City Council Agenda
Memo to: Manteca City Council
From: Randy Saffold, Senior Management Analyst
Date: September 3, 2019
Subject: WiFi Master Agreement and Budget Appropriation
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Adopt a resolution approving an appropriation of funding for City permitting, inspection, and utility fees for Free Public WiFi and approve the WIFI Master Agreement.
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Background:
The Free Public WiFi initiative directly relates to recommendations from the Economic Development Committee (EDC) and strategies approved by the City Council.
The EDC identified strategies for economic growth tied to increasing access to high-speed broadband:
* Item 18 (access to gigabit fiber or wireless services) in the Downtown Revitalization Strategy
* Item 11 (diversify broadband options) in the Business Recruitment Strategy
* Item 5 (enhanced digital visitor experience) in the Tourism, Conference, and Meeting Facilities Strategy
On September 18, 2018 the City Council approved the elements of the City Fiber Infrastructure Development Strategy:
* Developing partnerships with wireless vendors
* Diversifying access to broadband
The City identified four potential locations for WiFi including the Downtown, Promenade Shops, Stadium Center, and the Spreckles Park Shopping Area. In exchange for rent-free access to the vertical assets in these locations and key tower assets to carry the signal, a local WiFi vendor is prepared to deliver a metered amount of free public WiFi access to our citizens. Through this new network across the city, businesses will have more broadband options at prices that are more competitive. A similar deployment currently exists in Modesto's Downtown.
The vendor is willing to donate $1,200 of equipment per installation for the City's initiative in exchange for rent-free access to our vertical assets serving Free Public WiFi. For the City to take advantage of this partnership, the permitting and inspection fees of $1,330 per installation must be appropriate...
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