Andrea Taylor from the Public Information Department interviews Lisa Norton, Chief Administrative Officer
Transcript
Andy
Hello everyone. My name is Andrea Taylor and I’m the public information specialist with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.
Lisa
Hey, congratulations on the new job.
Andy
Thank you. I had a little bit of a tongue tie on that one, because I’m so used to the other job title that I’ve had forever.
Lisa
And now you have real responsibilities.
Andy
Real responsibilities. Today we have Lisa. Lisa, how are you?
Lisa
Hey, I’m great. I’m great. Just kind of enjoying the sunny weather before. Hopefully the bad weather doesn’t hit us, so. Yeah, it’s been a beautiful day out today.
Andy
All right, so do we want to, actually, do we want to talk about all the other questions or do you want to jump right in? Because it might be a long one.
Lisa
We can talk. We can talk about it, and then you can cut it if you need to.
Andy
Okay. All right. So, Lisa, what do you do here?
Lisa
So that’s a good question.
Andy
You do all the things.
Lisa
My job title doesn’t fully capture it, but my job title is the chief administrative officer. So that position used to be the assistant general manager. Most people know that. So, as part of that, I back up the CEO and then I handle special projects, but I also supervise enrollment, the area offices, a couple of other special supervision arrangements, and then, security.
Lisa
So, yeah, I have a wide variety, which is really awesome. I always joke, I know more about broadband and wastewater, supply than any one person should. And that is kind of a key indicator of, like on any given day, I might be dealing with ten different subject matter and providing, you know, insight and guidance.
Andy
You’re also the backup for emergency management, right?
Lisa
I am not I was able so it was a, an incredible flex on my part with the CEO, with where to put it, because when this job was conceived, they thought that the person should be flexible to step in for the CEO, but shouldn’t have a whole lot of supervision of, you know, too many people that they supervise.
And so I was creeping up there, and that was one area that he has an interest in. And especially after, as you are aware, the ice storm last year, there’s a real need for real direct lines of communication. And so, I think he felt that it would be better placed under him. And I didn’t disagree because that it freed me up to focus on other things.
Emergency management is a huge, responsibility. And with the position being vacant right now, it’s been a heavy lift for all of us. So.
Andy
Wow. Okay, so you got that off your plate.
Lisa
Yeah, but I have like eight more. I mean, as you and I both know, we it almost takes two of us to do the tourism things that we, you know, we keep saying we don’t have any tourism activities. And what we have is tourism activities that are not called tourism. So, it takes a lot of time and energy to do those kinds of things.
Andy
But it does. Yeah. All right. So how long have you been working for the tribe? I know it’s been, you know, here and there.
Lisa
Yeah. So, I stepped away for like decade at a time, a few years at a time. But, I just got my 20-year service pin. So apparently, I’ve been here 20 years. It doesn’t feel like that, but it definitely some days it does feel like that. So.
Andy
Yeah. Kind of like marriage.
Lisa
I wouldn’t know.
Andy
You know, like, wow. Time flies. My relationship is dragging on.
Lisa
My relationship with my dog is the longest relationship I’ve ever been in. And that’s 15 years. So.
Andy
A good long stretch.
Lisa
Yeah, yeah.
Andy
Yeah, I’ll take it. All right, well, let’s ask you some questions. Get our, our listeners to, to know who you are a little bit. So what kind of hobbies do you like?
Lisa
Well, my recent obsession and the sounds so funny because I know they’ve been around forever, but, it’s audio books, so I was at the library the other day in Newport. They invited the tribe to give some input on their next five-year plan, and I was reminded that audio books were an option through the library. And I know that sounds weird.
But since Covid, I used to be an avid lover of reading, like, for pleasure, I growing up, that was my escape. Is I could pick up a book and escape into a fantasy world if I wanted, whatever that looked like. But I found Covid impacted my ability to pleasure read. I my mind wanders a lot in that kind of thing, and I was getting very frustrated.
And so I started listening to podcasts, which were fine. And I love podcasts, but at the library or at the library information gathering session, I’m like, oh, that’s right, I could use the library’s resources for free. And so, so far, in the last two weeks have done, what is that, the Beyond the Cerulean Sea or, and then or beyond the sea?
The Cerulean sea. I’m mixing them up, but the two books by TJ Clune, I read, or listened to Where the Crawdads Sing and then started my, I usually hyper obsess on stuff, but I started my. Feel free to cut any of this. Started my journey down the Brene Brown Road again, because I really like a lot of what she has to say about vulnerability and how you can use that and be truly in relationship with folks.
And the other thing that we may have to do, a follow up to a follow up podcast is I’ve recently started making fish leather, leather out of fish skins, so we will see how it goes. I don’t want to brag, because I probably will mess it up many times and I don’t want to show off anything. But yeah, I started that this last weekend after much research and stuff.
So those are my two obsessions right now and.
Andy
Is the process of making fish skin leather the same as using a hide or is it?
Lisa
Yeah. Believe it or not.
Andy
Really? And what do you do with fish skin? Leather?
Lisa
You can use it in jewelry making. You can actually use it for clothing. But let’s not go too far down that road because this might be the subject of another podcast.
Andy
I know. I’m like, I’m so interested.
Lisa
You’re intrigued. I know so many people have mentioned it to them, and they’ve gone down this rabbit hole and come back and I saw this thing.
Andy
Are the scales still on it?
Lisa
It depends.
Andy
Okay, that was last question and you told me to stop. No.
Lisa
I was told that when you’re done with the process, it doesn’t smell fishy, which is great because I hate seafood. I hate the smell, the taste, all of the above. And so, I don’t know why fish leather was a thing I do, but that’s a whole another story. So yeah. So those are the highlights of my personal life right now.
Andy
All right.
I feel like the next fun question would be Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color? But Christmas has already passed. It’s supposed to be Valentine’s Day. What? We already talked about books. Do you have any other favorite things that you’re doing right now?
Lisa
Other than staring at wonderful pictures of my grandchildren? No, I mean.
Andy
No. Just living life.
Lisa
Trying, you know, with the job and the long hours and stuff. It’s hard to, be intentional about creating time for me, but recognizing that the job isn’t all of it. I’m here to serve tribal members, but at the end of the day, I still have to get my cup filled somewhere. And so, I tend to hyper obsess on 1 or 2 things at a time.
And who knows, maybe the next time I’m on your podcast it’ll be something else, but.
Andy
It probably will, and that’s okay.
Lisa
What I’ve learned is it’s about the process, not about the product.
Andy
All right, well, let’s dive into our podcast today and why you’re even hanging out with me. So, let’s talk about your biggest project right now. Right now, right now.
Lisa
Right now. Right now.
Andy
Broadband. Okay. So, what is broadband and how does that work.
Lisa
So broadband if you think of a lot of people know broadband as when they plug their router into their wall or plug their, you know, that they’re able to access the internet, get online, that kind of thing. But broadband has it’s necessarily more complicated than that, but it’s basically the transmission of packets of material over these, communication lines where whether it be coax or fiber optics or, copper.
And that allows us to communicate back and forth, with the wider world. People think of it as internet, they call it internet. It can be wired, it can be wireless. I mean, a lot of us nowadays have internet right to our phones, or we can get online, we can do online shopping, access all of our apps if we are within the cell range.
So, so the idea of broadband and what we are doing is building a network that the tribe will own, but that will, enhance communication and broadband throughout this right now, the Siletz Valley area. So, when you think about when you’re paying that bill to astound or charter or those kinds of places, we will be doing that basically being our own internet service provider and providing that broadband to folks in some areas of the Siletz valley.
And we can talk about that a little bit later.
Andy
Okay. And why broadband?
Lisa
This again goes back to Covid. Watching kiddos or family members sit outside the library because they didn’t have access to broadband. People in my own family deciding because there’s had such limited access, which child went to school that day because they didn’t have enough broadband bandwidth. And also, if you live in the Siletz Valley and you see your bill, even if you have it, sometimes it’s not accessible for folks.
Me personally, I have this the lowest plan. I’m always bumping up against data limits, and I pay 140 a month for broadband. And that to me, I think broadband is a utility. You need it like you need electricity, water, sewer services. I think of it as a utility. And so, everybody should have access to affordable broadband.
Andy
Oh absolutely not having internet now is is equal to because it used to be a luxury. I remember growing up was like, oh, there’s a luxury. We can’t afford it.
Lisa
Remember that old dial up.
Andy
Yeah. Yeah. That was it was like, you didn’t need it. But now you genuinely do everything we own functions off my, my washer dryer combo texts me. It runs off of the internet.
Lisa
Yeah. Some people out there would say you need a more low. Low? What is it anyways?
Low intelligence
Andy
Low tech. Low maintenance.
Lisa
I think the other thing is there’s lots of studies and I think about it this way and somebody actually explained it. I don’t I don’t often have like mind blown thoughts of my own. It’s coming from the stories of other folks. But think about somebody who from a young age doesn’t have access to it and doesn’t know how it works.
And then as they get older versus somebody as a child who can access and readily get online and know how that works, but the gap gets bigger and bigger the longer you’re without it and the longer you’re not comfortable. And now, and I know you know this, I know this. We’ve got some elders who. Are getting catfished because there’s not been a whole lot of, you know, a lot of education around cybersecurity or broadband, you know, broadband safety, that kind of internet safety.
But because it’s their lack of exposure, right? Where you probably grew up with it more than I did, but I was blessed enough to have a computer as a nine-year-old. And I won’t tell you how long that is, how long ago that was. But thinking about each generation is getting more and more savvy. It is a necessity.
I mean.
Andy
It is.
Lisa
Can you imagine? I mean, even ordering online, I mean, there’s things I can’t find in this community I have to order online.
Andy
Yeah.
Lis
a But there’s some you know, we have to understand what the uses are, why it’s good, but also how to do it safely. So long winded answer. That’s why broadband is seeing the lack of it, lack of affordable service in this community.
And we actually have people, and that’s we’ll talk a little about the grants, who don’t have it at all, or up to a year ago. Starlink’s available now. But again, you get to do whether or not it’s affordable.
Andy
Yeah.
Lisa
You know, I hear it’s quite expensive. So, I learned about broadband because it was a need for some of our folks.
Andy
Good. So, what are some common challenges then when faced with securing federal funding for broadband?
Lisa
Sure. Part of it, at least for us specifically, the biggest challenge is we didn’t have, we didn’t have our own company. A lot of the grants were designed for folks who already had, a broadband company, and they’re just building out to certain areas. So, the way we combated that was we did a, feasibility analysis back in ‘23.
Lisa
Yes. At the end of ‘23, we finished our feasibility analysis through a grant. We got, a good bit of money through the tribal broadband, connectivity program to do planning for and seeing if it was even a doable thing. Like, if we build it, will they come type of thing.
Andy
Right?
Lisa
And the results of that study were overwhelming. Yes. Either people didn’t have it at all or they were dissatisfied with the cost of the service. It was sketchy. So, once we had that feasibility grant and we shown that it can do that, we were then able to write more grants. But the other challenge around that is that we didn’t have anybody that knew, about broadband.
So what I’m learning along the way, it’s very technical. It’s not rocket science or it is, but it’s achievable. I could go on and on about the, the most amazing training that I went that basically taught us every function of broadband. And we set up our own wireless internet. We, you know, those Ethernet cords that go into the back.
We built our own Ethernet cords and mine worked.
Andy
Nice.
Lisa
We spliced fiber, so showing that it’s doable. But the challenge is really around. As far as grant writing for it, it’s a high degree of technical information. So, you’ve got to engage engineers, you’ve got to engage legal folks. You got to do all these things just to run a cable.
Like who’s land are you going to cross? Where? How far apart? Is it Underground. Is it aerial? Those kinds of decisions are best left to working with engineers. And so not having that was a huge challenge for us. Fortunately, I’ve developed a relationship over the last three years with a pretty amazing, consultant who actually ran a tribal broadband in New Mexico.
No, I apologize, in Arizona. And so, I’ve been learning in the process, but also could lean on his connections and his resources to build out these grants and surprise, surprise, we got two of the three that, two of the three grants that we applied for.
Andy
Nice.
Lisa
Yes. So, we got two grants coming up. Do you want me to talk about those now?
Andy
Sure. Yes.
Lisa
Okay. The first one is an Oregon broadband deployment grant for approximately $3.36 million. This will include 16 miles of fiber and 81 premises. So, what that means is, the way broadband works is like a road system. So, you’ve got middle mile cable or fiber running along points like, interstate. And then you have exits that represent, like off to your home and my home that’s called Last Mile.
And so what the Broadband Deployment Grant does is set up 16 miles of the middle mile or interstate, and then it connects. It has 81 exits to different houses. And we got funding to cover those. And these are folks that aren’t served. And we’ll talk. It gets complicated and we’ll talk a little later. But these are folks that aren’t served.
So I’m bringing broadband to folks that don’t have better than 25 upload speeds. No, sorry. 25 download by three upload. You and I both know you can’t stream on 25 by three, but that was the minimum standard that they set. So, for example, I’m not calling any certain provider but our incumbent provider. Lumen I think is what they’re known by now.
Their average was two megabits download and point two upload. When I called them at the beginning of Covid and going, hey, I need to up my speed their, their response to me was find another provider. They had been providing at a reasonable cost, but they weren’t planning on upgrading, and it’s their system. It’s that they’re on copper, there’s a whole lot of reasons for it, but the reason so that isn’t doable for anybody.
But that was the requirement of the grant. So, the broadband deployment program covers 81 homes, to connect to if people want it. I’m not going to start building out to your house if you don’t say yes and so that area is, south on 229 between Siletz and Toledo and then Moonshine out Moonshine Park Road. Those are all unserved locations.
Okay. And then we have the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. This one’s a much bigger one. It’s for about 12.5 million. It includes 45 miles of interstate or middle mile. And when done, could connect up to 308 premises. Now here’s the key with the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, the funding to connect that last mile or to construct that freeway exit to your house, we only got funding for 32 homes in the service area.
So we’ve agreed to do what’s called near net. These are homes that are along that middle mile that we could build exits or last mile connections to the homes, but it would be more based on a traditional model, a business model, if that makes sense. So, the funding was only there to build out to the homes.
But and that one is goes all the way out to our hatchery, at milepost 13 on Logsden Road. And then about four miles shy up 229 north towards Lincoln City, about four miles shy of where it joins up with 101. Now the benefit to having that is that very important and very expensive middle mile or interstate.
Right. It’s more expensive to build the interstate than the small exits for the most part. So, we’ll have the infrastructure in place to then fund or charge the homeowner to get connected, even if they’re funded or I’m sorry, even if they’re considered served.
Andy
Okay.
Lisa
So it’s that key interstate that was the goal for us, is to set that up so we can slowly bring other places online, that will connect, like I said, up to 308 premises in time.
Lisa The other important part of these grants is it sets us up for what’s called redundancy. So. Right now, you and I work for the tribe. And we know that if lumen. If a cable gets hit in Eugene, I mean nothing to do with us, our internet could be out for an untold number of times. In fact, when our broadband consultant was out the last time, the service was out for the entire week, and he’s like, oh yeah, you need this.
And I’m like, yes. Now different providers have different lines in, so they may not be impacted, but we here at the tribe. Sometimes it’ll be Eugene or Salem that’s the power or that the line gets cut. We don’t have internet. So, by providing redundancy ultimately over the life of this project, we will have triple redundancy. So, we’ll have that middle mile or that highway coming in from Logsden area or from that from out Logsden Road up connecting up to 101 and then connecting to highway 20.
So it will be automatic switch if something goes down on our provider that’s going Logsden, we can switch to the one coming in from Lincoln City or from highway 20. Does that make sense? I know it’s your plan.
Andy
Your plan B, your plan C yeah, when one fails, the other one automatically kicks in and backs up.
Lisa
If you know anything about my position, I have plan a through triple Z, so, always trying to do that. So, that is the challenge. But that’s also kind of a breakdown of the different grants that we have secured funding. We didn’t get another one that would have done it outside the area of Toledo proper, which probably was a blessing in disguise, because I think these two builds are going to keep us super busy for the next few years.
Andy
As a Toledo resident, though, it would have been great.
Lisa
It would have. It would have,
Andy
Sometimes my internet goes out and my backup has to come to the office, but if the office is out of the internet. I’m like, I am out of a job.
Lisa
I hear you, I hear you, and I also, hope that longer term, 5 or 10 years down the road, maybe we can start looking at that. But we got to make sure it’s economically feasible as well.
Andy
Oh for sure.
Lisa
That always plays into it.
Andy
And even, you know, manpower just in general. Finding some manpower behind that is going to be fun for you.
Lisa
It is. And one of the blessings of this grant and a couple of other grants and I’m, I’m still competing for is, that we can look at bringing a tribal member in from the ground up or two tribal members or whatever. And we, the nice part about the setup, the way we’ve done it is we’re going to contract out while we’re learning that process.
We’re contracting out to a local provider that has our same values that can provide those services, run up the lines, fix, those kinds of things. To manage that for us for a while until we can learn all aspects. But in that process, anybody who provides that service, we are going to require them to train at least one, preferably two of our own tribal members, to run the network, to climb a pole, to, to look at that.
I mean, eventually we’d like engineers. If somebody out there is an engineer and is looking to crack in and get into the broadband field, I mean, we’re creating opportunities for folks as we’re growing this network. It’s creating high level jobs.
Andy
So if you’re looking for an engineer or if you are an engineer looking for some change, get ahold of Lisa Norton at Lisan@ctsi.nsn.us.
Lisa
Especially early career, because I have a commitment from our broadband consultants that we will, they will train and bring on as an intern or whatever, folks who have an interest or are specializing in engineering. And I know there’s a lot of engineering type things.
Andy
Oh there’s like a lot of branches
Lisa
There’s so many engineers.
Andy
Okay, so. What are some unique challenges of providing broadband services to low income and rural communities?
Lisa
Can we step back just a little bit? I think I forgot about to talk about timelines because I think folks should know what to expect.
Andy
Yeah. So, what is the timeline for this project?
Lisa
So the broadband development project, the smaller one that goes up moonshine Park Road and down 229 between Siletz and Toledo is going to be, needs to be done by July of 2026. So that’s fast when we consider permitting and deployment. For that reason, we chose to do mostly above ground and then attach to utility poles wherever we can does a higher risk of outage, but it’s cheaper and we can get through the process and then maybe go back and go underground when we are in a financially stable position, or when we need to upgrade.
So that one is 2026. So that’s pretty quick.
Andy
Yes.
Lisa
Again, there’s only 81 premises or houses locations. And I actually have the list of eligible locations, which means that they’re funded through this program I already have those. So, if folks are interested in live on those roads they can reach out to us. We’ll be doing some outreach and talk about that later.
But, I’ll know pretty quickly who’s going to be connected. And then the TBC, P-2 or what we call, we call it that Tribal Broadband Connectivity program. That is a four year, but they anticipate the environmentals to last anywhere from six months to a year to get by environmental clearance. So even though it seems like a long-time frame, it really isn’t that long.
When you think about all the things that could be held up in the process. So those are my time frames. If anybody’s like, hey, I am thinking I live in that area and need this I because let me back up I went we when we did the feasibility study, I was getting calls almost weekly from non-tribal members, who were some of them literally in tears going, when are you bringing broadband here?
Because I just had to let mine go. I couldn’t afford it anymore. And I had to decide between that and medication. And I really miss being able to connect with my kiddos and that kind of stuff over internet. Or use my phone even.
Andy
Yeah, because I was like some of these people out there, they don’t even have cell phone reception at their home. So, having broadband means that you can do Wi-Fi calling.
Lisa
Yes.
Andy
And if there’s an emergency, God forbid. But like if there’s an emergency, you can’t get ahold of anybody.
Lisa
Yeah. And so, when we go back to why broadband? I mean, I don’t I can’t think of everything all the time, but
Andy
Yeah.
Lisa
Those are the kind of things. I mean, I saw a real need for it when, you know, elders were calling me going when, when are you going to, when can I plug into Wi-Fi at my house?
There’s a huge need for it in this valley. One would think we’re all connected. You know, you get over to Newport and they’re like, what do you mean you don’t have broadband in places? I’m like, we literally have homes that don’t have the capability of connecting, or the only capability of connecting is like a Starlink or a HughesNet, which is averages around 250 a month.
So yeah. So those are the timelines for those projects. They’re long but short. Short but long. Kind of confusing. In real world that seems like a long time. But it really isn’t that long. Once you think about all the different processes that are involved with building out a network from scratch.
Andy
Yeah. Okay.
Lisa
The unique challenges, though. Yeah, that’s what you were asking me. And providing broadband service to low income in rural communities. It’s affordable. Right? Like I tell people I presented on this all over the country. And I said, you know, I think the only thing worse than not having availability is seeing that little junction box outside your house and knowing you can’t afford to connect to it.
We have been hit with lots of rising prices, and while we for a while had the Affordable Connectivity Program, which was useful, but it was way oversubscribed, which means way more people who signed up for it than they thought, to provide a broadband subsidy. It was helpful in the moment, but when it ran out, it created more problems.
So finding sustain, the hardship is finding a price point that’s affordable for folks. But it’s also sustainable for the organization or the internet service provider. And so, while we’re getting these grants that limits I would have never been able to I wouldn’t have come up with, you know, $16 million to just build a broadband, you know, program. I couldn’t have done that with the resources that we have.
So this provides the ability to connect folks for free. And one, as part of the agreement, we have price points or the minimum service, set at a reasonable level for folks, which is anywhere from 40 to 50 a month. And that’s no cap on data, none of that kind of thing. You get the same service, your neighbor gets, you know.
Andy
Yeah.
Lisa
And so that’s one of the challenges. But also, just setting it up. I mean, we live in a beautiful country, but we also live in beautiful country. And so, making sure that we don’t make, A don’t make it uglier, but also take of the natural resources, some for some folks in different areas. The issue is can they dig in the ground?
I don’t know if you’ve been out to Sisters or Bend and I always thought it was unique there. A lot of their fences were made with the posts weren’t sunk into the ground because it’s hard to dig in the ground. We don’t have that problem. What we do have is lots of trees that interfere with, wireless signals. So, we knew going in, we couldn’t just set up a giant wireless access point where everybody could get on.
Because of that. So those are some of the challenges, but also just the everyday people just don’t believe we don’t have internet out here for some folks.
Andy
Oh yeah. When I tell people, I’m like you only get one cell phone reception. If you don’t have AT&T, I think sometimes you can get T-Mobile now because they can ping off of an AT&T tower. But I’m like, you’re out of luck.
Lisa
Well, actually, T-Mobile is now co-located on the tower above the reservation so that one I think Verizon might work. So, but.
Andy
Verizon does not work out here.
Lisa
Okay.
Okay. I take that back. Oh, you’ve raised and listeners don’t listen to Lisa. I think but I think the key is broadband also, is essential for providing that service as well. Is that middle mile fiber that Interstate needs to run to a tower in order to have internet or wire or not, in order to have wireless or cell phone services.
So there is opening possibilities are opening economic development possibilities, those kinds of things, in our rural communities that are advantageous, but also around those challenges, it’s like that and we can’t build that fast enough. Right?
Andy
No.
Lisa
Says that elder who is like, when are you coming to my house? I can’t build it fast enough. And that’s frustrating for me because I have no patience. I just want to build it on the morrow.
Andy
You don’t want to tell people, don’t hold your breath. It takes time because that’s that hurts your feelings to say that. But at the same time, like, I can’t. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Lisa
Yeah. Yeah. And unfortunately, these giant infrastructure projects take time, you know? And so often we’re behind the eight ball. I can’t just throw up a rec center or a new pharmacy or a satellite clinic overnight. Those things all take time to do. And, broadband is no different.
Andy
So I guess that kind of is a good segue into the next question is how can community engagement and partnerships enhance the success of rural broadband projects?
Lisa
I want to tell a little story here, and I’m going to out myself. So, when the broadband provider that was servicing the tower, they were building out to the tower on a reservation and they were replacing or building out broadband connectivity on the reservation, let’s go back. That’s the other frustrating part is we are not serving a lot of our own tribal lands because there’s already service there, so they’re not eligible.
It doesn’t matter if we can’t afford it, doesn’t matter if, the service is not great.
Andy
If they have access.
Lisa
If they have access, we couldn’t build. So, I know there’s been some criticism of the broadband project because it’s like. But you’re not serving tribal members like on the reservation specifically. It’s like because you’re considered to have access. But the good news is there is access. And our hope is to eventually, through our own funding, build out to there, the parts of that is oh, so my story.
Oh, I hate that you’re going to have to edit this. I don’t envy you anyways. So, when they were doing that they were putting they put a what’s called a point of access network. They call it a pond. I don’t know, I tried to sound intelligent there. I have no idea what it actually means, but it’s where it’s like the exit, right?
And maybe it feeds eight homes at that box, but they were putting one in my yard, and I was frustrated because I was like, nobody talked to me about that. You’re gonna put this ugly thing in my yard. And I literally went out there and ripped it up, cut it off, all that stuff.
Because
Andy
You destroyed their stuff.
Lisa
I did because it was like nobody asked me, right? Right. And essentially, I’m now doing the same thing. I’m not asking people, but I’m not going to build to their homes. I’m going to do it a little different. And part of that is community engagement and partnerships. Right. So as far as community engagement, we want to start early and get the word out.
We want to, you know, get information to those homes that could be getting hooked up, but also being transparent in that business model, like right now you’re getting this amount and that’s for five years or whatever, but eventually it’ll rise. Our hope is that we our goal isn’t to make a lot of money. Our goal is to be sustainable and provide good quality service.
And so but I think it’s important to start that engagement now and to be transparent about that now. I can tell you we were out last week and we were in a rental car that had California plates on Moonshine Park Road, and we were getting some looks. So, people know.
Andy
You were the outsider.
Lisa
Absolutely.
Andy
Who’s that sus looking person out there?
Lisa
Exactly. And so, thinking about how do we engage community members. We were only out for an afternoon. But when we start doing, you know, construction and stuff, being really transparent, like, you don’t have to build this to your home. Here’s the benefits of doing it. But being transparent with our model. Right? And so, community engagement, letting them know and that it’s not a sham or it’s not somebody trying to bilk them for money.
We literally have funding for most of the houses out Moonshine Park Road. And so, when you think about that, that’s the importance of community engagement. But they’re also trusted partnerships. Right? I work closely with the Lincoln County. I work with our neighboring ISP. Some of them have again similar business models. So, for example, on the tribe we have on the Hill what we commonly referred to on the hill, which is our oldest units, they’re served by Central Lincoln.
Or not, sorry. They’re served by consumer power. Consumer power is a co-op, which means its community led. Its, customer led. But they also have an internet company based on their telephone or their poles, their electricity, electric poles. There’s also a co-op. So, working with partners like that or Pioneer or these smaller, organizations that do serve rural communities is also going to benefit us.
I cannot tell you how many people have reached out to offer help. Tribal broadband boot camp. We get together a few times a year and bring in tribes, whole teams of tribes at no cost, just to network and learn about broadband.
Andy
Right?
Lisa
So the importance of those partnerships and the community engagement is going to be key in order to make this a successful project.
We’ve talked about a lot of things, haven’t we? I think next steps are going to be important, knowing that, we’re just finishing up the contracting in the kickoff project kickoff. And so, we’re going to move into this phase that it looks like we’re doing nothing, but we’re getting permits and right of ways and those kinds of things.
And then once that is achieved, then you will see us. Maybe not me, because I’m afraid of heights, but we will start running those cables while.
Andy
I’d like to see you up there running those cables.
Lisa
Yeah. It’s not going to happen. I’ll run the ones on the ground. I actually wanted a micro trencher just for this project, but they said no, it’s not feasible and not worth it. But, you know, I, I just like my toys. But I think the next steps are going to be starting to do community outreach, outreach, letting folks know, always being cautious.
And that’s kind of beyond that next step. I think it’s important to think about and what we’ve had months, lots of conversations with our tribal council is it’s going to take an investment from the council, because, remember, there’s 280 some premises that we could pick up and get online sooner, which means more revenue if we are covering the cost to build out to those homes, are figuring out a business model that helps offset those costs.
That could be anywhere from a house that’s 30ft from the road, a thousand bucks to 15,000 to run it all the way out to somebody who’s a half mile off the road.
Andy
Right.
Lisa
So thinking about what that looks like and, how we can ramp up with more consumers and then make it a more sustainable or use the income that we generate to then build out to those places that are already considered served, but could come on as a traditional business model customer.
Andy
Okay. So, what would outreach look like to you? What do you envision outreach looking like?
Lisa
I’m relationship based. You know, I think it’s hard to be it’s hard to question the motives of somebody you’ve had lunch with or shared food or time and been in the same space. So, for me, outreach is reaching individual doing this podcast, but reaching out to individuals who I know in the community are going to be eligible, asking them to talk to their neighbors to see if they’re eligible.
Being transparent about our business model, being transparent about why we choose, why we charge, what we charge, but also what our plans are for the future development of that. To me, that’s outreach. Early, transparently, often, and not be the guy that builds a box, a junction box in the middle of somebody’s yard without their knowledge or understanding.
Andy
Yep.
Lisa
Yeah, it was really embarrassing. And then I then had to call them back. I’m sure it was, you know, I’m sure they didn’t know me, but I’m like, yeah, I’d like to sign up for your service. And I won’t mention the fact that I ripped your box out more than once.
Andy
Listen, ask for permission first. It’s my property.
Lisa
Exactly.
Andy
You should be like, hey, guess what we’re going to do.
Lisa
Yes.
Andy
At least that.
Lisa
And when they finally explain it to me, I was like, well, use somebody else’s yard. That actually, you know, but I happened to be on a corner, so I’m a convenient place for them to put stuff. But I tell you, it messed up my yard. So that’s what outreach looks like to me, is just really kind of being transparent, having those questions early and often.
I want them to wave at us when we’re at a moonshine park road, instead of looking at us suspiciously. I get it.
Andy
Look there’s Lisa. She gave us internet.
Lisa
Right.
That’s my eventual goal.
Andy
Okay.
Lisa
But also thinking about what’s possible, I think, for example, our, hatchery way up there, we have a single phone line. We can’t do any, real time monitoring unless we’re physically there, opening up the possibilities. What if somebody wanted to start a business out on Moonshine Park Road? You know, it’s expensive.
250 a month just to start, you know? But could we be putting up towers for public safety, for emergency management response? I mean, I’ve even pitched to the county that we need to do a wireless, hotspot. Out at Twin Bridges, there’s no way to if you have an emergency, there’s no way to get help there.
Andy
Yeah.
Lisa
You know, even if it’s simply. I’ll meet you at nine. Oh, I’m running late. I mean, simple stuff like that, but it makes a world of difference when you have it after not having it.
Andy
Yeah.
Lisa
Thinking about what does, you know, what could the farm benefit from enhanced technology. So, it’s a safety thing. It’s an economic development thing, but it’s also just a general, you know, what’s possible. A lot of people don’t know that. So, I think that’s also part of that engagement. Community engagement is let’s lean into what’s possible, right?
If you had broadband.
Andy
Well, is there anything that you feel like we didn’t cover and we probably should.
Lisa
I don’t think so. I mean, I could talk about this all day and people’s eyes tend to glaze over. It’s intriguing to me, but most of all, it’s because personally, my driving force is serving our community. And so, this is one way there was a gap. I wanted to serve it. And so, I want it built fast. It’s not going to happen fast enough for me.
But I will be glad when it’s finished so that I can move on to other projects that, will continue to benefit the membership. For those of you, I feel like I need to say for those of you who aren’t going to benefit from this project first hand, recognize that we didn’t have the capability to build all over the state.
We made significant inroads in that we were the only tribe funded and under the Oregon Broadband Deployment Program, we are setting a path for others, but also we recognize that it’s never going to be a nationwide model. So, we are pursuing some other grants for what’s called digital equity. And in some of that there, if successfully funded, there’s some models for broadband subsidy.
Again, standing up, help desk, also maybe doing another device distribution. I know a lot of people really benefited, and I was able to secure an iPad and.
Andy
Oh yeah, I got one done. And now my kid is currently doing homeschool on that iPad. Yeah.
Lisa
And so I recognize that while this program project may not benefit folks out directly out in the area office or out of area, please know that and, Andy will probably testify to this for us to have reliable secure broadband fast broadband here. Right now, we can’t all get on there. We can’t have 14 people on a meeting because it there’s not enough bandwidth.
That’s going to enhance your services. It’s going to enhance the services we provide to folks, but also that we are looking at other ways to ease the burden of providing this very necessary service to folks, making it affordable, accessible and, addressing things like cybersecurity and, and, safety online and even just learning how to set up your email and your iPads or whatever.
We’re hoping to have grants successfully funded for that as well. So, pretty excited about the possibilities. Lots of big, big 30,000ft ideas, making them happen takes a little bit longer.
Andy
All right.
Lisa
So thank you for having me on to talk about a topic that most people’s eyes glaze over.
Andy
You’re welcome. Thank you for coming on. And I have one final question for you. Because, Lisa, while you did help me get this ball rolling for the podcast, you have not been officially on here yet.
Lisa
I haven’t, have I?
Andy
Nope. So, my final question, because this is your first time officially is what is your favorite tribal event?
Lisa
Oh, this. Now, had you asked me this four months ago, you would have known, my answer would have been Run to the Rogue.
Andy
Yes.
Lisa
However, and I may be debuting this.
Andy
Whoa you have a change?
Lisa
I am debuting something that’s probably not widely known and probably going to get me in trouble, but we are going to be celebrating Table Rock this year. As opposed to Run to the Rogue and I it reminded me of the last time we did a celebration at Table Rock, and it was amazing. And so, I’m in a toss-up.
I have kept, I’ll check back in with you in summer, but, Run to the Rogue is Run to the Rogue is still my all-time favorite. But this I love Table Rock, and I love what it represents.
Andy
You feel like it’s going to sneak in and steal the gold?
Lisa
It may. It may. The level, Run to the Rogue is amazing. It’s an awesome time for folks if you’ve never been. I highly encourage it. But there’s something about Table Rock and the lack of facilities that makes for an, an incredible bonding experience. And it’s about what it’s about, versus, you know, I go to the casino and stay at the hotel.
I love doing that. But this is going to be a little bit more. It’s going to require more effort on the part of staff. And it’s probably a little bit more roughing it maybe, than folks are maybe gotten used to with Run to the Rogue. For those that don’t camp, at least, so I’ll be excited to see that camaraderie that comes out of that and the chance to just be with folks and not be, oh, well, that was my mile.
And somebody took all my mile. You know, some of this the… I don’t want to say first roll because that sounds horrible. But some of the stuff that could shouldn’t we really shouldn’t be fighting about. Right? It moves some of that to the side and just offers a chance to be in genuine relationship with each other and the land.
So we’ll see a report back in on my favorite
Andy
Next time you’re on.
Lisa
Yes, which hopefully won’t be for a while because I can’t imagine anybody. If you’ve listened this long, good on you because I can’t imagine listening to broadband for 45 minutes. So.
Andy
All right. Well thank you, Lisa, so much again for coming on and just updating our membership and our listeners about your project and the funding that you have secured for us.
Lisa
Yeah. And I just want to put out a reminder. I know Andrea’s always looking for topics, but we really do want to hear from folks what they are interested in. I act like I do this. I didn’t do anything. I just agreed with that this was a good idea.
Andy
Well, underneath the podcast there is like a feedback form. Let us know, what do you want to hear about?
Lisa
Yeah.
Andy
We do, I do want to know because, at this moment, nobody’s letting me know. I did get something once and we talked about it already. So.
Lisa
And I want to say I loved your episode with Peter Hatch. Your double episode. That was amazing. I was on the edge of my seat right along with you.
Andy
There was so much good information in that, and there was so much more that he gave me to just three times the amount of what we talked about. He, he was like, here you go. I found all this.
Lisa
That is amazing, amazing. So, this is only as good as we make it, as you make it. And our goal. Your goal. I said our like, I had anything to do with this. But my vision when we talked about this was really, let’s answer some questions for tribal members. Let’s give them the information firsthand. And let’s create another opportunity for people to be informed about the tribe and, and who makes up the tribe and who works here, because we got some amazing humans.
Andy
We have some amazing humans that work here.
Lisa
So thank you for having me.
Andy
Thank you. Have a wonderful day.
Lisa
You too.