March 28, 2024

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Unlimited Technology

New technology team is working to bring faster broadband to Santa Rosa County

Santa Rosa County staff are aiming for late spring or early summer to hold the first meeting of the newly created local technology team.

Kyle Holley, Santa Rosa County outreach and community liaison for grants and special projects, told the News Journal in an email that the team will include both a technical advisory group and a citizen input group.

Right now, Holley said he and staff plan to spend March and April soliciting telecommunications companies for their GIS layers that show where broadband services currently are and where those companies might like to improve. He said this will help the team develop recommendations.

From there, he expects to have a presentation ready for the Board of County Commissioners sometime in April on where the county stands in terms of access. Then in May or June, Holley expects the team to have its first public input meeting.

“The discussion is we are supposed to talk about the gaps. So, how can we talk about the gaps if we don’t know where they are?” Holley said of the decision to hold off on bringing the team together until staff receives the necessary information from internet service providers.

The Okaloosa County broadband survey will help the county target service issues and determine improvements necessary to fix unreliable or nonexistent broadband access.

The Okaloosa County broadband survey will help the county target service issues and determine improvements necessary to fix unreliable or nonexistent broadband access.

The Office of Broadband was established in summer 2020 under the purview of the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity. It works with local and state government agencies, community organizations, and private businesses to increase the availability and effectiveness of broadband internet throughout the state, specifically in small and rural communities.

The office has been rolling out broadband speed testing across Florida to better identify and reach unserved and underserved areas of the state. The resulting map will be an asset to local communities and internet service providers to assist with broadband planning efforts. The state’s strategic plan for broadband is slated to be completed by June 30.

Learn more about the speed test: Got slow internet in Santa Rosa County? This test may help you get better internet access.

In addition to representatives from the county, the school district, the library system, Mediacom and AT&T, the local tech team now includes members of homebuilding and construction industry Edwin Henry and Ed Carson, and a Verizon representative.

“I have Edwin Henry as a representative of the Home Builders Association. And I have Eddie Thompson (regional director with AT&T) because the home builders are moving out into the rural areas. And so, they’re going to have a voice and opinion,” Holley said, adding that he is still looking to add someone from the county’s Forestry Division and a farming community representative.

The local technology team comes at the same time the county is pushing residents to take a broadband speed test that will further indicate internet access gaps in the area.

Santa Rosa County officials are looking to improve broadband access for unserved areas in the county.

Santa Rosa County officials are looking to improve broadband access for unserved areas in the county.

The original plan was to have designated days to encourage everyone in the county to take the test last month, but staff have since held off on that and moved toward coordinating a co-promotional effort with the school district to publicize not only the speed test, but also provide informational resources about the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program.

The ACP is a benefit program meant to ensure households can afford the broadband they need for things like work, school, and health care. The program includes a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service and potentially a one-time discount of up to $100 for a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet.

Other internet programs in the county: Gulf Breeze adds free public Wi-Fi at Shoreline Park with plans to expand in future

Another new layer in the county’s current fact-finding stage is that starting this election cycle, the state is requiring polling stations to record turnout data on the hour, every hour on election day. Santa Rosa County Supervisor of Elections Tappie Villane said this new requirement could pose a challenge in certain parts of the county.

“There are dead zones throughout the county in different places,” Villane said. “I know that that’s something that’s going to have to be addressed so that we can meet this requirement without having to move a particular polling location just because it doesn’t have that ability for us to get that information and send it to the state on an hourly basis.”

She added that she sees the local technology team and speed test as positive opportunities and items worth pursuing.

“We definitely want to work with (Holley) on it,” Villane said, adding that in the coming months the department will go out and test the connections at the polling stations in order to get an initial reading.

The current local technology team includes:

  • David Hicks, Santa Rosa County School District assistant superintendent for Information Technology Services

  • Adrian Lowndes, Santa Rosa County IT and GIS director

  • Jane Debellis, IT coordinator for Santa Rosa County Library System

  • Jason Christopherson, senior operations manager with Mediacom

  • Eddie Thompson, regional director with AT&T

  • Dave Murzin, consultant at First Place Partners

  • Ed Carson, president of Carson Construction

  • Edwin Henry, president of Henry Company Homes

  • Tom Lloyd, Santa Rosa County Emergency Management Operations chief

  • Brandon Robinson, public sector associate director with Verizon

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Santa Rosa County technology team focusing on wider, faster broadband

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