Broadband Authority updates projects, votes to back Brightspeed BEAD application

The Franklin County Broadband Authority on Feb. 18 received construction and permitting updates on multiple build projects and voted unanimously to provide a letter of support to Brightspeed for a federal broadband grant application.

Authority members heard separate status reports from River Street (a last‑mile provider working on a three‑county utility‑leverage project managed by the West Piedmont Planning District Commission) and from Shentel (presenters used the name Chantel/Chantelle; the company identifies as Shentel/Shenandoah Telecommunications Company). River Street said splicing and slack‑loop delivery are complete in sections and that about 57 locations are already lit; remaining locations were described in the presentation as 2,820 (project totals cover multiple counties and both 2022 and 2023 award years). Shentel staff told the Authority that its 2021 and 2022 state subsidy projects have delivered hundreds of passings to date and that the company is targeting an October 2025 completion for the 2022 award, contingent on AEP make‑ready work.

Why this matters: County officials and private ISPs said delays by American Electric Power on make‑ready and pole work are the main bottleneck slowing deployment to the last miles. Authority and provider staff described multi‑agency dependencies — VDOT, railroads, VMRC stream‑crossing permits, and the state’s DHCD utility‑make‑ready funding — and said progress on attachments and construction depends on AEP completing its engineering and field crews completing make‑ready work.

Highlights from the presentations - River Street (Rob Taylor) said crews completed slack loops and splicing designs and that a central office (CO) was being prepared to serve smaller cabinets and remote electronics feeding customers. River Street reported about 57 locations lit so far and noted the project spans Franklin, Patrick and Henry counties under the West Piedmont PDC application. River Street said timelines for the 2022 portion of the project were extended to align with ARPA/other spend deadlines and reported a target extended into 2026 for the multi‑county component. - Shentel (Jesse Wilmer, project lead) gave project accounting and permitting detail: the 2022 project was described as a roughly $30 million build (presenters said roughly $12.0M in state VATI/VATTI funds, $6.0M county match and $12.5M from the ISP, yielding roughly $30M total). For 2021 work she reported 612 served/417 homes plus 95 vacant lots; for 2022 she reported 1,630 locations in service to date and another 294 homes under construction in Franklin County. Wilmer said approximately 10,700 AEP pole permits were submitted statewide for these projects, with about 3,400 remaining to be completed in the county and an average AEP turnaround of about 317 days on new attachments (with significant variance). - AEP (Rob Mann, on the call) and county staff said AEP had committed additional crews and a dedicated project manager; AEP representatives told the Authority some third‑party crews were temporarily redeployed for storm restoration and that they would need to re‑mobilize to resume make‑ready for broadband attachments. County staff and providers described recent storm damage that forced repairs to newly energized plant and delayed some mailings and sign‑up outreach.

Formal actions - Approval of minutes: The Authority approved the Jan. 21 minutes by voice vote (motion: Mr. Tatum; second: Mr. Mitchell; vote: unanimous). - Letter of support for Brightspeed: The Authority voted unanimously to send a letter of support for Brightspeed’s BEED/BEAD application covering roughly 1,188 BEED‑eligible addresses in selected ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (motion: Mr. Tatum; second: Mr. Mitchell; vote: unanimous). Brightspeed said the application would not require local funding and would build on existing assets that the company acquired from CenturyLink.

Provider and county next steps - Providers requested expedite of AEP make‑ready and said they will continue engineering and permitting efforts. Shentel (Wilmer) said the company has submitted additional DHCD make‑ready funding requests and is waiting on rounds of state awards. County staff said they continue monthly progress meetings with Shentel and that the state participates in those calls. - The Authority asked providers to keep regular updates flowing to the county and the public build‑map the companies maintain (River Street pointed members to myriverstreet.net build maps). AEP committed to check the May target previously identified by county/staff and follow up on whether the permit backlog can realistically be cleared by that date.

Quote: “At the end of the day, we can only go as fast as AEP will allow us to go,” Jesse Wilmer, Shentel project lead, said, summarizing the providers’ constraint.

Ending: Authority members said they would continue monthly oversight and work with the state to coordinate BEED/BEAD award activity and make‑ready funding. Providers said they aim to resume accelerated construction once crews are fully committed after storm work and once AEP’s backlog moves forward.