Council tables resolution on broadband study

Hartsville City Council voted to table a resolution for a feasibility study for a possible fiber optic network in the city until its next regular meeting on Nov. 10.

The unanimous vote came Monday during a special called meeting and followed a presentation by a consultant on a proposal for a study that could open the door for the city to offer broadband services to residents and businesses in the city.

Council members and city officials voiced concerns about the cost of the study - $50,000. The city doesn’t have $50,000 to pay for a study. Officials also expressed concerns about the impact on the city’s long-term debt.

The move means that council will not take up the resolution again until after the city’s Nov. 3 elections for mayor and city council.

Consultant Dave Stockton of Atlanta, Ga., whose firm Uptown Services LLC specializes in municipal broadband and has worked with a number of cities to get municipal broadband systems implemented, said about $7 billion in federal stimulus funding is currently available to assist in the distribution of broadband to rural communities.
He said the funding is aimed at under-served areas.

Applications for a first round of funding have already been submitted. A second round of funding is scheduled for late this year or early next year, he said. Stockton said that money will go fast.

Through the grant program, the federal government would provide 80 percent of the total cost of setting up a citywide fiber optic network, while the city would provide a match of 20 percent, which could be about $2 million in Hartsville’s case.

Stockton said without the grant program, many smaller cities and towns would not be able to pursue such a project. “To have a program like this is a huge step forward,” Stockton said.

“This is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get this grant,” Stockton said.
He said Hartsville would be a good candidate to receive the grant.

“The intent is to give communities better infrastructure than they have now,” he said.
He said that typically, when a city implements such a project, it begins to generate a positive cash flow in three to four years.

Stockton worked with the city of Wilson, N.C., on getting a broadband system there. With it, the city offers cable television service, digital telephone and high speed internet service on the open market to city residents and businesses.