WENDELL — The Selectboard will meet with former Broadband Committee members on Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. to resolve a dispute over whether the town should replace its former Broadband Committee with two new boards to oversee future construction and operation of a fiber optic build-out.
Nine of the past 12 broadband board members have declined to be appointed to either of the two new boards — a Broadband Construction Committee and a Broadband Operations Committee that were formed by the Selectboard. They refused, according to former co-chairman Robert Heller, because they see no need yet for a construction committee.
Selectboard member Daniel Keller said the earlier broadband committee ended last fiscal year, after a final presentation. He said the Selectboard wanted to form a smaller construction committee, with representatives from the Selectboard, Finance and Broadband committees, to go into the construction phase, dealing with the Massachusetts Broadband Institute as the general contractor.
The operations committee, he said, could be formed with a larger group of people, to study the business of running the network and setting up the town’s corporate Municipal Light Plant structure.
In a letter to the Selectboard, Heller argued there won’t be any construction for at least a year, because the pole survey and design process would take until fall, at least. “So at best,” he said, “a Broadband Construction Committee is premature. At worst, a complete waste of time.”
He went on to say that a Broadband Operations Committee would be doing what the current committee already does. Other concerns raised by Broadband Committee members is that the dispute between the two boards could hinder broadband development, since Wendell is one of four communities being fast-tracked in the Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s last-mile broadband project.
According to Keller, at least three former broadband committee members have already agreed to serve on the two new committees.
“We will be meeting with all interested parties to work out a mutually satisfactory arrangement,” he said. “We really want to be 100 percent inclusive of the old (broadband committee) members.”