Belleview explores providing high-speed Internet

Source: Ocala Star-Banner, Fla.迷你倉出租Jan. 23--BELLEVIEW -- A hesitant City Commission is allowing the city's information technology coordinator to explore the possibilities of Belleview entering the communication services arena. Such a move could, in the future, allow the city to eventually supply certain customers with high-speed broadband access.In a short speech on Tuesday, IT coordinator Kevin Towne described local broadband as a key factor to local communities that will only become more important in the future. He highlighted different areas of the city that could be connected with the service, such as schools, emergency workers and local businesses."My goal tonight is to hopefully inform the commission of what communication services is and to get direction from the commission," Towne said.He said he sees this as a long-term project that would be done in phases.He suggested hiring a consultant to look into Belleview's Internet landscape further, but that idea fell flat with several commissioners.Commissioner Gary Ernst inquired as to the cost. Towne said hiring a consultant would initially cost about $11,000 and could cost up to $40,000 if the consultant were asked to perform a full range of tasks.Towne sair the city's fiber-optic service would be able to provide a much faster service to customers than some of the services currently offered. However, he said, a consultant would be able to further look into the issue.At the end of the meeting the commission unanimously voted to allow Towne to continue to pursue the idea, but without outside help."From a philosophical standpoint, I would need somebody to convince me communications is a utility that needs to be under the umbrella of government," Commissioner Michael Goldman said.As part of his presentation, Towne invited Jim Lemberg, communications utility manager for the city of Leesburg, to discuss his city's successful venture as a broadband provider that began in the 1980s.Lemberg sought to explain how other municipalities rationalized venturing into a provider role."Broadband is becoming viewed as a community necessity, and those on the side of wanting to see government give broadband, part of their answer is if the incumbent service provider is unwilling or slow to offer that advanced infrastructure, then the municipality becomes more justified," Lemberg said.In the mid-1980s, the city of Leesburg approached the local telephone company and asked for assistance with starting a broadband network. But the company declined because of the cost."The electric utility scratched their heads and said 'then we'll do it ourselves,'??..." Lemberg said.The city began connecting its own buildings with multi-mode fiber, which is a lower grade fiber, and then slowly expanded the endeavor. Within the past year the city finally connected the last of every public school in Lake County to the city network, which allows all the school buildings to share data.Lemberg also discussed pitfalls to avoid. "We do not serve any residential customers," he said, explaining this often is very tax迷你倉ng because residents are more needy than business customers.Leesburg also does not provide phone service, which can be an expensive endeavor.During the discussion, the commission referenced similar endeavors by other municipalities that have failed; however, no one mentioned the city of Dunnellon by name. Dunnellon was forced to declare a state of financial emergency after its broadband network venture imploded.In 2011, Dunnellon launched Greenlight Communications to provide high-speed Internet, phone and cable services to area customers. While the venture attracted enough customers, the city didn't borrow enough money to cover Greenlight's losses until it grew large enough to break even, and the project ended up almost driving the city into bankruptcy.But just a few miles down the road, the city of Ocala has been effectively providing business customers with high-bandwidth, high-speed Internet connectivity."The business model that we are referring to is similar to Leesburg and Ocala's," Towne said via phone on Thursday. "Their models are totally different than Dunnellon's. They are not the same models."While Dunnellon provided phone, Internet and cable to both residents and businesses, Towne said Belleview would start off much slower and not seek to provide services to residents nor provide costlier services such as phone service.Lemberg said the way to begin would be to provide Internet bandwidth to paying customers and a switched ethernet service that would allow a business to connect its offices on two opposite sides of town."I don't want to add another layer of government," cautioned Mayor Christine Dobkowski. "I think government's job is the safety, health and welfare of the citizens."Commissioner Ron Livsey, the biggest proponent during the meeting, said, "If we don't do it, somebody else is going to do it."The mayor and several commissioners agreed while they don't think the city should be going into business as a provider, they would be open to helping someone else come in and provide that service, especially if it would draw new businesses into the area.Toward the end of the discussion, Public Works Director Dennis Monroe provided context as to why the proposal had come about. He referenced the city's major sewer project, which will expand the city's services down a large stretch of U.S. 441 as part of a large revitalization project in the area.Conduit would already be going into the ground, and laying fiber-optic cable at the same time would be cost effective.Monroe said that if the city lays the lines itself it would be able to ensure the system's safety. And two fiber-optic lines already exist -- one to the police station and one to the city's public works area near the water tower."We're already going to be in that business to some degree," Monroe said._Contact April Warren at 867-4065 or april.warren@ocala.com. Follow her on Twitter @ajtwarren.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 Ocala Star-Banner (Ocala, Fla.) Visit the Ocala Star-Banner (Ocala, Fla.) at .ocala.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉