After a joint council meeting Tuesday night, Champaign and Urbana city councils announced the Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband project will become a non-profit agency.

The meeting featured the entire Champaign Council but only Charlie Smyth, Carol Ammons, Bill Brown and Michael Madigan were in attendance for Urbana. Other aldermen, including Mayor Laurel Prussing, were visiting Urbana’s sister city, the Haizhu District, in China.

The Big Broadband initiative, also known as UC2B, is currently being constructed all around Champaign, Urbana and on campus. There are currently 285 connections in the area, but with “Phase 3” construction underway, the plan is to add 400 more connections to make the internet more available to citizens.

Despite the expansion, Champaign Mayor Don Gerard said the project must have the quality to succeed with consumers, or risk losing out to private companies such as Comcast or AT&T.

“This is about bridging the digital divide. This is taking us to the next level,” Gerard said. “Champaign is on the forefront of this. This isn’t about where we are now, it’s about where we want to be in 10 years.”

There was much debate over the shortened time line and making additions to the bylaws. Specifically, Ammons pushed for explicit language in the bylaws to provide contract opportunities for minority contractors.  

“This grant came to the community under the guise of including underrepresented communities with access to technology and Internet,” Ammons said. “To not include it here (in the bylaws) or to leave it to another board would be inappropriate on our part.”

Champaign councilman Will Kyles echoed the sentiment, saying that from discussions he had with contractors, they wouldn’t honor an agreement to include minority contractors purely based on “good faith.”

The tight deadline for the project is another obstacle, and was one of the points against putting in new language to the bylaws. With the intended approval dates from Champaign, Urbana and the University being Aug. 6, the projected date to submit an application to the state of Illinois for a nonprofit agency would be Aug. 9.

However, the real imposing deadline is Aug. 15. On that date, the program must have a proposal for asset transfer, otherwise the assets are handed over to the State of Illinois and out of the control of council members.

Also, the $30 million grant for the project was given by the federal government, although that grant will expire Sept. 30. The grant was awarded three years ago to help fund a project that would bring technology and Internet connection to underdeveloped areas in the Champaign-Urbana areas.

Another issue discussed was the compliance with the Open Meetings Act. The 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization would be independent of the cities of Champaign and Urbana, something that was troubling to some council members.

The bylaws currently state that the board of trustees of UC2B have to comply with the Open Meetings Act, but can meet confidentially if they felt “it was necessary to speak confidentially.”

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.