By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Chad Coester, appointed last month, will be welcomed Wednesday as the newest member of the Economic Development Board.

Coester, a resident of Benicia for more than nine years, is the director of specialty and international food business for the grocery chain Safeway’s 1,500 stores nationwide. He was appointed to fill the spot left by former EDB Chair Kimble Goodman, who resigned earlier this year.

Coester’s first meeting will include a report and presentation on broadband Internet needs in the Industrial Park, the result of a comprehensive assessment commissioned by the city in 2010.

The report concluded, among other things, “that the Internet service was inadequate for many businesses and that the BIP’s current and future broadband needs would be best met through a fiber network,” Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani wrote in a report to the board.

His report indicates that the city will issue a request for proposals, or RFPs, on Sept. 30, seeking bids to contract the job of wiring the Industrial Park.

City staff began studying the Industrial Park broadband problem in 2008, Giuliani wrote, and their reports became a Broadband Needs Assessment Report presented to the City Council in October 2010.

Action on the need for greater Internet service in the Industrial Park was delayed by the recession, Giuliani wrote, but there has been progress.

“In 2011 the city became a member of the East Bay Regional Consortium, a tri-county consortium designed to identify broadband needs and funding for future projects,” he wrote.

Also that year, the city contracted with Tellus Venture Associates to scope out a broadband project strategy, “essentially drafting the process needed from the needs assessment to an actual construction project,” Giuliani wrote.

In June 2012 the Council earmarked money from the BIP “intermodal” account to be used for a broadband project. Then, on July 2 of this year, Tellus President Steve Blum presented a report to the Council in which he noted where fiber conduits exist and where lateral lines can be constructed off main lines. Afterward, city staff and Tellus developed a broadband project timeline, beginning with the RFP releases on Sept. 30.

“Upon receipt of the responses, staff will return to the City Council for direction and possible award of contract on or about December 17, 2013,” Giuliani wrote.

Also Wednesday, the EDB may hear updates on the Arsenal, business retention and attraction efforts, tourism, commercial and industrial vacancies, and Benicia Main Street activities, among other issues.

New Benicia businesses, or businesses that have moved or made any changes to their business name, will be acknowledged in a presentation. They are: Red Line Synthetic Oil Corp.; Safeway Services; Entech Medical Corporation; Bledsoe Sales; Boland Inc.; DBA S & S Supplies; MFE Rentals Inc.; North Capital Inc.; Wholesale Tire and Automotive; Chari Goldstein, MFT; Greenpath Insurance Co.

The Economic Development Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Commission Room at City Hall, 250 East L St.

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