Sundre's council was to decide during last night's regular meeting whether to direct administration to conduct public consultations that will seek to determine both the market demand for broadband Internet as well as the community's appetite to have
Sundre's council was to decide during last night's regular meeting whether to direct administration to conduct public consultations that will seek to determine both the market demand for broadband Internet as well as the community's appetite to have public dollars used to invest into a broadband network.
Check our website again in the following days for that story.
While there largely seems to be support from members of council to push forward with providing residents and businesses with access to broadband Internet, officials are not prepared to make a final decision without first consulting with the public.
"From my perspective, this is about the biggest decision that we will take before the public in the entire term of this council," said Mayor Terry Leslie during the Feb. 21 workshop.
The municipality has an opportunity to be innovative and to present the community with a variety of potential plans that outline business cases, built-in contingencies, projections based on research, as well as the possibility of eventually generating revenue and offsetting taxes, he said.
"What we need to do now is determine the market demand," said Jon Allan, the town's economic development officer, following a presentation outlining potential plans.
"Are our residents OK with us spending public dollars to create a business venture to earn revenue in the long run to offset taxes? And if they are willing, what kind of market demand actually exists out there?"
Coun. Cheri Funke wanted to know how much a public consultation would cost, and inquired how much funds remained in a reserve previously allocated by council specifically to research business proposals for broadband in Sundre.
Vic Pirie, director of finance and administration, said council approved a cumulative total of $170,000 in 2015 and 2016 to study the project's potential, and that about $35,000 had been spent to date. If broadband gets approved, the remaining funds could help to cover planning and marketing costs.
Some suggestions to engage community stakeholders include door-to-door visits, public open houses as well as special meetings tailored to specific organizations such as Sundre and District Chamber of Commerce, he said.
"We want to make sure that we've got as much input from the community as possible," said Pirie.
"We don't want to do a monkey survey and get 10 people responding and say this is what the community wants. We need to get out there."
Coun. Paul Isaac agreed the next logical step is to approach residents and businesses, but stressed the importance of providing clear and accurate information in any kind of marketing strategy.
However, administration had not yet delved deeply into details on marketing since staff first wanted approval from council to even continue pursuing the project, said Pirie.
Coun. Chris Vardas said he had been keenly anticipating the report.
"Broadband brings us out of the dark ages and it brings us into the modern age," he said.
"If we ever want to grow and want to be sustainable and flourish in any shape, way or form, you need broadband. Broadband puts the world at our finger tips like never before."
The councillor also agreed marketing plans are a secondary consideration for a later discussion and that the primary priority is to decide whether to launch the service through a private company or through a municipal/public partnership.
"I'm always the type of guy, anytime you go into business, I like to own what we have. When we own this utility, it's a community utility."
No business can become successful without taking carefully considered risks, he said.
Several members of the community attended the workshop, including Grant Frasier, a representative with the local chamber of commerce.
"The chamber believes in it," he said about pursuing broadband. "I don't think there's any question it has to be done, it's just simply now a matter of how to do it, and probably as quickly as possible."
He said the world is exponentially growing towards a knowledge economy, and that failure to follow that trend could eventually leave Sundre marginalized.
"That would be a real shame," said Frasier.
