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Fiber Network In Sugar; Easter Egg Hunt; Sugar Days 2024; New Asst. City Clerk; New P&Z Comissioner From Salem

 


Fiber Network in Sugar City

This week in city council meeting, we reviewed the latest information and options available for getting fiber high speed internet in the older areas of Sugar City. (I spoke about this in an earlier post.)

Over the past couple of years, the council and city staff researched various options, and we eventually put out a call for specific proposals. This week we voted 3 to 1 to join with the county's agreement with Fybercom to provide the option for fiber-based broadband to the city's residents. I voted to support piggybacking on the County/Fybercom agreement.

During the past several months, I read numerous academic studies and pro/con trade journal and non-profit "political lobbyist style" articles regarding the advantages and disadvantages of city-owned fiber networks. I read 4+ years of council minutes from other cities that have had to make the decision to own or not the fiber network in their city. I and other city officials met with an official from Providence, Utah to talk about their city-owned fiber network. I listened to information from the fiber network director for the city of Ammon. I contacted a city official in Provo to get their take on Provo's (mis)adventures with their fiber network. I listened to the county's officials regarding their project agreement with Fybercom. And, of course, I reviewed the information we gathered from the proposals the city received from companies interested in working with the city on this.

In the end, I decided against the city owning the fiber network in Sugar. Some residents have asked me about my reasoning. Let me try to summarize:

  • Funding. We'd have to pay for the fiber network upfront. I don't have an appetite for bonding of any kind for this. And I'm not a fan of Local Improvement Districts (LIDs) that can be used to require residents to pay for infrastructure repairs and upgrades and such. We could apply for various state or federal grants, but that is hit and miss, never certain we'd get the grants and the amounts necessary.
  • Population Density. I know Sugar is growing, but it would still be questionable whether we could get enough income from the network to pay for itself and its administration, certainly in the first number of years of the project.
  • Timeline. If we did this project on our own, it would drag out over several, maybe even many, years. 
  • Savings. The monthly savings promised to residents by having a city-owned fiber network commonly don't end up being as great as initially projected. And if you factor in the initial cost to residents through bonding or LIDs or connection fees, which can run into the thousands per household, it could be 10+ years before the household starts to realize the promised savings. And that is if everything else stays the same as far as no increases in monthly rates or costs for upgrades, etc.
  • Administration. A city-owned network requires a new city administrator and department. I'm not in favor of this for fiber.
  • Fiber as Utility. I'm not convinced that fiber should be viewed as a utility like water and sewer services for the city to own and manage. Residents don't have to have fiber internet services from the city as there are other private options available. I'm not sure we need the city competing against them.
  • Research & Development. If all the fiber networks in the country were government owned, I suspect the research and development in the fiber industry would dry up (unless we all want to spend more tax money on such things).
  • Access. I don't consider myself a conspiracy theorist at all. However, I don't think it would be a good idea for everyone's internet access to be owned by the government.
  • Other Options. There are other options out there, and being developed, that could lead to high speed connectivity without using fiber, satellite-based service, for example. If such options become feasible and practical, I'd prefer not to have the city owning a fiber network that residents choose not to use.

The agreement the city will enter in with the County & Fybercom is still being worked out. The main goals will be to allow residents the option to hook up their house for free and for several reasonable options to be available for monthly high speed service. Residents can choose to keep their current service or change.


Easter Egg Hunt

The Annual Ester Egg Hunt is on Saturday March 30th at 10am at the old junior high gym. The Easter Bunny will be on hand for photos.

Sugar Days 2024

Sugar Days is only three months away, Saturday, June 15. We'll also have a concert in the park again this year on Friday evening. So plan on enjoying the music of Cedar Junction Friday night and then again Saturday afternoon!

Vendors and organizations put the date on your calendar, and we'll have booths spaces available for reservations soon.

New Assistant City Clerk & New P&Z Member

This week the mayor swore in Vickie Robertson as a new Assistant City Clerk/Treasurer. And for the first time we now have a resident of Salem as a voting member of the Planning and Zoning Commission: Rick Robertson, who was sworn in by Mayor Adams as well.

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