GILL — Town buildings may soon get a major upgrade to their internet service at minimal cost to the town.
AccessPlus, the company that provides internet to Northfield Mount Hermon School, has proposed installing fiber optic cables along Main Road, from Route 2 to NMH. One-fifth of the cables’ capacity would be reserved for NMH, leaving the rest for the town’s use. The cables would be owned by the town, but maintenance would be handled by AccessPlus for as long as it is the internet provider for NMH.
If Gill accepts, AccessPlus has offered to include wires to Town Hall and the public safety building at 196 Main Road. The Selectboard is considering asking for the library to be included, too. Gill Elementary School was considered, but the Gill-Montague Regional School District’s technology department reported that its connection is already fast, Town Administrator Ray Purington said.
The internet service to the town’s buildings would cost Gill $200 a month — about $35 more than what the town now pays for considerably slower service, Purington said.
The Selectboard, discussing the idea in recent meetings, has raised one major concern. If and when AccessPlus ends its agreement with NMH, the cables become the town’s responsibility. Maintenance is estimated at about $2,000 a year, Purington said. At that point, the town could also choose to take down the cables, but the cost of doing so hasn’t been discussed.
For the most part, the Selectboard has been receptive to the idea. The improved service would make a noticeable difference for the public safety offices, and would open the possibility of resource-intensive services like “cloud” computing for other offices, Purington said.
Board members and the town administrator have noted that the deal itself is a somewhat unique opportunity.
“Nobody else has the NMH contract,” Purington said. “It’s highly unlikely that there are any other companies that want to install 6 miles of fiber optics at no cost and lease only one strand.”
If the town accepts the deal, it would also have the right to run wires to individual homes and other buildings in town. Purington said the Selectboard has not specifically planned on doing anything like that, but could consider it in the future.
Whether that would make much of a difference is unclear. The homes in Gill that are too remote for internet service probably couldn’t be reached by the new fiber optic cables; and the buildings along Main Road can already get broadband, Purington said.
“Although I’m sure there are homes and businesses that would love the speed of a fiber connection,” he added.
The Selectboard is able to approve a short-term agreement for up to three years, Purington said. Anything longer than that would require a Town Meeting vote.
Purington said the board does not know when it might approve an initial short-term agreement, but noted that AccessPlus wants to have its improved service in place in time for the start of the next school year in September 2020.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 261.