Legislature authorizes broadband planning agreement, names Virdenburg Group as consultant

A committee of the Montgomery County Legislature voted to approve a resolution authorizing the county executive to sign an agreement for proposal services related to broadband planning and a technology-assistance grant, and to add the Virdenburg Group as the consultant on the project.

Committee members discussed the dollar figures listed in the draft documents. One committee member raised that the draft included both a $250,000 figure and a $125,000 figure in different clauses; other members clarified that the $250,000 amount applied to a separate resolution and that the financial-impact figure for this ordinance was $125,000 as written in the ‘‘whereas’’ and ‘‘resolved’’ clauses. After that clarification the committee voted to move the resolution forward.

The vote on the resolution was taken during the committee meeting and carried; the sponsors listed on the motion in the hearing were Chair Pepp and Legislator Majewski. The resolution text submitted to the committee had blank or overlapping fields that committee members corrected during the discussion; the record shows the Virdenburg Group will be added to the agreement as the consultant and the financial-impact language in the package was confirmed during the hearing.

No implementation schedule, consultant contract value, or contracting timeline beyond the vendor name and the grant-noted amounts was provided in the committee discussion. The resolution was moved forward to the full board for final action.

Ending: The committee recorded the vote to advance the resolution; the full board will receive the finalized agreement language and any contract dollar amounts in a future agenda packet. Documentation in the meeting record indicates staff will circulate corrected language and the final dollar amounts to legislators by e-mail after bids and budget clarifications are finalized.