[Editor's Note: This is part 5 of a multi-article series on the Grant County Commission work session of June 8, 2021, and the regular meeting on June 10, 2021. This article reports on the proposal on fiber to provide broadband.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

The last presentation came during the discussion about how the county should use its American Rescue Plan Act funding of $5.2 million.

Previous articles can be read at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/65519-grant-county-commission-holds-marathon-work-session-hears-five-presentations-060821; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/65548-grant-county-commission-hears-gila-national-forest-update-060821-part-2 ; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/65561-grant-county-commission-hears-presentation-from-freeport-mcmoran-at-work-session-060821-part-3; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/65562-grant-county-commission-hears-presentation-from-commissioner-edwards-at-work-session-060821-part-4.

WNM Communications General Manager Daniel Meszler and WNM Communications Director of Operations Wayne Baxter opened the discussion.

Meszler said the company is a local broadband provider. "We have 60 employees locally. To feed back off the last presentation on economic development, connectivity and broadband are very important. The last year showed us how important. It was needed for people to run their small businesses from home and for our kids to attend school. I think our proposal is a perfect segue from the previous presentation."

The commissioners had received the proposal, and Meszler went into an overview of it. "We want to place about 12 miles of fiber from Silver City to Bayard, Santa Clara, Arenas Valley, to the Fort Bayard Hospital, and Hurley. Those who connect would get up to 50MB for $40 a month. It would not only serve small businesses along the way but bolster the wireless capability we already have. We have access to newly acquired spectrum that could provide up to 100MB and get us into some of the newer areas."

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce asked how long a project like this would take to complete.

Baxter said that with permitting and construction it would take about two years and cost $1.572 million. "We have current Mining District customers. We have fixed wireless stations, but this would expand the bandwidth. And we also have fiber south of Bayard to City of Rocks turnoff and to Mimbres. We come out at the Airport Road. We are reworking fiber to Hurley almost to the railroad tracks. We also have fiber to the 32nd Street ByPass. We work with the mine; we work with the Forest Service; and we want to also partner with you to provide fiber to those that we can't provide to with federal government funding."

Meszler said they are trying to increase the fiber to help their wireless service, which slows down and creates a bottleneck when everyone is trying to use it at the same time. "If we provide fiber to our wireless stations, it will help break up that bottleneck and increase speeds to these people. We don't know exactly how many new people we will serve, but this proposal will increase speed to those who already have service and provide service to those who have none right now."

Baxter said WNM Communications has wireless point to point service to Fort Bayard Medical Center. "We want to get fiber to them, too. Plus, the Fort Bayard historic areas, we know the Forest Service wants to go in there, and they will want good broadband. We already serve Santa Clara and Hurley with wireless, but getting fiber to them would beef up their bandwidth and speeds."

Meszler noted that there is never enough capability, especially in the Mining District.

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards asked if they would be digging a trench.

Baxter said it could be done two ways, direct bury the conduit, but the more efficient is by pole attachment with their agreements with PNM. "We make the best use of our money that we can. Drilling into solid rock is not always the best way and it's the most expensive."

Edwards asked if every company, CenturyLink, Comcast, WNM, "do you all have your own fiber?"

"For the most part yes," Meszler said. "We have some ability to lease facility. They pay us or we pay them. There is some hand off with CenturyLink and vice versa."

Edwards said demand is always going up. "Once you build the fiber, when people want more capacity, how do you add more?"

Baxter said what they are proposing is to install new fiber from 32nd Street toward Hurley. "The equipment at the end makes the bandwidth. The glass itself transmits the signal. It used to be just white light transmitting. Now, we can split it out into different spectrums (and colors) of light to get more bandwidth. As we technologically progress, it will expand, and it will be the equipment at the end that determines the bandwidth. We will be future-proofing the fiber."

"Are there opportunities to leverage the fiber to share or partner with other companies?" Edwards asked.

Baxter agreed they would entertain anyone who approached them with a proposal.

District 2 Commissioner Javier "Harvey" Salas asked how the fiber would get to an individual home.

"That's where the fixed wireless comes in," Meszler said. "We put a tiny dish on the house, and it receives signals from the small broadband towers that are on poles."

Baxter said that Comcast, for instance, has the fiber going to the curb, and then coaxial cable is hard-wired to the home.

Meszler said if a business has a high demand, "we can do the fiber straight to the business."

Salas asked about services such as HughesNet.

Meszler said that service is wireless. "It takes additional time to get the signal from the satellite. Plus, it has large up-front fees, and it has data gaps if too many people are on it at the same time."

Salas said he thought San Lorenzo has fiber from Hurley.

Baxter said that was a handoff from CenturyLink fiber and then "we transmit it on our fiber."

Salas asked why WNM Communications didn't want to just use CenturyLink fiber.

"Because they won't sell me fiber," Baxter said. "We need our own."

"In the areas we serve, CenturyLink and Comcast also have scattered services," Meszler said. "Perhaps the best way to say it is that a lot of their infrastructure is in disrepair. CenturyLink has exited some of the markets we serve. We serve Deming as well. They've closed down their facilities there. We're a local company. We care about the community. It's why we're proposing this, because we feel it's the right move."

Baxter echoed that and said the company was trying to meet up with fiber and expand to fill the needs in Faywood and Mimbres, for example.

Salas noted that the proposal would have government money subsidizing a private company. "What advantage are we going to tell our constituents why we are using government money?"

Meszler said it gives them a low price to get access. "We don't reach everybody, but it would give many an opportunity for a lower connection cost. We already have some towers up in the Mining District, but it would mostly need line of sight. With this proposal, we can put in multiple repeaters."

Baxter noted the cost of about $2 million or less would not change customer pricing.

Salas asked if it would provide more jobs.

Meszler said: "We are always slowly adding new employees as we add areas."

Salas asked: "If I have Comcast, what would be the benefit of WNM Communications?"

Baxter said Comcast doesn't meet the needs of a lot of people on the outskirts of the municipalities.

Meszler said fiber can be better than a cable connection and with fiber the cost would be less, although "we can't meet the needs of everyone."

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne said his concern is also about putting a public investment into private infrastructure. "Will you get return on investment to make it worth it? And if you're anticipating this extension of fiber to maybe reach 400 more customers. I would guess that it doesn't get you to the $2 million you need, but it's not zero. It strikes me some amount of subsidy to get you to do this to serve our constituents is reasonable, but maybe not $2 million. Do you see anything wrong with that concept?"

Meszler said he thought it was a fair statement. "For the timeframe on return on investment we have to weigh how quickly people need bandwidth. For us, I would say immediately. I see where you're going on negotiating. The part on the private side is the timing of it."

Browne said it's tricky because some parts of the internet are regulated and others not. "Normally, for this sort of thing I would ask for an RFP and have people bid, but I don't think we have a functioning competitive market."

Baxter replied that free is not a good answer, because "we wouldn't be able to pay our employees."

Meszler said it is a competitive market depending on where you live. In the Mining District they are primarily a CenturyLink area and "they have a duty by the FCC to serve them. At the same time, they are not necessarily serving people with what they need."

Browne said he totally agreed with that last statement.

Baxter said: "We serve all the way to Quemado and the state line. Nobody will compete except we wireless carriers."

Browne said he wanted to conclude with "whether you would be open to negotiating. I'm against full subsidy, but I'm good with getting another option to county residents."

Baxter said when they get fiber to a person who wants it, that "gives us a reason financially."

Meszler said: "Let's keep talking We're members of the community and we want to provide better service. It's not a 100 percent business decision."

Browne said he was most appreciative of that.

Edwards said most of what had been discussed addressed residential needs. "I was thinking business. What if someone in the Mining District has a home business?"

Meszler said: "Where we have a tower, they can get 50MB. We all have the slowdown when it's peak usage."

Baxter said there's no limit to what a business wants to buy if the fiber is there. With the current latency, there is not enough bandwidth.

Also, under the American Rescue Plan, Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments executive director, spoke to the plan.

"I've got to tell you, listening to all this, if I'm overwhelmed by so many things happening right now, I can't imagine what you're going through," she said.

Lucero said she wanted to point out a few ways of maximizing the ARPA funding without duplication. "Some things are coming down the pike from the federal and state levels. On the broadband piece, we've done a regional broadband plan. The challenge is we don't have the capacity at the local, regional or even sometimes at the state levels to be competitive for a grant. For a federal grant, you have to know the jargon to even be in the running. One of the issues with the funding sources is that they are looking at the unserved, and not the underserved. Some state broadband legislation went through. I know from New Mexico DoIt that the U.S. Economic Development Department has put funding into broadband. I'm seeing all this money thrown at different things, but again no one here has the capacity to do it. That is the real challenge. The hospital got $2.5 million for the roof in the fall. We didn't get a notice of agreement until just recently, so it will take time for the post-award. We've lost nine months of time, and we still have a leaky roof at GRMC. Those are the challenges. I see funding sources, but should we get it from here or from there. And the other thing is, is it an urgent need or not. We are going to have some urgent needs coming down the pike. I'm not fully versed on ARPA. Right now, working with the congressional delegation, I'm trying to secure new funding for Colonias. What we need to address are water issues. I did a query about what was needed just in the Colonias areas. Just in New Mexico, we need $11 billion. That was based on capital improvement plans. There are discussions at the congressional level wanting to put more funding into water and wastewater. I'm also advocating for roads, public safety, EMS and solid waste that typically don't get looked at."

On the topic of the IDAs (individual development accounts), "we've been doing Co.Starters. There are 35 people in Grant County that want to start a new business. My responsibility is to keep track of those businesses and their return on investment. We're seen a lot come from Freeport, and others who don't want to work for anyone else. We have an ongoing class with juvenile justice kids. We have a generator program and a rebuild program coming out of Covid, as well as an upcoming new business program."

"With the ARPA funding, we are seeing needs around childcare," Lucero continued. "You, as a county, built a facility for childcare. The need is not because of Covid, it's that we are not meeting all the challenges of childcare."

On water and wastewater, Lucero said: "If you have an existing urgent project, I think it's a priority, especially if you are facing a penalty. It takes two to three years from design to completion of these projects. Wastewater and issues with septic water have the same issues. We have one pump that needs to be replaced. One of the challenges I'm having is with USDA. I've been working with them for many years. Now, they don't want to fund a project unless it's in violation. That has never been the rule but previously, it was to try to alleviate issues before they happened. We have a pending award for Tyrone townsite for $6 million. When Covid hit, because of staff and loss of revenue, we have not been able to award those $6 million because they are not in violation. It makes no sense to me. The infrastructure goes back to the 1960s, early 1970s, and they have never been replaced."

She agreed with Edwards' presentation on building community wealth. "We've seen it with Co.Starters. Because I've been traveling again, I've seen one situation. Playas has no capacity to hire food vendors, laundry services, no one to manage the sewer system, which is old. They have no one to clean houses that the military people are living in. They are going to be training 600 military personnel in September. They are reaching out to Deming and are getting some people. But what an opportunity to create some businesses that would spur the economy and help them in Playas. They also have infrastructure needs. I think there are opportunities. If there was a way to set aside some money for urgent needs, we need to. I would love to see what is coming down from congressional leaders on the water and wastewater, so we can maximize that funding. We need an update on the regional water plan, so that we have continuing water for the area."

Lucero noted that she learned from the New Mexico Environment Department "that we have a huge need for septic tank replacement. We still have cesspools that are still out in some areas. Cesspools are illegal, but they have no way to replace them, and they could potentially be contaminating our groundwater."

"We will always have needs," Lucero said. "I want to meet all your needs, but my challenge is that I cannot keep up with all the funding sources that I am bombarded with. I know there are needs, but there's really only one person working on the grants. The opportunities are much more. There will be some USDA funding that I want to go after for the hospital. I don't know where to go first. I'm here to provide guidance and to help you leverage and maximize the funding."

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings said: "You can't keep up with all the funding sources. How can we help you keep up? Yes, $5.2 million sounds like a lot, but with so many projects, it's not much."

Lucero said: "We need to build capacity. I have an award to hire a community coordinator. I think they could be looking at the funding sources. As a COG, we only deal with government funding. We haven't touched philanthropic resources. I want to be a mentor to build capacity in someone. Doing grants is the No. 1 capacity need. We see turnover in the county and municipal governments, so they don't know how to apply or manage grants or even how to do requests for proposals. I can do applications until I'm blue, but we need management of the funding. Grant administration is so time-consuming."

Ponce said if the county hires a grant writer, it may be the management that is the problem.

Billings noted that Lucero will be retiring soon. "You've been there 34 years. Perhaps there is no continuity and no one to take your place. The COG needs the capacity to write and manage grants and to learn from you before you leave."

Lucero said she does have a succession plan, but "but my employees are all focused on specific issues. I cover all contracts. What I'm saying to you is what opportunities you can do to create capacity. I write grants for 9 municipalities and counties, and school districts and water associations and acequias and all of that. If I'm bogged down, there's an opportunity for you. I know the planning department does some of that."

Billings asked if it would be better for the county to get its own writer and manager or better to team with other counties and fund COG to build capacity.

"My personal opinion, because you're much larger than the other counties, is to get your own, just because you can tailor it to your needs," Lucero said. "I can mentor anyone. You have to build that continuity in your organization. It took me 10 years to figure out the Community Development Block Grant process. I'm still figuring it out because things change, or I haven't done something in a long time. The state no longer has resources for training. What happens if we are not administering the grants correctly? You are penalized and can't apply again until the situations are alleviated. I don't know how much it will cost for you to hire a good grant writer. Other counties may have some project coordinators that make them work. I just want to make sure you have someone to help you make that $5 million go as far as it can."

County Manager Charlene Webb said she would echo that most of the work on grants comes on the back end. "It's easy to teach a grant writer. We let a lot of opportunities pass by because we don't have the capacity. A number of counties have special projects coordinators."

Edwards said she thinks the answer is the county and the COG working together. "We need capacity. We are losing capacity in all of our institutions around us. We really need something similar to Co.Starters for government institutions and non-profits."

Lucero said the community development person will help. "Ways we can provide assistance include if an organization needs a fiscal agent. I have government and 501(c)(3) status for being a fiscal agent."

Edwards noted that a sustainable economy is not built on grants. "Capacity can build on a grant, but when the grant ends the capacity goes away. If the economic development person works out well, we need to make sure the position is sustainable."

Salas noted that there's a lot of philanthropic money out there.

"We've done some philanthropic work," Lucero said. "Usually, they are smaller pots of money, and some can't give to government, but they can through me. Nothing above $50,000."

The next agenda item addressed the search for a new county manager to replace Webb, who will leave in late July.

"The one topic is actually two, there's an interim county manager search and then the county manager search," Browne said. "I'm seeing it that the interim county manager is in Charlene's hands, no more than 9 months. Could be hired from inside the county or from outside."

Webb said, in her mind, the interim ideal candidate would be internal. "The goal is someone who is able to step in and let the staff continue to do their jobs and work closely with you. Not someone that wants to set the world on fire, but someone who would keep a seamless transition to the permanent manager."

Salas clarified that the interim would be in the manager's hands and the final position would be determined by the commission.

Webb said she had discussed it with Human Resources Specialist Renae Calloway. And they determined that it would be a process similar to any process to fill a position, with the interview panel who interviews the candidates and makes a recommendation on who to hire. You will do the interview. The person needs to be able to work with all of us. I'm not out the door yet, but it will be on you to decide to hire. I have to make sure the person can stay on top of things that need to stay together. Ultimately, I might be the one signing off on it, but it will be on you on who to hire."

"The person has to be a motivational fit with the county manager, because it will be a transition position," Ponce said.

Billings asked for a simple layout of the process.

Webb said the position has been advertised for an interim. The applications are due at the end of [last] week. "We have schedule interviews on June 16. It occurred to me that we need another meeting to determine who you want to select."

Billings suggested immediately after the interviews.

Webb said the commissioners would receive the applications at the end of business Friday [June 11].

Ponce said the permanent position would be advertised locally, through New Mexico Counties, through National Association of Counties. "There will be a lot of process. There's not much there yet."

Webb said Calloway has a good idea to reach out to the radio. "We are looking at Skywest Media, local newspapers, and the Las Cruces Sun-News. The Albuquerque Journal is expensive. I can send the notice to county managers. We can put it on our website, on our Facebook page. It would be helpful to know what you want and the time frame you think you need. It needs to be out there as soon as possible. Nine months of interim will be gone quickly."

The next article will get into county reports and the review of the regular meeting and perhaps the reporting from the regular meeting.