NTIA cancelled state broadband conference last week.
• Holds on funding will impact on the providers.
• Digital Equity continues to work on RFP
• They have weekly office hours for BEAD
• BEAD eligibility list is up on website
• Pre-qualification closes Feb 27

Questions:

• Any details on the meeting on the Hill?
  Folks are concerned with federal dollars. The legislature is looking at compliance.

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.               Pole Owner Panel Discussion
Background and overview of approaches to setting pole attachment rates as pole owners and open up for discussion from Task Force members on implications of this on the federal BEAD program.
Eric Clement, Manager of Grid Modernization, Minnesota Power
Mary Jo Woolf, Senior Director, Distribution Business Operations, Xcel Energy
Ty Houglum, Vice President/CIO, East Central Energy

Questions:

• With all of the requirements of pole attachments – make ready seems to be a big hurdle. What does that mean in term of costs?
  Making the pole ready for an attachment, we first look at last person to attached to see if damage happened. They call them cost causers. If it’s a pole we’ve identified as needing replacement, we cover the cost.
  We have replaced 2200 poles (2 per mile) in our project.
• How does weather impact your work?
  Heavily weighted to construction months (May-November) but we do work most of the year. Temperatures below zero are most difficult. We do work all year round because we are so busy.
• Pole attachment agreement fees have been an issue for many years. Broadband providers have said this is a barrier to coming into rural areas. We had a project fail in Southern MN because of pole attachment. Every dollar spent on make-ready means a dollar less on fiber.  And we work with pole owners who have done no maintenance on their poles.
• The Task Force is almost entirely unaware of the issue. Typically we look at issues and then bring them to the Governor’s office.
• We cover rural areas. Crossing the road usually measures 15ft 6in; providers design for minimum but really we need to education them to make room for any equipment.
  Is overhead always the answer? Maybe not. But in some areas, it’s too expensive to bury it.
• Make ready cost for cable providers is biggest concern. It’s why most have gone underground.
• If it’s a power supply issue or simple maintenance (like overgrowing weeds) – we can take of that because we’re the pole owner.

11:40a.m.—12:00 p.m.                 Other business: Feedback on future meetings, Task Force subgroup topic considerations for 2025, March Meeting Plans, and Wrap-up

• Meetings are virtual for the time being; seems better for the technology.
• Looking for future topics and speakers, send any suggestions.
• The goal for the Task Force is to listen for first 6 months, then focus on report.
• Looking at subgroups we used last year. An email will go out for feedback on that format.

No questions.