CEDC Appointed to Coordinate Broadband. Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murell has appointed Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) to serve as the county’s broadband coordinator, providing staff support to the Board of Supervisor’s Broadband Sub-Committee.  CEDC Economic Developer Ed Stiffler will serve as the organization’s primary point of contact for the county-wide initiative.
Register Star Broadband Article

 Governor Cuomo Makes “BROADBAND FOR ALL” Announcement.  Columbia County was pleased to host Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, August 3rd for an announcement on the progress of the New NY Broadband Program.  The goal of the program is to provide New Yorkers with access to Internet download speeds of up to 100 Mbps in most areas, and 25 Mbps in the most remote parts of the state, by the end of 2018.  Columbia County has been selected as one of the first 6 counties targeted for implementation of the Time Warner – Charter Merger upgrades and expansion.
Governor Cuomo’s Announcement
TU Charter Article
The New NY Broadband Program Office

 Connect Columbia’s Residential and Business Broadband Surveys.  Connect Columbia, a citizens’ group formed to work with government, industry and individuals to bring affordable broadband to all of Columbia County, is conducting a survey to collect data on current internet service providers and their coverage areas.  Please take a short survey by clicking on the links here:
Business Internet Survey
Residential Internet Survey

 New NY Broadband Program – Phase 1 Award Winners.  The Governor has also unveiled the New NY Broadband Program’s Round I Awards, which will connect 34,000 homes to high-speed internet for the first time. Once completed, these actions will ensure 97 percent of New Yorkers have the broadband access required to succeed in a 21^st century economy, with the goal of serving all New Yorkers by the end of 2018.  In this round, $2,512,562 has been awarded to Germantown Telephone Company and $1,009,339 to Mid-Hudson Data Corp., which serves Columbia, Greene and southern Albany counties.
The New NY Broadband Phase 1 Awards New NY Broadband Program – Phase 2 Launched. A Phase 2 Bidders Conference was held on  September 29th in Albany.  The conference presentations provided guidance and information to those entities wishing to submit an application to Phase 2 of the New NY Broadband Program. Deadline for applications is November 30th, 2016. Representing the Board of Supervisors Broadband Subcommittee at the Bidders Conference were John Reilly (Committee Chair, Supervisor Town of Gallatin), Mike Tucker (CEDC), David Berman (Connect Columbia), Alex Petraglia (Committee Member, Town of Stuyvesant).  Also in attendance were representatives from G-Tel, Mid Hudson Cable and other Columbia County broadband providers.
Phase 2 Request for Proposal Guideline 

 Columbia County Broadband Subcommittee.  Earlier this year, the Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murrell announced the members of a then newly created Broadband Subcommittee: John Reilly, Chairman (Supervisor, Town of Gallatin), Peter Cipkowski (Supervisor, Town of Hillsdale), Patrick Grattan (Supervisor, Town of Kinderhook), Colleen Teal (Supervisor, Town of New Lebanon), Michael Tucker (CEDC), Dave Berman (Connect Columbia), Rob Lopez (Columbia County E911), Ann Mueller (Congressman Chris Gibson), Robert Allard (Senator Kathy Marchione), William Gustafson (Assembly Member Didi Barrett), Assemblyman Peter Lopez, Ridge Harris (Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin), Alexandre Petraglia (Hudson Mayor Tiffany Hamilton), Richard Juliano (Columbia County MIS), Kenneth Flood (Columbia County Planning Dept.) and Richard Eckel (member at-large, Stuyvesant).  Meetings are held the 4th Monday of the month at 4 p.m. at 401 State Street in Hudson.

 September Broadband Subcommittee Meeting.  The Broadband Subcommittee, Chaired by Supervisor John Reilly (Town of Gallatin) held its monthly meeting on September 26th.  In Supervisor Reilly’s absence, Supervisor Patrick Grattan (Town of Kinderhook) chaired the meeting which included a presentation by CEDC President & CEO Mike Tucker of the newly created CEDC maps showing current areas of coverage using U.S. Census Tract information showing unserved and underserved broadband areas, county broadband provider franchise areas, and information gathered from the County’s 2015 Broadband Study prepared by ECC; a discussion of the 2014 County Broadband surveys; an overview of the Connect Columbia survey – which is ongoing; and a discussion about the Connect America Fund.  G’Tel and Mid-Hudson will present at the October meeting.

 Broadband Mapping Project. Don Meltz AICP, from the Town of Stockport is providing professional geographic information systems (GIS) consulting services to the county’s broadband project.
NYS Broadband Mapping Primer
Columbia County Service Providers by Town
Columbia County Service Providers Fairpoint & G’Tel
Columbia County Service Providers Midhudson, TimeWarner, Cablevision, Optimum
Columbia County Service Providers Verizon, Frontier, Lightower

What’s been done so far:

• Using data from the NY Broadband Program, mapped the census blocks in Columbia County that have been identified as unserved or underserved.
• Using data from the National Broadband Map website, mapped the service areas of the eight broadband service providers found in Columbia County.
• Using one of the layers developed by ECC, mapped the existing COAX and Fiber lines used by these service providers.

Next Steps:

• Using County tax parcel data and the NY Broadband census block data, do an analysis to identify parcels that are in the unserved/underserved areas.
• Use this to verify the counts mentioned above.
• Verify the completeness and accuracy of the unserved/underserved census blocks by using local knowledge and public input.
• Identify areas of concentrated unserved/underserved residents
• Use customer lists from willing service providers, and join that into the tax parcel data,  to help verify and refine existing service areas.
• Continue to improve the completeness and quality of the service line (COAX/Fiber) network data. This should be mapped as completely as possible
• Produce town-level maps that the service providers can use to help identify concentrations of new users, and the most efficient routes to provide service to them.

Other Columbia County Broadband Resources
Columbia County Inventory Report
Columbia County Broadband Plan (ECC Technologies-June 2015)

Columbia County Fiber Needs Report 
Columbia County Connectivity Plan (ECC Technologies-Dec.2015)

Columbia County Broadband is a monthly e-publication produced by CEDC.  If you have suggestions regarding how technology in your town or village can be improved, contact your community-organized committee or your local elected officials.

Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC), the lead economic development organization for Columbia County, is committed to strengthening the county’s tax base through economic development and job creation while maintaining the quality of life so desired by the people who live and work here. For more information about CEDC please visit our website at www.columbiaedc.com.