A City of Jasper consultant has recommended that the city consider a public-private partnership regarding a proposal to build a broadband network here, and a company already in the mix has submitted two proposals.
Nathan Watkins of Integrative Designs, LLC made the recommendation during a special called meeting of the council on Tuesday, and the Kramer Service Group of Wisconsin gave the city two options on paper to enter into a partnership with their company.
According to documents written by Kramer President Brent LaBrie and supplied by the city, Option 1 would have Kramer and the City of Jasper each investing $4.8 million, while Option 2 would have Kramer investing $8.7 million and the City of Jasper investing $10.3 million.
THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL PROPOSAL SUBMITTED BY KRAMER:
Kramer Service Group Alternative businesses model proposal
Jasper Broadband
Considering the recent attention and public response to the broadband project we feel the best approach that moves the project forward would be to form a partnership with the city of Jasper and invest in the community. Kramer Service Group is pleased to present an alternative approach to the broadband project that helps future proof your community and achieve its goal of a better tomorrow by forming a partnership to construct, operate, and maintain a fiber to the premise full-service network for Jasper.
The Objective
• Cost sharing partnership for deployment
• Shared ownership and revenue
• Provide Full Service to the community, data, media, voice
• Full-service Network Operation and Maintenance Solutions
The Opportunity
• Reduces deployment cost by utilizing the city’s existing infrastructure
• Reduces the cites overall risk in the infrastructure investment while increasing ROI
• Provides a solution that does not burden the city with cost or logistics of starting a new department and operating a new utility
• Ensures the service providers commitment to the community.
• Provide full service “Triple Play” Services to the community
Our Proposal
• Option 1 (Preferred) – 50% partnership and revenue share for life of Network
Kramer Commitment
• Estimated Investment 54,800,000.00 Kramer and partners owned and operated
• Shared revenue for the life of the network Buyout option after negotiated term Kramer will provide all design services to amend the current design utilizing the city’s existing electrical infrastructure. The Network will still need to utilize underground construction to service the entire area however deployment cost can be reduced significantly by utilizing the city’s already existing electrical poles.
• Kramer will share the cost of network deployment by providing the following services to equal 50% of the value of the project, Design, Permitting, Material Procurement, end to end network construction and deployment to the end user.
• Kramer will provide a solution to operate and maintain the network by creating a local Jasper Broadband business and securing an office location where the network operations, maintenance, and customer service teams will work from.
Jasper Commitment
• Estimated Investment $4,800,000.00
• The City of Jasper would provide all required funds to procure construction materials, network electronics, customer electronics a central office location for the Network HUB and access to aerial infrastructure for deployment.
• Option #2 – 50% shared cost for Network Deployment
• 20 year shared revenue agreement, 50% – 10 years, 25%- 5 years, 10% 5 years
• City owned and managed Network
• Cannot offer triple play if owned by municipality
Kramer Commitment
• Estimated Investment $8,773,853.67
• Kramer will share the cost of network deployment by providing the following services to equal 50% of the value of the project, Engineering, Permitting, Material Procurement, end to end network construction, installation and deployment to the end user.
• Kramer will procure a talented team to operate, manage and maintain the network and broad band business that will work as employees for the city’s broadband business
Jasper’s Commitment
• Estimated Investment $10,328,853
• The city of Jasper would provide funds for all required legal and licensing fees, construction materials, network components, customer electronics, permit design, project management, Quality Control, marketing
• The City of Jasper would provide funds or the location for the central office HUB a network operations center and salaries to secure the management, maintenance and customer service resources The City of Jasper would provide Funding for the GIS infrastructure Records repository Project. (Included in above investment total)
CONCLUSION
Though this only represents the high-level details of how an agreement would look we recognize the value in bringing this service to a community and are excited to invest in the opportunity. We look forward to working through a public private partnership agreement and developing a plan to move forward with the City of Jaspers Fiber network.
Best Regards
Brent LaBrie
President, Kramer Service Group.
