Charlemont Municipal Fiber Network
Selectboard Status Report
March 7, 2021
Summary
Network construction is underway and the essential work in the village center has been completed to alleviate conflicts with the DOT traffic calming project, which will be resuming soon. The subscription website is operational and we are encouraging all residents to sign up so that WhipCityFiber can plan the installation schedule for the summer. There will be a virtual information session on March 16. Sign-ups are currently at 20%, mostly through word-of-mouth. The project remains on budget. WhipCityFiber is recommending a “safe” schedule with FSA01 (the first fiber service area) lighting up in July and the other FSAs following at two-month intervals. The town is working with WGE and TriWire to try to accelerate this schedule if possible. Currently, the lack of fiber splicing and testing crews seems to be the bottleneck.
Schedule
Triwire began work in the village center on February 1 and deployed extra crews to Charlemont with the goal of completing the bulk of the work in the area of the traffic calming project by the end of March. As of last week, the strand and fiber have all been hung in this area. Splicing and testing remains to be done, but this can be done while the DOT project is in progress. This early “push” has been a tremendous success and helped us avoid potentially large schedule delays. Triwire is planning to continue with construction on the remainder of FSA01, along East Hawley Road and South River Road.
WGE is currently recommending a “safe” schedule of planning to light up FSA01 in July, with the last FSA stretching out to February of 2022. This schedule seems to be driven by a lack of fiber splicing and testing crews, which have caused delays in other towns. We are working with WGE and Triwire to understand and try to remove these bottlenecks to get all parts of the network running ahead of this timeline. Triwire is investigating hiring sub-contractors to help with the splicing and testing work.
Utility make-ready work
All residual make-ready work is believed to be completed.
Budget and financing
The project remains on budget.
The town issued a statehouse note in November 2020 for $500,000. We currently anticipate further borrowing in May 2021. We will continue to monitor cash flow and adjust the borrowing timeline if conditions warrant.
An expense tracking report is available here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KVYUpApEzisvJ7ZQvf7p2BrBBXzL5WMl/view?usp=sharing
A spreadsheet showing our previous cash flow projections from January 1 is available here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QwfYpDjIEJ1ZMKbWMvxv7I4z9V6LzxGz/view?usp=sharing
Path Preparation Projects
Most of the path preparation is complete.
Hawk Hill Road
National Grid intends to upgrade a half-mile section of the lower end of Hawk Hill Road, which currently has underground utilities, to overhead utilities along the road. National Grid advised us that this work will be completed in the spring after the ground dries out. At this time, we do not believe this will negatively impact the network build schedule.
RR Crossings (Long Bridge and Tower Road)
TrWire installed strand and aerial innerduct over both railroad crossings. Further work around these crossings is not anticipated to require coordination with the railroad.
Other Ongoing Projects
Town Hall Exterior
We are expecting Danek Excavating to finish repairing the walkway in front of the town hall this summer. All other exterior work has been completed.
Town Hall Interior (network equipment room)
WGE completed the installation of the passive racks. TriWire has brought all of the main distribution cables into the network room. The next steps are splicing of the distribution trunk lines into the fiber entry cabinet and installation of the active electronics.
West Hawley Road
There is one house on West Hawley Road where the utilities reach the house via a non-public-way railroad crossing. We are currently evaluating alternative solutions for this house, including a potential wireless extension of the distribution network.
Subscription Campaign
The web page for signups (whipcityfiber.com/charlemont) went live in February. Sign-ups are currently around 20%. WhipCityFiber will hold a virtual information session with the town on March 16th at 7 pm (full details are on charlemontconnect.org). We have begun to ramp up a small marketing campaign. Brochures were printed and are available at Avery’s. Avery’s has also let us use their store window for a display. Some flyers have been put up around town and a sign at the transfer station. Three banners and some lawn signs have been purchased and we plan to put them out as the weather improves.
Conservation Commission and Underground Installations
To simplify the installation process for residents, the broadband committee has submitted an RDA (Request for Determination) to the Charlemont Conservation Commission on behalf of the town and WhipCityFiber to facilitate bulk review of all underground installations by the commission.
WhipCityFiber will start scheduling underground consultations and installations in the spring when the ground dries out. Residents with underground utilities that want to take advantage of the town installation subsidies should ensure their installations get schedule and completed before winter. Network construction (and the drop subsidy period) may end before the ground thaws next year.
Operational Accounting and Budget
In November, Town Meeting approved the creation of an Enterprise Fund to support the operating accounting and budget for the network. The operating budget is separate from the construction budget. The network will “commence operations” when the first subscribers complete beta-testing and begin to be charged for service. Depending on the build schedule, this may happen late in FY21 or in FY22. For the first year, the town adopted an estimated placeholder budget based on just a couple of months of operation with a small number of subscribers.
A copy of the adopted budget for FY21 is available here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11UeZxkyyGndDxTuNpFSfxCshmsIAoe18/view?usp=sharing
During the first year of operations, certain start-up (“establishment”) expenses will be paid out of the construction budget. In future years, these will appear as operating expenses. A more realistic projection for future operating budgets is attached to the FY21 operating budget referenced above.
The broadband committee is currently preparing an operating budget for FY22 and will meet with the select board and finance committee in March to develop this budget.
Charlemont Connect website
We continue to communicate project status from our website www.charlemontconnect.org, dedicated to the fiber network project. We are posting to this website regularly to communicate construction status and engage with residents beyond what is available on the WhipCityFiber website.
Glossary
Aerial License Agreement. The master contracts between the town and the utilities (separate contracts for National Grid and Verizon) covering the terms for leasing space on the utility poles.
Customer Connections / Drops. Cabling from the nearest distribution network tap (MST) to a network interface box on the outside of the house or building, then inside to another small unit (ONT) which is connected to a wireless (or optionally non-wireless) router that provides internet service. A “cold drop” includes just the cabling to the outside of the house without any inside wiring.
Distribution Network. The main fiber-optic lines running from the network equipment room in the basement of the town hall and along most of the roads in town. The distribution network terminates at “taps” (called MSTs) located on utility poles near each serviceable house or structure.
ISP / Internet Service Provider. A company that provides internet service on a network and performs functions like billing and customer support. The town will contract with a third-party internet service provider to provide service to residents using the town network.
Make-Ready Work. This is work to prepare a “path” for the distribution network to run throughout the town. Most of this work is done by the utilities (National Grid and Verizon) to make space on existing utility poles. In some cases, the town may perform make-ready work by installing new underground conduit (e.g. near the town hall or on Hawk Hill Road) or new utility poles (e.g. on the west end of Tower Road) to create a cost-effective path for the distribution network.
MLP / Municipal Lighting Plant. A legal entity created by the town to allow the town to supply internet service to residents. It is called a lighting plant because the applicable state laws were originally written to allow towns to create local electric utilities. The MLP functions much like a town department.
Utility Pole Lease. The town will lease 12 inches of space on most of the utility poles in town to allow us to run the fiber network throughout the town. We will pay an annual lease fee per pole.