North Florida Broadband Authority: NFBA calls Washington for reinforcements. First stop Fanning Springs. The run up.
Posted March 20, 2013 01:20 pm | Part XL part 1 of
3
Part 2: The workshop w/the Feds. Cheerleading without
substance.
Part 3: Gilchrist County pulls the plug on the NFBA in
another unanimous vote
The NITA's Tony Wilhelm flew into N. Florida from
Washington with a contingent to do damage control at the
NFBA.
Fanning Springs, FL – Reeling from a continuous stream of defections at the North Florida Broadband Authority (NFBA), the NFBA General Manager, Richelle Sucara, secretly called in the Feds for reinforcements to help stem the tide of member counties pulling the plug on the organization. At 1 o'clock Monday afternoon, Tony Wilhelm, Director of the Obama stimulus funded $250mil Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, the organization that awarded $30 million to the NFBA, arrived with a Federal contingent from Washington. The contingent could not meet at the NFBA offices because they were abandoned. The NFBA couldn't afford the rent.
In September of 2011 the NFBA's $30mil federal grant was suspended because of charges of waste; fraud; and abuse. In October of 2011 a new management team purportedly approved by the NTIA and headed by Alachua County's Richelle Sucara took control.
On October 21, 2011, the then Board Chairman Stephen Fulford of Jefferson County asked the Board to remove without cause the third engineering firm from the project, Rapid Systems of Tampa. Rapid Systems was ready to begin putting customers on the Network.
Neither the NTIA, nor its project managers, Doug Kinkoph and Chris Holt, did anything to stop the bloodletting. It would be almost a year before any customer was on the network.
Concurrent with the hiring of General Manager Sucara and ex GSG employee Donny Lort; the firing of Rapid Systems and the hiring of the fourth engineering firm, Jacobs Engineering, some members of the NFBA's original 14 counties began having issues with the management, direction, economy and transparency of the NFBA.
"It's just out of whack."
On April 2, 2012, Bradford County was the first of fourteen of the NFBA's original counties to withdraw. They were followed shortly thereafter by the City of Perry, whose city manager told the city council, "It's (NFBA) just out of whack."
As time moved into 2013, half of the original counties had withdrawn and on March 4, 2013, Gilchrist County had voted to withdraw and was scheduled to discuss a resolution finalizing its earlier decision at 4:45pm, a few hours after the hastily convened NFBA workshop.
The NFBA Fanning Springs meeting was barely publicized. It was billed as a workshop with the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration). While the Federal contingent was seven strong, it was obvious after a few moments that the Feds, as well as the NFBA management and Board were not in Fanning Springs to answer any questions.
The Gainesville Sun characterized the meeting as a "Pep Rally."
NFBA Chairman Langford and ABC News
ABC's Yaremi Farinas questions the NFBA's Chairman,
Gilchrist County's Tommy Langford.
Before the meeting was gaveled to order, Yaremi Farinas of ABC affiliate WCJB asked NFBA Board Chair Tommy Langford what the meeting was about.
The NFBA's Langford answered, "We asked the administrators from Washington DC that oversee the project to come down and plan some strategy to take it to the next level. The network is designed; it's built; it's ready to be used. We actually have customers hooked up."
ABC's Farinas followed up, "Today are you going to be listening to people from the public? Are they going to be able to speak?"
Chairman Langford, who had the responsibility of approving the agenda, responded, "I'm not sure exactly what the agenda is. It's mostly a meeting with the NTIA out of Washington DC. It is a public meeting. I don't know how much the public will actually be able to speak... We want the citizens to get involved."
ABC's Farinas, "What would be the reason that counties would pull out? I don't understand that. What reason have they given you?"
The NFBA's Langford, "Politics and competition. There's a lot of false information out there; a lot of false accusations; a lot of lies being told; a lot of rumors being spread. Some people chose to listen to that and not do their homework and research the facts. That's part of the problem. And we're going to be addressing that."
NTIA BTOP Director, Tony Wilhelm
Ms. Farinas got right to the point with Director Wilhelm, "What kind of information are you going to provide to the directors today?"
Director Wilhelm answered, "We're here for technical assistance because the network is at a point now where they really need the full support of the communities down here. We want to make sure that we can continue to keep the organizations in the network that committed to this and it would be great to continue that commitment to see this through to success."
Ms. Farinas followed up, "Do you guys have a goal – say in a year or two?"
Director Wilhelm, "Well, the goal is to get to financial stability -- financial sustainability. Part of the discussion down here is about what are the right models to get to financial sustainability... We're down here to clear up some of those misperceptions."
The Observer asked, "When do you expect them to reach financial sustainability?
Director Wilhelm, "That's one of the conversations we're having here and at the board meeting. I just came down this morning."
The Observer tried to follow up, "The fourth quarter - the revenue was $2,078."
The NFBA has expenses approaching $250,000 a month.
NFBA Attorney, Jennifer Springfield, jumped in and grabbed Dir. Wilhelm by the arm and began to pull him away. "Stew, I'm sorry. He doesn't have time to answer questions right now.
The Observer, "He doesn't have time to answer questions?"
Attorney Springfield continued pulling Dir. Wilhelm away as he tried to speak.
The Observer, "You don't mind if I ask you that question inside?
Director Wilhelm, "Not at all."
Coming in part 2 – The NFBA: the workshop with the Feds – cheerleading without substance