HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 8/18/2020 - Memorandum From Darin Atteberry And Nina Bodenhamer Re: Update Digital Access For Mobile Home Communities
215 N Mason Street, 2nd Floor
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
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M E M O R A N D U M
Date: August 4, 2020
TO: Darin Atteberry, City Manager
FM: Nina Bodenhamer, Director, City Give
THRU: Travis Storin, Chief Financial Officer
Colman Keane, Executive Director, Fort Collins Connexion
CC: Jim Byrne, Kelly DiMartino, Blaine Dunn, SeonAh Kendall, Gerry Paul
RE: Update Digital Access for Mobile Home Communities
____________________________________________________________________
BOTTOM LINE
Poudre School District will purchase and distribute 1,600 MyFi/individual mobile hotspots to provide digital
service through T-Mobile and Verizon to students in need. The Connexion opportunities for offering services
in 2020 over and above the current build schedule carry many unknowns in terms of cost, logistics, and
negotiations.
At this time, staff recommendation is to redeploy the $1 million Connexion placeholder within the CARES
allocation.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
The MyFi individual devices robustly support student learning as well digital family literacy. It’s not a long
term-solution as they are only committed to the 2020/2021 school year but a solid step forward.
PSD shared their plans via a 7-17 City + County + PSD Liaisons meeting as an update to the ongoing
collaboration to address the digital disparity experienced by income-challenged K-12 students.
- Reference: Memorandum for Update on Mobile Home WIFI Memo to Darin Atteberry from Erin
Shanley through Colman Keane, April 30, 2020.
PSD’s plan to distribute mobile hot spots, opens the door for the City to reconsider the viability of providing
internet access to mobile home communities given the many risks and challenges yet to be resolved.
Importantly, the unknown factors of a City-sponsored deployment include a restrictive and prohibitive
timeline for project completion, the varied structural unknowns per mobile home parks, a park owner’s ability
to gatekeep any digital (wireless or fiber) access via a right of entry agreement, and questions about the
compatibility with DOLA’s terms for reimbursable expenses.
- It’s worth noting CARES funding cannot be used for full fiber deployment even though we recognize
mobile home communities are adversely impacted by the pandemic.
As such, it has been determined the best and sure use of the $1M CARES placeholder for digital access
and a corresponding $50K for a structural work plan is a redeployment toward “shovel ready” Community
Priorities defined by the recovery team: including rental assistance, utility payment assistance, food security,
childcare assistance and congregate and non-congregate shelters.
Full fiber internet access to mobile home parks will continue as an aspect of Connexion’s full community roll
out.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 3B25CAA7-7F08-4689-8E3D-BE4AC2836A40