Council will, in the coming weeks, be presented with a new option to deploy broadband Internet infrastructure.
Coun. Paul Isaac requested during the regular Feb. 26 meeting to have added to the agenda a discussion on the status of the project.
Officials had previously communicated to the public that a decision based on information accumulated following two years of study would be made in December, but that council absences had resulted in postponing a motion, he said.
"So the public is waiting for some response,” he told his colleagues.
About two years ago, the former council approved budgeting approximately $175,000 to initiate a study to research potential options to deploy high-speed Internet infrastructure in Sundre, he said.
"That research has been completed. So I was wondering why we would not be making a motion to vote on it,” said Isaac, adding several residents have asked him why council has not yet decided on whether to pursue either a public or private model.
Administrator Linda Nelson outlined the reasons for the delay.
"We have had some additional information on another company that may perhaps be interested in coming forward,” she said, adding, "There’s also an additional meeting with another service provider that administration wanted to complete the report on.”
The intent is to present the new findings for council’s consideration at next week’s meeting, she said.
Offering further insight on recent developments, Vic Pirie, director of finance and administration, pointed out that throughout the recent capital budgeting process council had previously suggested administration look outside of the box to consider alternative ways to deploy capital projects such as broadband.
"So at an administrative level, we have been looking at alternatives other than what has been presented to council,” he said, referring to the choice between a public or private venture.
The public option would mean Internet service providers would pay the Town of Sundre a service fee to be able to access the municipally owned network and connect residents and businesses similar to a toll highway, he said.
Under that model, there is potential debenture borrowing of upwards of $3.5 million, which he said could possibly create problems down the road for other capital projects that might also require borrowed funds.
Axia, a private company, made a presentation to council outlining the merits of pursuing the private sector option to deploy broadband, which remains a viable option if council so chooses, he said.
"The difficulty with the private option is that although there’s no risk to town, there’s no direct downstream benefits to the town as well, and so we lose out on the potential of diversifying our income away from simply the tax base.”
Additionally, under the private option, the municipality has no control in terms of directing a timeline for deployment as well as what the company would choose to do with the infrastructure, he said.
"So we’ve been looking at other ways of perhaps providing the same level of service to our community, where there’s some potential ownership by the town without taking on 100 per cent of risk,” he said.
"And that’s what we’re trying to finalize at this moment.”
Additionally, administration has yet to hear back regarding a funding application for a grant that could help pay for the utility pole survey required to proceed with the public option, he said. The utility poles upon which the fire optic lines would be mounted need to be surveyed to determine their suitability.
"That was the decision that we are asking council for, was whether to proceed with the pole survey,” he said, adding that course of action would be a firm commitment to the public option.
"It would be inappropriate to spend $175,000 only to say, ‘No we’re not going to pursue it any further’,” he said, adding the updated report will be presented to council on March 12.
Isaac said his concerns did not so much stem from the delay, but rather the absence of communicating the situation to taxpayers, who have been waiting for answers.
"Residents want to know what council’s doing,” he said.
Seeking further clarification on the impending March 12 presentation, Coun. Todd Dalke wondered whether council would be asked to make a decision at that meeting, or postpone once again to accommodate additional time to consider a whole new option.
The new third option will outline the potential to pursue a combined public and private model, said Nelson.
"What we’re looking at is a P3 basically — a public-private partnership,” said Pirie.
The municipality would in that scenario work with a private firm and put up a portion of the investment with the company covering the balance. Instead of borrowing so much as a single dime, the municipality could in that case draw from reserves without adding to the debt load and thereby substantially reduce the risk, he said.
"But to do that means more homework,” which had been ongoing for the past couple of weeks, he said, adding the original proposals remain unchanged.
Isaac also wanted to confirm if investigating a third option had been a specific directive from council.
Mayor Terry Leslie said he felt council had encouraged administration to consider other options in light of concerns about debenture borrowing, and added the ground has changed since the study initially began.
With two new potentially interested parties, council is closer to making a final decision. However, he said administration needed time to consider and present potential budgetary impacts and agreed residents should be informed.
"Understandably, the community is wondering what’s going on.”
But council needs as much information as possible before making any commitments, the mayor said.
"We don’t want to rush to failure.”
Pirie added further clarification.
"Administration — under the discussion that had taken place with council saying we need to look at different ways and think a little bit more innovatively to come up with ways of funding some of these project — proceeded to look at different ways of doing this besides the two options that had already been presented to council,” he said.
Coun. Cheri Funke said the public should have been informed about the new developments rather than left hanging.
"We haven’t adequately explained to the public the reasons for delay in the process,” agreed Isaac, who was fully in favour of following due diligence but reminded his colleagues that taxpayers want to be kept in the loop.
