In an effort to expand broadband services in all communities of Sierra County, the board of supervisors is working with the state sponsored Gold Country Broadband Consortium (GCBC) now managed by the Sierra Business Council (SBC). This consortium is of one of 14 regional groups representing 49 counties statewide, and is the local effort for the region that includes all of Sierra County. The SBC manager of this local effort is Michelle Gartner, and SBC took over this gold country effort earlier this year.
In order to both attract grant funding, as well as service providers, an accurate appraisal of the need in each community is needed and toward that end, the GCBC is soliciting any and all county residents with poor or no internet service to report that condition. To report either, the following links can be used:
For poor internt service, log in, take the speed test and report via:
http://sierrabusiness.org/what-we-do/projects/870-gold-country-broadband-consortium
If you have no service, you can fill out the form on this link or use a printed form. These forms are available in all post offices in the county as well as the Pike Firehouse.
http://cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/Utilities_and_Industries/Communications_-_Telecommunications_and_Broadband/Consumer_Programs/Broadband_Availability/brdbndavailabilitysurveyEN.pdf
The California Legislature established the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to support broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas of California. The Broadband Regional Consortia is funded by CASF and was created as a way to address the unique broadband deployment issues in specific regions and “to fund the cost of broadband deployment activities, other than the capital cost of facilities, as specified by the Commission".
Thank you.
LEE ADAMS
Sierra County Supervisor
