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Department Approval ��. .�: �� ��i � REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: 03/08/10 Item No.: 7.d City Manager Approval Item Description: Consider a Resolution Supporting a Fiber Infrastructure Grant BACKGROUND Since 1998, the City of Roseville has actively engaged other municipalities and governmental agencies for the purpose of sharing information technology services. To date, the City of Roseville has entered into Joint Powers Agreements with 23 entities to provide various levels of IT-related services. Within this consortium group, it is estimated that the participating agencies collectively save in excess of $500,000 annually for their information technology-related costs. The success of these partnerships is reliant on the ability of the City of Roseville to maintain connectivity to other agencies through high-speed, broadband connections. The vast majority of this connectivity is currently provided by the Comcast-owned Institutional Network (I-Net) under the terms and conditions of each city's respective local cable franchise. However, recent changes in cable regulations have brought into question the requirement of cable operators to provide services such as institutional networks. This uncertainty makes it difficult to develop long range technology plans given this unknown. Absent cities' ability to use the I-Net it is estimated that the cost to lease broadband service lines would cost in excess of $300,000 annually for this consortium of agencies. In recognition of the potential loss of use of the INET, some cities have begun installing municipal-owned fiber to connect critical city facilities (although only some of these critical connections are complete). However, securing the interconnections between cities presents a daunting financial challenge. Fortunately, agencies in this consortium have a new opportunity to meet this challenge through the Federal Stimulus Plan. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), commonly called the Federal Stimulus Plan, provides grants for deploying broadband infrastructure through the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP). The purpose of the BTOP grant is to increase broadband penetration into unserved and underserved areas of the United States, to enhance broadband capacity at public computer learning centers, and to promote sustainable broadband projects using public/private partnerships. The U.S Department of Commerce through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) agency has been charged with developing policy guidelines and application procedures; to receive and review applications; and to distribute $4.7 billion to affect these programs. Page 1 of 5