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Stakeholder Input <br />Magellan Advisors conducted a series of stakeholder interviews remotely in <br />September and October 2021. We heard from other municipalities in Indian River <br />County, chambers of commerce, public safety and internet service providers. All of <br />these discussions yielded that high-speed, fiber -based Internet access will be <br />essential to keeping up with and competing with other communities locally and <br />across the nation. Given the recent COVID-19 pandemic, these issues are even <br />more pronounced, as life has transitioned to working and learning remotely. While <br />most had acceptable Internet services and no real complaints regarding internet <br />services, few had outstanding services. <br />Cellular services are outside the focus of this study, but the poor quality of cellular <br />services was consistent theme in community discussions. Participants complained <br />about dead zones and unreliable connections. This is important because cellular <br />services serve as a substitute for broadband where it is not available or is too costly <br />or slow. T -Mobile is marketing their cellular services for home broadband. Other <br />cellular providers are likely to push this as they expand their 5G services. Thus, <br />poor cell coverage limits options for internet and points to opportunities for <br />broadband development. Also, cellular towers require fiber connections, so cellular <br />providers could be wholesale customers to anchor fiber investment in particular <br />areas as well as provide additional services. <br />City of Vero Beach <br />Vero Beach is the County Seat of Indian River County and some of the Countys <br />buildings are located within Vero Beach city limits. Vero Beach is a full-service city <br />with public works, an airport, a marina, parks and recreation, a cemetery, police, <br />and water and sewer that covers outside of the city limits into Indian River Shores. <br />The City has seven to ten government facility / buildings locations. Other than some <br />roadway resurfacing projects, relocation: of a wastewater plant near the airport, and <br />a stormwater/irrigation project running to the barrier island. The City does not have <br />any projects that include fiber or telecommunications on the horizon. <br />The City's Water Department does use meter readers and they have <br />communications established between the lift stations and storage tanks. The <br />Planning and Development Department have people collecting data in the field, <br />however they upload data when they return to the office. <br />29 <br />WWW.MAGELLAN-ADVISORS.CoM 204 <br />