A “triple play” may not be possible, but the game isn’t over yet. The second question in the November 3 referendum, which would have authorized the county to own and operate a telephone system along with a TV and broadband network, failed to pass with a 65% vote. Proponents of a countywide fiber optic network, however, have other ideas sitting in the dugout.
On Tuesday, November 11, 2009, the county board started to discuss the possibility of hiring a county administrator to help coordinate this and other projects that will result from the passage of the first question authorizing a countywide 1% sales tax.
A total of 2,425 citizens cast votes in the referendum, 68% of the county’s registered voters. Only 1,300 people cast votes in last year’s primary, according to Auditor- Treasurer Braidy Powers. Collection of the 1% could begin as soon as April 1, 2010.
Commissioner Jan Hall said decisions about how the 1% is spent would have to be made by the county board. Both she and Commissioner Jim Johnson, however, stated that committees advocating for the seven projects authorized by the referendum should make proposals to the board for use of the 1%.
Cook County Information Technology Director Danna MacKenzie reported to the board that the Broadband Committee is looking optimistically on the fact that 55.9% of voters said yes to question #2. The fact that it failed is merely “a road bump,” she said.
The committee is considering three options:
Creating a new financial model that does not include a phone service, which is typically the most profitable of the three.
Finding a private third-party provider.
Figuring out why those who voted no did so, addressing their concerns, and trying another referendum.
The county may not know until the end of the year whether it will be awarded a federal stimulus grant that would pay for twothirds of a fiber optic network, MacKenzie said. The committee continues to go forward with initial steps, however, such as addressing environmental questions that would need to be answered if the county makes it through the first phase of the grant process.
A center of operations would be likely to be built in Cedar Grove Business Park, and the committee is working with the Planning & Zoning Department, Soil & Water, and the EDA on initial site considerations. Twelve to 15 companies have expressed interest in construction of that building, MacKenzie said.
The next step will be preliminary letters of agreement with Boreal Access, which would run the network, and Arrowhead Electric, which would maintain its infrastructure.
Commissioner Bob Fenwick wanted the public to understand that the county board would not directly run the network but would appoint a commission of technical and financial experts.
MacKenzie told the board she would like to see a coordinator hired to oversee the process, a move that could bring the county closer to having a county administrator. Someone in this position could help ensure the success of the projects to be funded through the 1% sales tax, she said, could coordinate efforts to switch governmental agencies over to narrowband radio transmission to comply with a new federal regulation, and could provide local oversight on state-initiated regionalization of public health and human services departments.
Commissioner Jan Hall countered that a committee is already working on public health and human services changes. Another committee is working on the switch to narrowband radio.
Supporting the idea of a county administrator was Commissioner Bruce Martinson. He said Personnel Director Janet Simonen might retire in about five years, and she and Braidy Powers have been doing some things a county administrator would otherwise do. He asked that the possibility of hiring a county administrator be put on the agenda for another county board meeting.
“Be careful what you ask for,” Simonen said. “You just might get $20 million!”
Commissioner Hall commented on the cost of administering the 1% projects. She said, “Administration is going to cost a lot of money.”
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