by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
At a recent Telecommunications Master Plan workshop at City Hall, an independent consulting firm presented City Council members with the means to increase technical efficiency and, in the process, save the City millions of dollars a year in telephone bills.
Among the provisions of the plan, devised by the consulting firm Black and Veatch, is a $27 million investment in a fiber optic cable system for all City buildings.
“Right now we are running things rather inefficiently in Jacksonville,” said Jason Teal of the General Counsel’s Office. “Each of our schools, libraries, fire stations and even City Hall has a separate contract with BellSouth for their telecommunication needs. That includes telephones and the Internet.
“With this new system, we can move forward in establishing our own metropolitan network and, in turn, work off of one contract with BellSouth for all of those buildings. We’ve never had the capabilities to connect in that way before.”
Teal estimated that bill payments to a debt service covering upfront costs would be comparable to that of the current multiple invoices the City pays for BellSouth’s services.
“After that money is leveraged in about two or three years, which is remarkable, we stand to save about $10 million a year with this kind of a super network,” he said. “It’s a consolidation of services and that’s where we’ll be seeing the savings. Anytime the City saves money, the taxpayers will benefit.”
In addition to the proposed reduction in telecommunication costs, Teal said the systems currently in place would be upgraded.
“We operate off of a T-1 line for our City Internet connections right now,” said Teal. “The Ethernet speed we’ve been told about is supposed to be about 1,000 times faster.
“It’s really the wave of the future and, as technology advances, you’re going to want that kind of speed.”
Following the workshop, questions were raised by BellSouth representatives and some Council members.
“One thing that I know [Council] President [Lad] Daniels and I want to be clear on, is whether or not this is even the right form of technology to pursue,” said Council member Lake Ray, who also chairs the Council’s Transportation, Technology, Environment and Energy committee.
“We need to understand what all of our options are because we don’t want to be premature in making a decision. If we move forward, we don’t want to be locked into the wrong thing. It’s difficult to say right now.”
Ray added he would like to
see a more of a “collaborative effort” between the proposed City-maintained telecommunications ring and the resources already in place.
“Obviously, we don’t want to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “There are some things already available to us in the community and we could look into a series of partnering opportunities.”
Teal responded, saying the proposed system would be exactly that, an extension of much of the fiber optic groundwork already laid at several JEA substations in Duval County
“Black and Veatch actually based their recommendations on what we have right now,” he said.
Another point needing clarification was the City’s role in directly competing with private companies for telecommunication services.
Current provisions of the plan have only included City buildings, but some concern was paid toward future expansions, possibly Florida Community College at Jacksonville or the Mayo Clinic.
In a letter to Daniels after the workshop, BellSouth Regional Director Jim McCollum praised the City for addressing the efficiency issue but added, “It is clear from the report and the presentation . . . that the implementation of this plan would place a local government entity in direct competition with private sector telecommunications providers. In that arena, local governments have a clear advantage in capital generation.”
“I want to stress that we are not adversaries of the plan,” McCollum said later. “As long as the public plays by the same rules as private companies, we welcome competition. We may move into a stage where we can even be open to more competition.”
Without more clarification, Ray said McCollum’s concerns might hold merit. Teal said it’s too early to be certain.
“Those types of concerns are more long term,” he said. “We can’t really say how the system will evolve after it has been in place for a while.
“Legally, it is an option for the City to consolidate in this way, but we’ll need to further evaluate the economic ramifications before moving forward with it. We’re still in a critical stage in presenting it to the mayor and the City Council.”
According to Teal, there are now two options. A resolution may be introduced to approve Black and Veatch’s recommendations, or a specialized task force may be assembled to further review the master plan, the latter being the favored action by all parties.
“There needs to be more evaluation by people with the technical expertise to understand it before we’ll know how to approach this,” he said. “And we still need to review the financing options.”