HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution 4434, supporting the Broadband Steering Committee1
Commission Memorandum
REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Brit Fontenot, Economic Development Director
SUBJECT: Resolution 4434 supporting the Broadband Steering Committee in their efforts to bring fast, reliable and affordable broadband internet services to the region in furtherance of the City’s economic development goals.
MEETING DATE: May 6, 2013
AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Consent RECOMMENDATION: Approve Resolution 4434 supporting the Broadband Steering
Committee in their efforts to bring fast, reliable and affordable
broadband internet services to the region in furtherance of the City’s economic development goals. (ATTACHMENT 1) BACKGROUND:
The purpose of the Broadband Steering Committee (the “BSC”) is to provide leadership in setting the direction and priorities for the local and regional communities regarding high-speed broadband and fiber optic metro networks.
The BSC’s mission is to ensure fast, reliable and affordable broadband internet services
to the region in furtherance of local and regional economic development goals and priorities.
Originally organized as a partnership between Montana State University, the City of Bozeman, MSU’s Innovation Campus and the Northern Rocky Mountain Economic
Development District (the “NRMEDD”), the BSC endeavors to raise the awareness of broadband
infrastructure in the region and discuss the importance of high-speed broadband connectivity as
an economic development tool in support of the expansion of the technology sector which could
result in the creation of additional high to mid-paying jobs in the region.
The role of the BSC is one of guiding the community on the issue of broadband infrastructure and connectivity and to ensure that questions and concerns as they relate to
broadband and economic development are being adequately addressed, documented and
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resolved. The BSC works closely with MSU, the City, NRMEDD and local businesses to
document existing broadband services, understand existing business needs, identify broadband
deficiencies, if any, and document this information for the establishment of a broadband strategy
for the area. The BSC also serves to educate its members and the public on broadband and interconnectivity issues with the goal of enabling members to freely discuss these services with peers as needed and provide a forum for these discussions.
The composition of the BSC includes a committee chair, Dr. Dewitt Latimer, Montana State University’s Chief Information Officer and 13 members from the public and private sectors in Gallatin and Park Counties. The membership includes qualified professionals from the
technology and communications sectors. (ATTACHMENT 2) It is intended that the BSC
leverage the experiences, expertise, and insight of the committee members in order to examine
and champion the broadband needs of the region. The BSC is seeking City Commission support for the work described above. Support for
the BSC is consistent with adopted Commission priorities (No. 1) and the City’s adopted
economic development plan’s goals and strategies (No. 2). (ATTACHMENTS 3 and 4)
Resolution 4434, if approved, provides legitimacy and credibility to the purpose and mission of the BSC.
UNRESOLVED ISSUES: None identified at this time.
ALTERNATIVES: As determined by the Commission. FISCAL EFFECTS: None identified at this time.
Attachments:
1. Resolution 4434 supporting the Broadband Steering Committee; and 2. Broadband Steering Committee Biographies;
3. The City Commission’s Adopted FY 13-14 Priorities; and
4. The City Commission’s Adopted 2009 Economic Development Plan’s Goals and
Strategies. Report prepared on April 19, 2013
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COMMISSION RESOLUTION NO. 4434
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BOZEMAN,
MONTANA, EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE BROADBAND STEERING
COMMITTEE AND THEIR EFFORTS TO BRING FAST, RELIABLE AND
AFFORDABLE BROADBAND INTERNET SERVICES TO THE REGION IN
FURTHERANCE OF THE CITY’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GOALS.
WHEREAS, the City of Bozeman and its citizens support efforts to strengthen the
economic vitality of Bozeman and the surrounding area; and
WHEREAS, the Bozeman City Commission identified economic development as a high
priority; and
WHEREAS, the City of Bozeman’s 2009 Economic Development Plan’s first goal is to
support the expansion and retention of existing businesses and economic sectors that will
continue to strengthen and diversify the economy and create higher paying jobs in Bozeman and
the surrounding area; and
WHEREAS, the City of Bozeman’s 2009 Economic Development Plan’s second goal is
to maintain and upgrade infrastructure to support current and future needs of business; and
WHEREAS, the City of Bozeman’s Economic Development Council has discussed the
importance of broadband internet service to accomplishing the aforementioned goals; and
WHEREAS, the Broadband Steering Committee has determined that a lack of
affordable, reliable and fast broadband internet service in the region could be a limiting factor in
the economic growth of technology and other sectors.
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NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Commission of the City of
Bozeman, Montana, that the City Commission supports efforts by the Broadband Steering
Committee to bring fast, reliable and affordable broadband internet service to Bozeman and the
region in furtherance of the City’s economic development goals.
PASSED AND APPROVED by the City Commission of the City of Bozeman,
Montana, at a regular session thereof held on the _____ day of ________, 2013.
___________________________________
SEAN A. BECKER
Mayor ATTEST:
________________________________________
STACY ULMEN, CMC City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
___________________________________
GREG SULLIVAN
City Attorney
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Anthony Cochenour has twenty years of network, telecommunications and software
development experience. In late 1997 he created a successful regional ISP, PrimeMedia, which
served MT and WY and in 1999 became the CTO of BridgeBand Communications. While at
BridgeBand he led efforts to expand and deploy critical business-focused broadband
infrastructure throughout MT, ID and WY. In 2004 he took on the challenge of modernizing and
expanding global data center and voice networks for RightNow Technologies in support of their
CRM platforms. In his tenure at RightNow he led efforts to deploy seven data centers and over a
dozen international voice POPs which have since served billions of customer interactions
globally. In 2008 he accepted an engineering position with Cisco Systems providing design and
implementation support for customers primarily in the western United States. Since then, he has
received numerous awards including Cisco’s Engineer of the Year in 2011. He maintains a focus
on data center, virtualization and security technologies, which have become so critical for
modern application platforms.
For the past ten years he has maintained his status as a certified, court-recognized digital
forensics expert specializing in Internet and communications-related cases. He is an active
member of the FBI’s InfraGard program, the Montana chapter of the ISSA and actively
volunteers to help educate students and families on topics such as online safety and cyber
bullying. Most recently, he in leading a software security startup company headquartered in
Bozeman that’s focused on bringing, and keeping, high tech jobs in MT.
Dr. Doug Gale has extensive experience designing and building wide area networks. 1986 he
wrote the original proposal to the National Science Foundation suggesting a national network
made up of a backbone network linking regional networks and actively participated in the
creation of what later became known as the Internet. The regional network that he founded,
MIDnet, was the first fully operational Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the world and until
1992 was the largest source of Internet traffic in the world. In 1990 and 1991 he served as a
program office at the National Science Foundation where he managed the NSFnet, the immediate
precursor to today’s Internet. In 1991 he received the Directors Award for Program Officer
Excellence. While at the NSF he also prepared and reviewed material for the White House
Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Technology Assessment, and the U.S.
Congress regarding the High Performance Computing Initiative and the National Research and
Education Network (NREN).
In 1995, he wrote the technical requirements document for Internet2 (a high performance
Internet for the research community) and participated in its creation as a member of the Abilene
Executive Committee. Shortly afterwards he was the architect of the Washington Research and
Education Network which later became the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX). In 2000 he
became an early advocate for consortium owned and operated high performance fiber optic
networks and subsequently designed three, one serving the “Five Colleges” in western
Massachusetts in 2001 (http://www.fivecollegenet.com/network.htm), one in the State of Ohio in
2002 (http://www.oar.net), and one in Maryland in 2010, (http://www.mdren.net).
Broadband Steering Committee – Member Bios
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Along the way Dr. Gale has served as a tenured Professor of Computer Science and Physics, CIO
at two research universities, CEO of an Internet Service Provider, President of a Consultancy,
and Founder and President of the Internet Legacy Institute (www.internetlegacyinstitute.org).
Robert (Rob) Gilmore is Executive Director of the Northern Rocky Mountain Economic
Development District. He provides economic development products to Gallatin and Park
Counties and serves a 27 member Board of Directors and a seven member Executive Committee.
Rob is also Chairman of Solution Mountain (SMI), an Intelligent Network that is dedicated to
helping U.S. communities analyze their business needs, measure economic impacts and develop
strategies for business expansion. Previously, Rob was founder/CEO of Globe-1, Inc. The
company provided e-commerce solutions to U.S. domestic and international markets. Before its
sale to Onvia, Inc. in 2000, the Globe-1 system was one of the largest small-business trade
matching system in the US with linkages to all major US cities, more than 650,000 supplier
companies and a dozen international markets. He is a recipient of the Ford Foundations award
for Innovations in American Government, and the Council of State Government’s Award for
Innovation.
Brit Fontenot is the Director of Economic Development and Community Relations for the City
of Bozeman, Montana. He has worked for the Bozeman community for the past 7 years.
Prior to coming to the City of Bozeman, Mr. Fontenot served 5 years (2000 – 2005) with the
United Nations Compensation Commission at the UN European Headquarters in Geneva,
Switzerland. While serving at the UN Mr. Fontenot assisted a team of legal experts in the
processing of claims and payment of compensation for environmental losses and damage
suffered as a direct result of Iraq's 1990 -1991 unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait.
Mr. Fontenot has served the citizens of Bozeman since 2006. He has worked in various
capacities for the Bozeman community, first as City Clerk then as Assistant to the City Manager
with a focus on neighborhoods, then as Assistant to the City Manager with a focus on economic
development and is currently the Director of Economic Development and Community Relations.
Mr. Fontenot engages both public and private sectors to collectively and creatively offer
solutions to many of the pressing economic issues in and around Bozeman, i.e. job creation,
employment sector diversification and access to business related information and resources.
Additionally, Mr. Fontenot provides support to local business by aiding in the navigation of
various local regulatory processes.
Mr. Fontenot holds a B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of Louisiana in
Lafayette, Louisiana and earned an M.A. degree in History from Montana State University in
Bozeman.
Lester Jerome is the Manager of Information Systems at Bozeman Deaconess Health Services.
Bozeman Deaconess is the primary health care facility for Gallatin county and surrounding areas.
Lester manages all aspects of IT at BDHS including: staff, hardware platforms, applications,
telecommunications, and external connectivity. The external connectivity portion is the reason
Lester is interested in participating in broadband initiatives and activity in any process that can
strengthen these capabilities in Southwest Montana.
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Lester has an Associate’s Degree from Fresno City College, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business
Administration from California State University, Fresno, and an MBA from Texas Woman’s
University. Lester has 25 years’ experience in healthcare IT in both the facility and vendor side
of the business.
Matt Johnson was born in the Denver, CO area and graduated from Colorado State University
in 1990 with a business marketing degree, and from Pacific Coast Banking School in 2008. Matt
relocated to Bozeman in 1997 as Small Business Banker with U.S. Bank then started his career
with First Interstate Bank in 1999. Since joining First Interstate Matt has held successive
leadership roles in the company and is currently Vice-President and Regional Commercial Loan
Manager. Matt is active in the local community as Chair Elect of the Bozeman Area Chamber of
Commerce, CAP Mentor and through his church. Matt and his wife Laura, a full time student at
Montana State University, have three daughters attending Bozeman area public schools.
Dr. Dewitt Latimer serves as the Enterprise Chief Information Officer for MSU System as well
as its flagship university in Bozeman. Dr. Latimer is responsible for the IT experience of
students, faculty, and staff, and for enabling the MSU mission and strategic plan through
technology innovation. He provides oversight, management, and strategic planning for the
university's information technology infrastructure.
He has 25+ years experience of innovative thinking and leadership across four large-scale
research universities. Latimer was welcomed into the MSU family in June 2012 after having
served as the Chief Technology Officer at the University of Notre Dame since 2002. He has also
served as Executive Director for Statewide Infrastructure for the University of Tennessee,
Director of Academic Computing at Kent State University, and Director of Computing and
Technical Services at Clemson University. Latimer also helped establish the St. Joseph’s Valley
Metronet (www.metronetzing.org), a 100 route-mile high-density privately owned and run
metropolitan fiber network serving the South Bend (Indiana) and surrounding business
community and served on it’s advisory board while at Notre Dame
Stuart Leidner has been with Prospera Business Network since December of 2009. He has
more than 20 years experience in for-profit and nonprofit development. His background includes
research and economic impact analysis for the tourism industry of Idaho, coordinating research
an innovation for the statewide Small Business Development Center network in the State of
Washington, commercial lending, and grassroots private property conservation initiatives.
He is responsible for assuring the delivery of quality services through all of Prospera’s business
consulting programs, including the Montana Women’s Business Center (WBC), and the
Accelerated Entrepreneur Program.
As Executive Director, Stuart oversees four revolving loan fund programs which include three
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and a USDA Intermediary Relending
Program (IRP) loan fund and all of Prospera’s economic research projects and publications,
economic impact analysis research and serves as the organization’s contact person for economic
information.
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Peter Martinson is a veteran of the Gallatin Valley technology environment. He co-founded
several technology businesses after his graduation from Montana State University with a Masters
Degree in Computer Science. As an active member of the Gallatin Valley Technology Alliance
he helped foster a healthy high tech business sector. Peter has written commercially successful
software, designed and supported high availability computing environments and managed
complex technical projects. He is currently the IT Director for Gallatin County.
Scott McMahan has been the Information Technology Manager for the City of Bozeman since
Nov 1st of 2012. Scott manages the IT staff members, manages IT related projects, and is
involved with developing long term strategic technology initiatives. Scott is from Montana
originally but has been in Bend, Oregon for the last 17 years. While in Bend Scott was a partner
in AccTech Solutions, Inc. a consulting business that focused on local government and small to
medium businesses where he managed the IT side of this business.
Bill Procunier is President and founder of Granite Enterprises, Inc. (2000), dba GraniteTCS,
Inc. GraniteTCS specializes in providing professional technical consulting and support services
in the areas of Information Technology, voice systems and low-voltage cabling and fiber optics.
Granite supports 750+ small and medium size businesses located primarily in Gallatin and Park
counties. Formerly, Bill was Vice President of the Systems Division for VLC/Powerhouse
Technologies (purchased by Anchor Gaming/IGT). In this position, Bill was responsible for
lottery and gaming machine control system product development, delivery and support in the
United States and internationally. He holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science (U
of M) and Business Management (MSU) and has 25+ years of product development and
Information Technology support experience.
Warren Vaughan has worked for the Gallatin County Planning and Community Development
Department since 2004. Warren has spent the past nine years working with communities around
the Gallatin Valley on planning, growth, and community and economic development issues.
Warren is also the director of the Bozeman Business Expansion and Retention (BEAR) program,
an initiative aimed at connecting small business owners with private sector mentors. Warren is
also currently pursuing his doctorate in Organization Development and is married with two
daughters.
Lew Wilks is a proven business manager, with over 20 years of upper management and
ownership experience. He currently serves as a management consultant and advisor for many
companies, as well as owning several small businesses in the agriculture and hospitality
industries. Prior to becoming a management consultant, Mr. Wilks served as the Chief Strategy
Officer, President of Internet Markets, Business Markets, Business Development, and subsidiary
operations for QWEST Communications. Under his leadership, the company developed
worldwide operations from startup to over 20,000 employees in a three-year period.
From 1993-1997 Mr. Wilks held several positions at GTE Corporation (currently Verizon). He
served as President of GTE Communications Corporation, where he led the US operations
holding company for all deregulated products and services. Mr. Wilks also served as the GTE
Northwest General Manager Branch Operations, GTE West (California, Northwest and Hawaiian
Tel) VP/GM Business Markets, and President of US Business Markets. Prior to joining GTE,
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Mr. Wilks served as Director at MCI Corporation, where he was responsible for all National
Accounts and State and Federal Markets for a 14 state region. Mr. Wilks also held several
management positions with Wang Laboratories from 1983-1989. He began his career at
Datapoint Corporation, where he served as a Systems Engineer supporting advanced
communications products.
Mr. Wilks has held board seats with PMC Sierra and Portal Software, both public companies. In
addition, he has served as the Chairman of the State of Colorado Science and Technology
Commission and as Chairman of Special Olympics in Colorado. He currently holds a board seat
with Western Sustainability Exchange and is a member of the Planning and Zoning Board for
Park County in Montana.
Mr. Wilks graduated from Central Missouri State University where he earned a Bachelor of
Science Degree, Public Relations, with a cognate minor in Computer Science.
Molly Yarnell is Vice President of Information Technology at Zoot Enterprises. Zoot is a global
provider of advanced loan origination, account acquisition and credit risk management solutions.
Zoot services financial institutions world wide, including leading banks, automotive
manufacturers, retailers and payment providers. Molly manages all aspects of the Zoot IT
systems to ensure a high availability model. She is excited to participate in the Boradband
Committee and to bring fault tolerant and redundant connectivity to Southwest Montana.
Molly has over 15 years experience in building and managing IT systems. She holds a BA in
Communication from Montana State University and numerous IT Certifications.
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What is most important, right now? 2013 – 2014 Priorities
1. Diversify the local economy and support the creation and expansion of mid to high paying
jobs. (Fontenot/Kukulski) (ED-01)
2. Implement the 2012 parks & trails bond to expand the capacity of our parks, trails and open
spaces. (Overton/Rosenberry/Sullivan) (PR-02) (Mayor: 1)
3. Implement reform of the community development system with an enhanced focus on customer
service. (Worthington/Woolard) (CM-01)
4. Enhance Downtown Development Opportunities
Collaborate with the Downtown Partnership, Montana Department of Transportation and
Transportation Coordinating Committee to improve transportation downtown.
Facilitate development of a downtown hotel as identified in the downtown development plan.
5. Complete the Integrated Water Resource Plan and develop solutions to achieve long term
water sustainability (Woolard/Sullivan) (PW-01)
6. Implement financial plans and asset management systems to properly maintain and replace
the city’s infrastructure and facilities (Rosenberry/Woolard) (PW-02)
7. Complete design of the police station & municipal court and educate the public on the
necessity for, and passage of, a bond measure (Winn/Price) (PD-01)
8. Assist Gallatin College and secure regional funding. (City Commission)
9. Continue implementation of the Climate Action Plans (City Commission/Winn) (CM-04)
10. Determine the future of Bogert Pool and next steps for aquatics & Recreation
(Overton/Kukulski) (PR-01)
11. Consider a Demolition by Neglect ordinance
12. Develop a permanent plan for the Story Mansion
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