WENDELL — There are two articles on this year’s town meeting warrant geared toward bringing to fruition Wendell’s broadband network.
One article asks if residents wish to transfer $20,000 from the stabilization fund to finance a pole survey for the network, while another asks for $50,000 from the same fund to pay for the network’s design.
Wendell Town Coordinator Nancy Aldrich said adoption of these articles would help get the project off the ground. Town meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in town hall on Wednesday.
Wendell is one of several hilltowns that have investigated ways to bring in broadband Internet. Selectboard member Daniel Keller previously told The Recorder the town has considered a regional broadband network as a possible alternative to WiredWest, which has been working since 2011 to bring “last-mile” fiber-optic broadband to rural towns without high-speed Internet access. Wendell was one of the first WiredWest member-towns to reach the goal of getting at least 40 percent of its residents to register in advance with WiredWest for high-speed broadband. It was also one of the first towns to move independently of WiredWest, by notifying the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) last fall that it had secured borrowing for its broadband build-out and were ready to move forward with the build-out.
According to Wendell’s town website, there is an 11-member broadband committee, not including Clerk Wanita Sears. The committee is co-chaired by Robert Heller and Ray DiDonato.
A separate article asks if residents will approve a proposed resolution calling for immediate state action on wired broadband service and send it to Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash. This article is more symbolic than anything, Aldrich said.
She also said the proposed budget is $2,309,033 and its line items will be presented to voters in a handout at town meeting.
You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 258. On Twitter:
@DomenicPoli