July MAC Meeting
Photo by Wendy Pollock
Michelle McAfee - CRR Staff
The regular McCarthy Area Council (MAC) meeting on Thursday, July 28, was held at the Kennicott-McCarthy Community Church. Thirty-two members and 15 nonmembers attended. MAC’s regular meeting place, Tony Zak’s house, was closed to the public for the remainder of the summer due to a break-in that occurred to the building in July.
The manager of the property said Tony Zak’s would be available to MAC again in the future. The council is looking for creative locations to house in-person MAC meetings for the remainder of this season.
Michelle Raven gave a report from the Roads & Access Committee regarding the DOT & PF study starting next year assessing the access needs in Northern Region communities. Raven said the first step is the planning stage, when DOT connects with the community and the National Park Service to ascertain if access needs in the McCarthy area are being met. During this time, they will look at the footbridge supports and see if those need reinforcement.
The next step will be an environmental study, including looking at solutions to the mudslide area, culverts, and any environmental impacts those solutions may have. Raven also explained color-coded DOT & PF maps showing their road interests in the McCarthy area. She said the community owes big thanks to DOT commissioner Ryan Anderson and to Barry Hooper, Northern Region Right of Way Chief, for making the maps and information available to the community.
Thea Bemben explained the guidelines for distributing MAC’s Essential Community Infrastructure Funding, passed by the membership a year ago. People can apply for the funding, and those applications go to five committee reviewers who are not related to the project. The reviewers score the applications on a scale of 1-100 points, with 100 being the highest score. The recommendations then go to the membership, who vote on the project.
Only one application was submitted for this funding period. Kim Meck and Bernadette Martel proposed a geodesic dome project in McCarthy. The average score from the five reviewers was 30 points. No reviewer recommended it for funding. The reviewers expressed the main concerns with the project were: 1. MAC funding a private business may not be the best use of infrastructure money; 2. the project is long from start to producing benefits and may be too speculative; 3. there have been no matching funds identified with this project; 4. the budget covers materials and shipping but does not contain labor costs.
There was discussion on retooling the Essential Community Infrastructure Grant wording in the future to make it available to nonprofits, excluding private businesses. Several members suggested the applicants look into creating a nonprofit organization for the geodesic dome project.
Chris Chester, fire chief of the Kennicott-McCarthy Volunteer Fire Department, checked in and reported the fire danger level had gone back up to High. He said there were currently no restrictions but announced the new level increase to High Fire Danger area-wide and urged caution. A fundraiser for the KMVFD was held on Sunday, July 31, at The Potato. Proceeds from KMVFD t-shirts, merchandise, and food sales went to the Volunteer Fire Department to support construction of the new Fire Hall.
Jacob Shultz followed by thanking everyone for supporting the new EMS building project and stated the next stage would be more interior work. He stressed the need for more people to be involved with EMS. Shultz presented a grant proposal for $2,400 to help resupply the ambulance and medical caches and train more people, including dispatchers and people to help manage inventory and do supply checks. He said a significant portion of the grant funding will help secure ambulance insurance for 2023 and also help subsidize training more community members to the EMT level.
Hannah Rowland with the Kennecott Recreation Alliance said they are opening a small-grant funding proposal for picnic tables with umbrellas and a bench at the children’s playground. The proposal would pay for materials to make the picnic tables and purchase two umbrellas. Rowland said it would be nice to have a place to sit while the kids play. The Kennecott Recreation Alliance is asking for $1,354 to cover the project’s expenses and help with the cost of forming a nonprofit.
Mark Miller, with the National Park Service, then spoke and circled back to the DOT & PF letter Michelle Raven mentioned earlier. He said they appreciate DOT for pointing out needed updates in response to recent changes made by the state. The letter Miller referenced was sent from the DOT to the National Park Service asking to remove any language from their website that states no motorized vehicles are allowed on the DOT footbridge.
A community member asked if the National Park Service is still working on the new Operations Plan. Miller said the park committed to reviewing the Operations Plan on a five-year timeline but got derailed by Covid interruptions. The Park Service picked it up again this season and has nearly completed the review process. They will reach out to community members to report the review’s outcome and the next steps.
Chris Mishmash with Copper Valley Telecom fielded many questions and concerns from the membership regarding the new communication system CVT is installing in McCarthy. He began by reporting the internet outage in July, affecting the ability for local businesses to process credit cards, was caused by the downstream provider and was networkwide in the Copper Valley and Valdez area.
Mishmash then updated members on the status of the new system install. Due to difficulty in hearing clearly from Zoom, I emailed Mishmash with questions to clarify the changes CVT is making in the McCarthy area.
Mishmash explained via email, CVT is shutting down its CDMA network, as most communication companies are doing now. For customers that have a regulated telephone line (aka Fixed Wireless) through the CDMA network, and want to keep their phone number and cooperative membership status, CVT is adding a piece of equipment to serve them from the LTE network that has been in place in McCarthy since 2015. The manufacturer is a company called Calix but CVT brands it as an Aurora Tower. (For more information, see https://www.cvtc.org/aurora-wifi/ .)
The Aurora Tower provides regulated telephone voice service, Wi-Fi, and ethernet connection points that allow customers to connect various devices such as laptops or desktop computers. The Aurora Tower should not be confused with the broadband connection today, which is provided by the LTE cellular network in McCarthy.
The Fixed Wireless conversion to the Aurora Tower is taking place because CVT needs to phase out CDMA service as quickly as possible. The next step in the evolution for many Fixed Wireless customers will be to exchange their LTE network access device (BEC router) for a Cambium point to multi-point connection. Line of sight access is needed for the Cambium system to access the signal CVT is installing. This system is separate from the cellular network and will be a more dedicated broadband connection for subscribers. It will not be susceptible to the seasonal loading on the LTE network when tourists/ visitors arrive in the McCarthy area in large numbers.
During a CVT broadband outage mobile phones and other wireless devices will still function normally. However Fixed Wireless customers ,would experience an outage for both voice and data. CVT gets real-time alerts when there is an outage.
Residents voiced concern about the need for line of sight to the towers to access internet signals. McCarthy homes need a clear path to Sourdough Ridge tower, and Kennecott homes need to see the McCarthy tower in town. Several community members stated the new system will create issues for people on the West Side due to the river bluff blocking line of sight to Sourdough Ridge. Mishmash responded that it would be a case-bycase situation as to whether a residential location can access the signal. Another community member asked if boosters help. Mishmash said boosters help increase a cell signal but would not assist in gaining access to the Fixed Wireless signal.
One person suggested the West Side should get its own tower due to the many residents being affected by the lack of line of sight. Mishmash responded that CVT, at this time, is not putting up any new towers but has discussed going back to installing fiber optics in the ground.
The membership then voted to approve the Children’s Program Proposal for $2,010 from the small grants fund. This proposal was presented by Gina Merlino at the last MAC meeting and will pay for supplies and staff for one or two half-days per week, and would allow the purchase of a tent for taking outdoor activities under cover during rainy days.
Thea Bemben closed by making a suggestion for MAC to consider a community infrastructure project to make the mail shack bigger, creating better spaces for all the packages, and redoing mailboxes to be sequential. Nik Merlino asked the members if anyone was interested in starting a committee with 3-5 individuals to look for a long-term solution for the mail shack.
Elections for the MAC Board will take place at the next meeting on August 25, location to be determined. If you are interested in being more involved with community decisions and processes, contact mccarthyareacouncil.secretary@gmail.com for more information.
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