Los Alamos County staff and contractor Bonfire updated the County Council on the Community Broadband Network (CBN) design and financing status, reporting a revised cost estimate, a financing timetable, and construction risks tied to underground conditions.

The update presented an engineering cost estimate of roughly $29.3 million plus a roughly $5.6 million contingency that the county folded into a $35 million capital improvement project (CIP) budget. County staff said the design phase has produced a high‑level design (HLD) and that the low‑level design (LLD) — required for construction permitting and bidding — is targeted for council review in March or April 2026.

Why this matters: staff and the county’s financial advisers said selling GRT revenue bonds by October 2025 would capture current municipal tax‑exempt financing conditions and could avoid an estimated roughly $3 million increase in borrowing costs if tax exemption rules hardened after January 2026. Staff also urged council to consider approving portions of low‑level design earlier (as contract amendments) to allow material ordering and a faster start to construction if council approves bond financing earlier in the fall.

What staff told council: Jerry Smith (project lead for the county presentation) described the design work and a recent field exercise to test unused conduit in neighborhoods affected by a past wildfire. “The good news is 90% of it is still intact,” Smith said, a finding that would reduce new conduit construction in parts of the build.

Smith and other presenters emphasized that ground conditions are the principal construction risk. Staff and Bonfire said the project’s estimated contingency is sized to respond to unknowns encountered during boring or trenching. “We will use a lot, if not all, of the contingency if we hit rock 50% of the time,” Smith said when staff described risk scenarios tied to encountering rock during underground work.

How staff plan to reduce that risk: presenters said the design maximizes use of existing aerial infrastructure where safe and practical, and will use micro‑trenching in neighborhoods to avoid deep excavation where feasible. The design also includes resiliency measures: three network hubs (central office sites), fiber path diversity between Los Alamos and White Rock, and a planned second Internet feed on an independent path. Staff described coordination with the San Ildefonso Pueblo “middle‑mile” conduit project that, when completed, will provide a second fiber route and strengthen resiliency.

Financing and schedule: Chief Financial Officer Melissa Dadsie (Dutsy in the transcript) explained the bond timeline and the reason for an October 2025 sale window: “there is a potential loss of the tax exemption status after January of ’26, and that would potentially cost the county $3,000,000 more on a $35,000,000 issuance,” she said. Staff said the county has budgeted $35 million in the CIP and engaged bond counsel and financial advisers to support a fall sale if council chooses that path.

Next steps: staff asked council to consider whether to authorize limited, phased low‑level design approvals so Bonfire can order long‑lead materials and reduce schedule risk if bonds are sold this fall. If council approves a phased LLD, staff said construction authorizations could follow as portions of the LLD are accepted.

What remained unresolved: staff could not yet quantify exactly how much of the network will be aerial versus underground because that depends on final pole attachment agreements with the utility and the detailed LLD. Presenters said roughly half of the planned network currently assumes aerial attachments where feasible, but final percentages depend on DPU approvals and detailed routing.

The briefing closed with staff pressing the point that cost and schedule risk are dominated by unknowns encountered while installing underground conduit; mitigation strategies exist but will not eliminate that risk entirely.

Ending: Staff will return to council with additional LLD deliverables. Councilors asked for follow‑up material on contingency use, phasing options, and resiliency plans if bond timing moves forward.