Hello, below is a copy of an e-mail I sent to our mayor and council. Sadly, public works director Eric Johnston, with the help of council-member Lilliquist, did exactly what we expected them to do. They created an advisory group that is very heavy handed in relation to protecting the big telecoms. The rest is in the e-mail below. In short, there is only 1 voting member that will definitely represent public interests out of 16 total members. There are 7 voting members and 9 non-voting members. Extra seats were made for big telecom and WAVE. 

"Here is the list of BAG members to be voted on on Monday the 11th. Sadly, neither Commissioner Deshmane or I are on the list (aka the biggest champions for public fiber here). Like we predicted, it's obvious that our city does not want a real discussion that would benefit our citizens surrounding broadband and wants to protect big telecom. In fact, the goals of the BAG are not clearly outlined. We still don't actually know what, if anything, they're going to do. The libraries also do not have any representation, even though they're big users of our existing public network, and big telecom is overly represented with no real balance seen here.

I'll put conflicts of interest in (parentheses). The original descriptions following the () are from the COB. In short, out of the 7 voting members 3 lack real broadband experience and there is no indication that most are public broadband experts and/or will fight to close the digital divide. Neither I or Atul are on the committee so there will be little public broadband expertise nor have you scheduled any interviews with other public broadband experts like experts from Mount Vernon, Anacortes, Community Broadband Networks, etc. At least 1, possibly 2, will protect big telecom and/or WAVE.

For some reason, even business interests, with virtually no technological backgrounds, were prioritized above technical representation for our community even though they lack the expertise to make good arguments broadband wise or even understand broadband technologies. Out of the non-voting members, 7 out of 9 will protect big telecom.

Linda Fels.  (None known.) Linda retired from a career as a software developer with the Indian Health Services and is a small business owner relying on internet access.    

Maximilian Carper. (Spent a lot of career working with Comcast, CenturyLink, and other big telecoms). Maximilian is an IT and network technology professional with as strong technical background relevant to the conversation.  

Kristopher Keillor.  (Working on a community fiber project, probably WAVE backed.) Kristopher is an electrical engineering student at WWU with relevant technical expertise.  Kristopher has been a disaster relief volunteer with Americorps and is interested in engaging in more civic issues.  

RB Tewksbury. (Why does the business community need to be represented here over someone with tech experience that can protect the poor and close the Digital Divide?) RB has a strong background in business administration and finance. RB has served on the Board of several non-profit organizations. 

Don Gischer. (Ok, I applaud his work for our deaf community, but what about his experience with broadband? Again, why does the business community need to be represented here? We took 2 business people over someone with tech experience that can protect the poor and close the Digital Divide?) Don is a former Bellingham City Council member with a background in business and general public policy.  Don has been recently active in supporting access to city services for the hearing impaired using technology (eg hearing loops)
(Note: Eric refers to the deaf as hearing impaired here, he seems unaware that this is offensive to the deaf community.)

Michelle Kopcha  (None known.) A former livestock veterinarian and educator, Michelle brings a broad, general perspective. Michelle has been active in the community through the League of Women voters and Bellingham City Club.    

Spencer Moore. (Appliance tech, with limited network experience. Also, funny because Eric told me specifically he didn't want people with technical expertise as voting members, so if you're including one then why include one that hasn't worked on public broadband?). Spencer is a network engineer with a  strong technical background relevant to the conversation. 

As ex officio members:

Vincent Buys, Comcast

Allan Meeks, MOX Fiber

David Namura, Lumen (formerly Centurylink)

David Brinn, Wave Communications

Marty Mulholland, City of Bellingham, ITSD (Marty was specifically hired by the last administration to work with big telecom. She will act as a big telecom rep. here.)

Kurt Gazow, Bellingham School District IT (The schools contract with CenturyLink for their backbone, so they will most likely protect big telecom).

Gina Stark, Port of Bellingham

Brian Walter, Whatcom PUD (Why not Atul?)

Eric Johnston, City of Bellingham, Public Works (Has always protected big telecom.)

So again, I must ask you to please contact your councils and mayor and ask for public broadband expertise to be included on this advisory group.

ccmail@cob.org and smfleetwood@cob.org