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Speakers ask supervisors for clarity on broadband support language and backing for early-childhood funding
Summary
At the Jan. 7 meeting, a resident questioned vague county support language in two broadband letters, and the First Things First regional director asked the board to back proposed vaping/nicotine taxes and requested a future work session on the organization's county programs.
During the call-to-the-public period, Kim Depew raised questions about two letters of support on the meeting's consent agenda that relate to broadband service plans, asking what "work collaboratively and support efforts to develop broadband" would actually commit the county to do. Depew asked whether the language could be interpreted to commit the county on rights-of-way, zoning waivers, or other permitting-related actions and noted the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program is a complex federal program with a large authorized budget and a multi-year rollout.
Melissa Avant, regional director for First Things First Cochise Regional Partnership Council, asked the board to support pending state legislation that would tax vaping and nicotine products and to schedule a work session so the board could learn more about the county's First Things First programs. Avant said most of First Things First's funding comes from the tobacco tax and that revenues are declining, and she asked the board to consider a proclamation for the Week of the Young Child in April.
Board members did not take formal action on either public comment but noted the items and said staff will follow up, including assembling materials for future work sessions on broadband and elections that the board requested.
