City of Idaho Falls to begin residential fiber pilot project

The Idaho Falls City Council has authorized Idaho Falls Power, the city-owned utility, to begin a pilot program to examine the costs associated with providing high-speed fiber optic access to Idaho Falls residences.

“Essentially, Idaho Falls Power already manages a large infrastructure that provides fiber to numerous local businesses, government and schools,” said Bear Prairie, general manager of Idaho Falls Power and Idaho Falls Fiber. “What this resolution does is formally direct us to prove the feasibility of expanding our network throughout the city.”

Prairie said that the pilot will allow Idaho Falls Power critical connectivity with residential electric customers to provide better power monitoring and customer service. It will also deliver previously unavailable fiber access for internet connectivity if customers want to use the additional bandwidth.

“With this project, I wish to make clear that we are not interested in becoming an Internet service provider.  We anticipate local companies will want to provide this service. What we can do is get the fiber physically to the homes and maintain the infrastructure. That is something Idaho Falls Power is really good at.”

Idaho Falls Power already maintains hundreds of miles of power and fiber lines that are run above ground on poles or buried underground throughout neighborhoods. With the passage of the Sept. 27 resolution, work now begins within the study area to design a network that will provide connections from those lines to homes.

“Designing a system like this is a detailed, complicated engineering function,” Prairie said. “This is why the council also approved an agreement for us to work with Utopia, a company specializing in network design and management. It important to note that Utopia won’t be a service provider, they’ll simply help design and manage an open access system. The system will still rely on local companies to partner with to provide internet service.”

Prairie pointed out that because Idaho Falls Power already has the fiber backbone and can run new lines through existing power infrastructure, the utility can build the residential fiber network at a fraction of the cost any other company would face.

The actual boundaries for the pilot program have not yet been finalized.  However, the general area includes the numbered streets bordered by 17th Street and Tautphaus Park and will also extend south into a number of residential areas south of Sunnyside Road.

Idaho Falls Fiber will be sending out a letter in early October to residents in the pilot area. An open house also will be held at 6 p.m. on October 23 at Taylorview Middle School to explain the program in greater detail to residents living in the pilot project boundaries.

Design of the network will begin right away with construction expected to start early in November and continue through the spring. Service to customers will become available as the project progresses, beginning sometime between December and May, depending on customer location.

NOTE: If you're interested in the growing trend of municipalities stringing their own fiber -- and the laws in some states (but not Idaho) aimed at checking the trend, this piece recently ran in Wired:
Small-town ingenuity is making gigabit broadband a reality

Downtown Development receives Redevelopment Agency funds

The Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation has been awarded $945,000 by the Idaho Falls Redevelopment Agency for downtown projects, including street improvements and new parking technology. IFDDC's mission is to promote and care for the downtown area by promoting and advocating the downtown consistently.

"This funding will maintain the great momentum we have downtown with the development at The Broadway, the renovation of the Bonneville Hotel and many other renovations taking place in the core of downtown Idaho Falls,” said Executive Director Catherine Smith in a press release Friday afternoon. “The downtown has seen significant growth in the last 18 months and we are thrilled to be part of the efforts both as a catalyst for this growth and grateful recipient of the downtown experience."

The funds will be used for three distinct projects downtown:

• The first project will be the Broadway streetscape from Memorial Drive to Yellowstone Highway running east to west. The entire stretch will be addressed with all new curb and gutter, sidewalks, trees, and planter pots. A drip irrigation line will be installed as well. This will reduce the number of labor hours spent to hand-water the vegetation and flowers along Broadway during the growing season.

• The second project will be to address the broken and crumbling planter boxes found throughout downtown at each intersection. The planter boxes are estimated to have been installed in the 1970s, with trees planted within the concrete boxes. Over the years the boxes have deteriorated as the roots of the large trees have been constricted as well as the harsh extremes of cold and hot.

Funds will be spent on pavers with the appropriate trees for the urban landscape, plus new curb, gutter, and sidewalks. This design will allow the trees to grow in a healthy setting in soil in the ground. The design will be consistent throughout downtown and tie into the Broadway streetscape.

• The third project will include the purchase of parking meters to be installed in off-street-parking lots currently managed by IFDDC. By adding technology to the off-street-parking lots, parking customers will have a similar experience to pay-to-park in the core of downtown that is found in larger cities. The machines will allow the processing of credit cards as well as servicing the validation program for downtown restaurants, bars, and merchants that Downtown Development offers for off-street-parking patrons.

Dutch Bros plans grand opening Monday for second Idaho Falls location

The new Dutch Bros Idaho Falls store, at 830 E. 17th Street, is having its grand opening Monday. 

Dutch Bros Coffee will be holding a grand opening Monday morning at its second Idaho Falls location. The new location at 830 E. 17th St. (in the Shopko parking lot) will be open Monday from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The coffee stand will also be offering a 9-stamp loyalty card with every large drink purchased. The drive-thru coffee stand will be donating all of its opening day proceeds to Idaho Falls High School. (Other schools will be getting their own turn, according to the Facebook page, so nobody get upset, OK?)

Dutch Bros opened its first location in Idaho Falls on Woodruff Ave. in May and is hoping to find the same levels of success. “We are so excited to be expanding our presence in Idaho Falls,” said Tonya Thomason, operator of both Idaho Falls stores, in a press release. “We can’t wait to celebrate with everyone in the community.”

Dutch Bros Coffee is the country’s largest privately held drive-thru coffee company, with more than 300 locations and 9,000 employees in seven states.

Four from INL honored by Profiles in Diversity

Cheré D. Morgan

Dr. Donna J. O’Kelly

Four women from Idaho National Labora-tory have been selected as Women Worth Watching by Profiles in Diversity, a national publication dedicated to promoting and advancing diversity and inclusion in the corporate, government, non-profit, STEM and higher education sectors.

The list of Women Worth Watching contains leaders from a variety of industries throughout the U.S. and the world. The recognition is designed to recognize and publicly celebrate the achievements of women who are “leading the way to excellence in the workplace, marketplace and the world.”

Each awardee is featured in a full-page highlight in the fall issue of Diversity Journal magazine.

Congratulations to the four INL winners:

• Cheré D. Morgan, Radiological Control and Emergency Management director (p. 97)
• Dr. Donna J. O’Kelly, Materials and Fuels Complex chief operations officer (p.35)
• Jennifer B. Porter, battalion fire chief (p. 36)
• Heidi K. Scott, Performance Management lead (p. 39)

Heidi K. Scott

“We’re honored to have these four incredible women at Idaho National Laboratory recognized as Women Worth Watching. Recognition of our employees is confirmation that the steps we’re taking to promote a vibrant culture of inclusive diversity to fuel growth and drive innovation is making a real-world impact,” said Dr. Mark Peters, INL director.

Jennifer B. Porter

You can view each INL awardee’s spotlight profile in the online magazine issue here.

Distinguished Under 40 honorees named

The Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce has announced its Distinguished Under 40 honorees for 2018.

Distinguished Under 40 is an annual awards program exclusive to eastern Idaho area that honors 10 young professionals who have “gone above and beyond to accomplish great things in their careers, community, and education,” a chamber news release said. To be considered for the award, young professionals are nominated by co-workers, managers, and business associates.

Winners are selected by a panel of past and present Chamber of Commerce board members, the release said. Fifty nominations were received this year.

The 2018 honorees are:

• Jeff Sollis, Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center
• Travis Zmak, Teton Toyota
• Mark Baker, Bingham Memorial Hospital
• Noel Bakhtian, Idaho National Laboratory
• Nate Sunderland, East Idaho News
• Daniel Quintela, Northwest Cosmetic Labs
• James Hanneman, INL/Battelle Energy Alliance
• Ryan Leland, Bank of Idaho
• Jennifer Veldkamp, Northwest Cosmetic Labs
• Monica Bitrick, YMCA.

The 10 recipients will be honored at a luncheon at noon Sept. 25 at the Hilton Garden Inn. RSVP by calling Lois Mackes at 208-523-1010 or emailing programs@idahofallschamber.com. Reservations also can be made at idahofallschamber.com/event/distinguished-under-40/.