City wins major broadband grants; fiber‑to‑the‑home expansion set to start construction

City IT staff updated the Budget Committee on the broadband program, reporting completed rural grant work, an awarded $9 million state broadband deployment project and ongoing high customer satisfaction with fiber‑to‑the‑home service.

Brad Crawford (IT director) said the city completed a $1.6 million rural project and received a $1.0 million award for a similar area; the largest award is a $9.0 million state broadband deployment grant covering the rural area south of Sherwood toward Wilsonville and east of Newberg. That $9.0 million will be expended on construction in the coming biennium; staff said the project has been bid and construction will start as scheduled.

Staff reported strong customer retention and low attrition—only a handful of accounts left recently—and said broadband operations will support new customers in the recently funded areas; the operational support model includes local technical support for new rural subscribers. The grants were described as enabling expansion that would not have been financially feasible without external funding.

The committee asked about operations costs after construction; IT staff said once built, subscribers become regular service customers and the ongoing operational expenses are covered by monthly revenue. The committee welcomed the awards and asked staff to keep the committee apprised of construction schedules and take rates in newly served neighborhoods.