The new Senate president wants regular updates about broadband expansion in West Virginia from the old Senate president.
“We need to have metrics so we know month to month to month what’s taking place here,” Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said during an interim legislative meeting that focused on how to better meet the state’s broadband needs.
Mitch Carmichael, the old Senate president who is now the state’s development secretary, agreed.
“That is a great point, and it’s kind of scary we think alike,” Carmichael responded to Blair. “I know exactly what you’re thinking and I will definitely provide that update monthly.”
Carmichael, who served as Senate president from 2017 until losing a primary election race last spring, now serves in a new role as Gov. Jim Justice’s cabinet secretary for the Department of Economic Development. Part of that role is spearheading broadband expansion while drawing on his prior private sector experience at internet companies Frontier and, more recently, Citynet.
This was one of his first presentations before a legislative committee, and he acknowledged some awkwardness about being on the other side from his former colleagues.
“You ever hear that song, ‘I’ve looked at life from both sides now?’ That’s me now,” he said, quoting Joni Mitchell lyrics.
Justice named Carmichael to the position by saying his on button is always on. Lawmakers including Blair said they hope to see that ongoing urgency in broadband expansion.
Broadband access has received heightened attention in West Virginia since the coronavirus pandemic caused so many people to work or learn from home. Social distancing recommendations made clear the importance of having reliable connectivity for working, learning or reaching out to loved ones.
Officials are looking toward how to best improve broadband through $138 million the state is getting through federal funds passed in March. That’s in addition to local government funding that is separate — but may be coordinated for better bang.
“We want to provide last-mile service to people that don’t have it,” Carmichael told lawmakers. “It’s nice to provide competition for those who don’t like their current provider. That’s nice, and that’ll be sort of a byproduct of doing this. But our prime objective should be to use this money to get to people who do not have broadband as defined by the FCC.”
Carmichael described four ways West Virginia can work toward those goals.
One is to extend existing network lines. This would focus on the last mile projects that companies often deem cost-prohibitive. “So what we’re structuring is a plan to incentivize these network line extensions,” Carmichael said. “This will be the current providers that can reach out further into the communities.”
He said that could fairly quickly “get to a site that doesn’t currently have broadband and you can turn it up and make a real difference for those people.”
Another is to deploy rapid wireless projects. He said that would upgrade existing towers to provide fixed wireless connectivity and reach remote areas — “and quickly turn up a lot of homes, a lot of addresses, a lot of potential businesses.”
The final two strategies for using millions of federal dollars are major efforts that will take longer, he said.
The first of those is major broadband infrastructure investment. “This would be people who would bring projects to the Development Office that can then be approved; we’ll score them, we’ll use an outside consultant to help us do that so there won’t be any appearance of impropriety at all.”
A significant component about this is ensuring followup to make sure the providers lived up to their promises, Carmichael said.
House Majority Leader Amy Summers, R-Taylor, said she appreciates that follow through. “We know that’s what’s been lacking in the past because people weren’t held accountable for what they did or did not put in.”
And the second would be coordinating and matching the efforts of local governments.
“In addition to the $138 million that West Virginia is getting dedicated toward broadband, the local counties and municipalities are getting a traunch of money as well,” Carmichael said. “We want to incentivize them to work together and coordinate their efforts and get synergy from these dollars that are available.”
He said the state can provide services like mapping and cost analysis and then help local governments coordinate their projects with each other. “So you can see this money can be almost multiplied exponentially, the good it can do, when we all work together.”
Delegate Brent Boggs, D-Braxton, told Carmichael he’s encouraged.
“I’m excited because you’re excited about this. I think you sense the urgency that we all do especially in areas that are unserved and underserved,” Boggs said. “I’ve watched a lot of efforts rise and fall and not meet expectations.”