Loudoun County Communications Commission Meeting - January 29, 2025
Loudoun County Communications Commission Meeting - January 29, 2025
The Loudoun County Communications Commission held a meeting on January 29, 2025, to elect officers, receive updates from franchisees Comcast and Verizon, review the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) project, and begin planning a committee to address mobile connectivity gaps in the county.
Consent Calendar
- Unanimous approval of the agenda and the December 2024 meeting minutes.
- Election of Jason Kennedy as Chair, Ronda Silva as Vice Chair, and Aaron Smith as Secretary (each by acclamation with one abstention noted for some votes).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public signed up to comment.
Discussion Items
- Comcast Update: Dexter Williams, Senior Manager of Government Affairs, reported no new updates. He offered to help with customer issues by requesting specific addresses or account numbers, and encouraged elected officials to contact him directly for escalations.
- Verizon Update: Matt Ogburn, Director of State and Local Government Affairs, introduced himself as the sole government relations representative for Virginia. He stated that Verizon is streamlining its franchise support and that he will not regularly attend future meetings. He provided Corel as the contact for franchise-related questions and an executive customer service email for escalated customer issues. Commissioners expressed concern about reduced engagement, particularly regarding outstanding action items on build-outs in Percival and density changes. Ogburn acknowledged the items and promised to follow up with Corel.
- Staff Report (VATI Update): Staff Liaison Dave reported that the first customer for the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative project, a winery, is expected to be connected by the end of the week, three weeks behind schedule due to a delay in completing splicing activities. The project target is to have all homes able to sign up for service by the end of October 2025. Commissioners questioned the timeline and the lack of monthly projections; staff noted that the contractor (All Points Broadband) has targeted a 15-20% take rate.
- 2025 Commission Focus and Plans: The commission discussed creating a temporary committee to study and recommend strategies for improving mobile connectivity in Loudoun County. After debate, a committee was established, led by Rich Bibby, with volunteers including Scott Farber, Jason Kennedy, Patrick Ryan, and Tom. The committee will explore five work streams: technical infrastructure mapping, policy implications, process integration (e.g., zoning, school board), emerging technologies (e.g., smart cities, LEO), and consumer perspectives. The committee will report back to the full commission.
Key Outcomes
- Election of Officers: Jason Kennedy (Chair), Ronda Silva (Vice Chair), Aaron Smith (Secretary).
- Action Items Closed: 251 (towns in franchise agreement), 252 (wireless tower report), 253 (wireless coverage discussion), 255 (chair send presentation), 256 (overlay maps of county coverage), 257 (review wireless questions from Commissioner Ryan).
- New Action Item: Staff will review the franchise agreement to determine if there is a requirement for franchisees to attend commission meetings.
- VATI Project: First customer activation expected within the week; project behind schedule but no penalties or levers identified for the commission.
- Next Meeting: Scheduled for February 24, 2025, in person.
Meeting Transcript
Started. Yes, sir. Normally get that little audio cue that tells me meeting the word, whatever. Um just for roll call, uh quickly around the room. Purposes of notes. Bert. I'm gonna move next to you if I can. Yeah, come on. Yeah, absolutely. Well Dave, I'll just provide it. Yeah, uh Bert Cream, uh Greg Stone, Jason Kennedy, uh Rich Bibby, yours truly Ronda Silva, Scott Farber, Aaron Smith, and Patrick Ryan here in the room. Thank you. You're welcome. So this is our first meeting of the year. It's normally our organizational meeting first. Um we need to select a chair and a vice chair, and to do that process, we'll first do the chair, take nominations from the floor. If there are more than um, if there are multiple candidates, we'll have an election process to make a decision on who the chair is, and then we'll go on and do the same with the vice chair. So um that said, I'll open the floor to nominations for chair. And Tom's walking in now. Ron, I think you've done a great job. I would nominate you if you'd be willing to accept it to continue to chair us. Second. I accept the nomination and turn it over to you, Chair the Floor. Um so there is the nomination and a second. Um open for discussion. On it. Any additional quick discussion question? Do you want it? Yeah, I'll do it. If there's a need, I don't mind happy to serve. We're all volunteers here. It's a demand on your time, but thank you. Are there any additional nominations for the chair? I was told that if you didn't show up, you'd get nominated or something. I gotta get you. No further discussion and no further nominations. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed. Any abstentions? What one abstention. Congratulations. We have a new chair from the year. Thank you, Jason. Um now to uh selection of a vice chair. Any nominations for vice chair. I nominate Jason Kennedy. Second. Any additional nominations? Any discussion? If there's no objection, we'll uh accept the I have one bit of discussion, which is I'm very happy to continue serving in the vice chair position.
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