Hermiston staff outlines plan for city-owned open-access fiber; seeks RFP to pin down costs

City Manager Nate Smith briefed the Hermiston City Council on March 24 on a multi‑year effort to expand digital infrastructure through a city‑owned, open‑access fiber network and asked the council for direction on issuing a request for proposals to finalize cost and operating details.

Smith said the city has studied connectivity since 2020 with consultant Strategic Networks Group and identified gaps that the Federal Communications Commission maps do not show. “So right now, we feel like we're at the point where we're at a a decision matrix to move forward,” Smith said, as staff recommended an RFP to produce firm costs for design, construction, operation and maintenance.

The proposal would have the city own the physical fiber (the “utility” or layer‑1 infrastructure) and invite private or nonprofit service providers to operate over it and sell retail service. Staff described that open‑access model as “at cost” infrastructure that could lower entry costs for providers, increase choice for customers and allow the city and anchor institutions to connect at lower ongoing cost than current market prices.

Smith said the city’s own mapping and speed tests showed areas with poor or no service despite FCC maps indicating broad coverage. Staff presented the community’s top needs—workforce and economic growth, competitive broadband, online education, telehealth and better management of city services—and said the city could prioritize underserved neighborhoods in an initial buildout.

Staff estimated a high‑level construction cost of slightly more than $16 million to serve Hermiston and about $6 million for Umatilla, producing a combined build estimate of roughly $22 million. Smith and staff emphasized those figures cover build only and that operating and lifecycle costs must be determined in the next RFP phase.

Councilors asked how the plan would relate to satellite providers and existing local fiber operators. Smith said consumer satellite services like Starlink provide retail access but are single‑vendor solutions that do not connect anchor institutions or create the competitive wholesale market an open‑access fiber utility would. He also said incumbent local providers would be invited to propose in an RFP and noted smaller providers already operating in Hermiston might participate or be complemented by new entrants.

Councilors asked about payback timelines, cybersecurity, lifetime and maintenance of fiber and whether the city would be directly providing retail service. Smith and staff said the city would own layer‑1 but would contract a network operator (layer‑2) and would not function as a retail Internet service provider; service options and prices would be set by market providers on the network.

Smith said the next steps—if council is comfortable—are to partner with Umatilla on a joint RFP, have Strategic Networks Group manage the procurement and return to council with proposals and firm financials. No formal vote to commit capital was taken; instead, council received the update, asked questions and provided general support for moving into a procurement phase.

Smith closed by noting timelines: about 90–120 days for an RFP process after the city’s next coordination steps with Umatilla, with design, procurement and construction to follow should the city choose to proceed.