ASHFIELD — Today, the Technology Committee will meet with representatives from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute to discuss town broadband issues at 3 p.m. in the Town Hall.
Annual town meeting voters recently allocated $60,000 to start a broadband stabilization fund, so that the town can move as quickly as possible on preliminary work and pole surveys for broadband build-out. On Monday, the Selectboard appointed Technology Committee Chairman David Kulp to serve as the town’s liaison to MBI, which is the agency charged with overseeing the last-mile broadband buildout and for allocating each town’s share of the state’s $50 million set aside for broadband buildout plans.
On June 13, Ashfield will hold a special town meeting, which is to include discussion of broadband and the formation of an MLP board. MLP stands for “municipal lighting plant,” and it refers to a state law that allows towns to set up and operate broadband as a public utility.