The Jefferson County Public Utility District recently received a $50,000 grant to determine how to expand its broadband infrastructure, but the PUD has already taken concrete steps toward making this happen.

Sept. 20 saw the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Community Economic Revitalization Board award the PUD $50,000 to conduct a county-wide strategic plan for the expansion of broadband infrastructure. 

PUD General Manager Larry Dunbar said planning would likely take place in the first half of 2019 and the PUD would involve members of other local government agencies, as well as business groups, community organizations and citizens, to inform the process.

Dunbar outlined the PUD’s first priority as mapping out expansions of its current fiber infrastructure to connect all of its existing assets.

“As we plot those maps, we’ll be able to see where our fiber can be leveraged to connect existing clusters of businesses or residents,” Dunbar said. “Or we’ll see how we might be able to route a potential fiber installation differently to connect to a cluster. Then, we’ll explore funding options for making those connections.”

Dunbar advised Jefferson County residents not to anticipate the PUD bringing high-speed internet to every home anytime soon.

“The PUD has no retail authority, which means it’s illegal for us to provide any resident or business with internet service,” Dunbar said. “What we can do is build infrastructure; to date, over 45 miles of fiber installed across the county.”

PUD District 2 Commissioner Kenneth Collins, of Marrowstone Island, brought the grant opportunity to Dunbar in June after attending a workshop presented by CERB in Sequim.

According to PUD Communications Manager Will O’Donnell, Collins has been “leading the charge” for the PUD to increase access to broadband internet since his election in 2014.

This October, Collins is slated work with Dunbar and members of the PUD’s Citizen Advisory Board (CAB) to draft criteria for the selection of a contractor.  

“Too many members of this county lack access to internet, high speed or otherwise,” Collins said. “The PUD can’t solve the problem completely on its own, but if we can come together with other local agencies and stakeholders to explore solutions collectively, we can do a lot. I’m proud of our staff for pursuing this grant, and I’m grateful to the Legislature for making the funding available.”

PT PILOT PROJECT

At the Sept. 10 meeting of the CAB, Dunbar outlined some of the steps the PUD has already taken toward expanding its broadband infrastructure, as well as the some of the more significant tasks it still needs to complete in order to make those goals a reality.

“We need a policy to treat all our customers in a fair and equitable manner,” Dunbar said. “Because we don’t have such a policy in place now, for the past several years, whenever someone wants to connect to our fiber-optic network, we quote them out what it costs, with no discounts or credits. That’s been our default policy because we don’t have any other.”

One policy the PUD recently adopted requires developers to install spare conduits at the same time they construct electrical line extensions.

“It would be a lost opportunity if it wasn’t done,” Dunbar said. “It’s so expensive to come back later and do it cost-effectively. I think the (PUD) Commission was quite wise in that policy, and our staff certainly supports it.”

Indeed, Dunbar noted that an underground line extension without any existing conduits is “two to three times more expensive” than an overhead line extension, although he added both electrical and telecommunications lines require clearances that can force the reordering of other lines when installed on existing utility poles.

To make their own system more efficient, Dunbar cited the example of other public utility districts.

“We have some conduits that are only occupied by electrical cables,” Dunbar said. “Other utilities have been successful in using those existing underground conduits to push through fiber optic cable.”

Dunbar said that only an electrical utility can perform this work because it’s required that such work is done by qualified electrical workers.

While policies and models are useful and necessary, Dunbar touted the PUD Commission’s approval, earlier this year, of a fiber optic pilot project in Port Townsend’s downtown.

“The city ordered the PUD to underground our overhead facilities,” Dunbar said.

According to Dunbar, the PUD installed spare pipe for telecommunications purposes as part of the pilot project, and its Commission approved a $350 non-recurring line-extension charge for that project only.