County staff green-light Golden State Connect Authority to seek federal‑state broadband funds for Trinity

The Trinity County Board of Supervisors heard a detailed briefing April 1 from Barbara Hayes of the Golden State Connect Authority (GSCA) on federal and state broadband funding opportunities and a plan to apply on behalf of the county for federal‑funded last‑mile projects.

GSCA, a joint powers authority that represents many of California’s rural counties, is preparing applications for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Federal Fund Account (FFA) last‑mile round 2 and is also evaluating opportunities under the federal BEAD program administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Barbara Hayes said the county did not participate in FFA round 1 and that GSCA is now working to identify unserved addresses in Trinity County to include in a proposed project area and submit an FFA round 2 application if the county supports it.

Hayes said the FFA round‑2 application window had not yet been formally announced but was expected in April and to remain open for a short, two‑week period. She told supervisors that the CPUC is likely to issue award recommendations for the remaining six eligible counties in August or September and that construction would follow, likely in the spring after awards are finalized. “Our goal is to get to as many unserved addresses as possible with our fiber open access network,” she said.

GSCA described an open‑access, municipal fiber model in which the joint powers authority would finance, construct, own and operate middle‑ and last‑mile fiber infrastructure and then invite retail providers onto the network to sell service to customers. Hayes said GSCA will focus on fiber but expects fixed wireless and satellite providers to be able to use the fiber backbone for backhaul to reach the most remote locations.

CAO Jeremiah Tuthill told the board he authorized GSCA to pursue the grant application on Trinity County’s behalf; he said the county was not committing funds at this stage. “There is no financial commitment for it,” Tuthill said, adding that the county’s action was meant to give Trinity “a foot in the door” for round 2 consideration.

Supervisors pressed for details about how project areas would be chosen and how remote southern portions of the county might be served. Hayes said GSCA’s engineers are using CPUC map layers and other data to build technically and financially viable project areas, and that a practical starting point for fiber work would likely be along the state middle‑mile corridor that follows Highway 299. She also said some very remote addresses are better served by fixed wireless or satellite and that GSCA is designing regional networks to leave capacity at the edges for those modalities to hook into fiber backhaul.

Public comment echoed that mix of hopes and caution. Ben Kellogg of Weaverville urged the county to remain engaged and noted that Starlink (satellite) may already be rationing accounts in rural areas; he said Starlink’s inclusion as an eligible BEAD applicant could help residents if Starlink applies.

Why it matters: GSCA’s proposed open‑access approach aims to lower the cost of broadband deployment in sparsely populated areas by pooling capital and offering multiple retail provider choices on a publicly owned backbone. The timing is compressed if the CPUC opens a two‑week application window; county staff and GSCA asked for local letters of support and contact information to finalize project scoping.

Key details and next steps: GSCA expects to submit FFA round‑2 applications in April if the CPUC opens its window; award recommendations for the small group of counties that did not receive round‑1 awards are expected in August–September. GSCA is also preparing BEAD applications, but the BEAD program uses census block groups and requires 100% service of unserved/underserved locations within an applied‑for block group and a 25% cash match, both of which complicate applications in very rural areas. County staff said they will share proposed project boundaries with supervisors as soon as GSCA’s engineering team finalizes them.

Quotes: “Our goal is to get to as many unserved addresses as possible with our fiber open access network,” Barbara Hayes said. CAO Jeremiah Tuthill said he had authorized GSCA to pursue the grant application on Trinity’s behalf and stressed that the authorization carried “no financial commitment.”

Ending: GSCA and county staff said they will return to the board with proposed project boundaries and request local letters of support; supervisors and staff emphasized the county’s need to be strategic about where fiber is built and to plan for complementary fixed‑wireless or satellite solutions for the most remote addresses.