Chapel Hill Technology Advisory Committee

[Terri Buckner <tbuckner AT ibiblio.org>]

The following report was provided by a council member to a citizen query 
on St. Paul's Issues Forum (e-democracy) on the status of a townwide 
wifi initiative. Thought you might be interested in their process

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Re: St. Paul Wi-Fi / Broadband Access  The St. Paul broadband
access (Wi-Fi) project is moving forward on a number of fronts.

First, we have completed an initial selection and cost estimates for 
several pilot Wi-Fi Hotspots at city run facilities including Central 
Library, Highland Library-Rec. Center, and the Como Zoo Visitors Center. 
The initial cost estimate is about $50,000, which will need to come out 
of the Library and Parks Department budgets. The Parks Department is
currently looking for corporate sponsorship to help cover these costs.

Second, the City's Office of Technology is moving forward with a
community needs assessment that will include public surveys, key
participant interviews, and focus groups with key stakeholders.  This
process with continue through the summer and early fall leading to a
large public forum in late September or early October.  This community
needs assessment will allow to focus or efforts and allow the city to
develop business model that is appropriate to St. Paul.

Third, the City of Saint Paul is conducting an internal needs assessment 
to develop a better sense of our needs for broadband access through both 
fiber optics and Wi-Fi infrastructure.  We need to establish a "business 
case" that demonstrates the potential for improving the delivery of city 
services and/or reducing operational costs over the long term.  Once we 
have completed these initial steps the City of Saint Paul will be in a 
much stronger position to make a good judgment about which business 
model to use and how to negotiate with the various providers and 
vendors.  In general terms our options might include the following: - 
Build and own the network and be the ISP provider (Chaska, MN).- 
Franchise the network to a private provider who manages the system 
(Minneapolis, MN).- Build and own the network, but contract out the 
management of the entire operation (UTOPIA, UT). Regardless of how the 
various communities in the twin cities region choose to create and 
finance their networks, interoperability among systems will need to occur.