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Town Meeting approves $3M to begin fiber optic network

Date: 5/23/2023

SOUTHWICK — The town took two giant steps forward to create its own fiber optic network on May 16.

At Town Meeting, voters approved establishing a municipal light plant and authorized borrowing $3 million as startup funds to begin the project, which could deliver high-speed internet service to all households in town.

“I need it [and] we need it to compete as a community,” said Ian Creswell, who has owned and operated Cool Bike Rides since 2007.

Planning for the network began 4½ years ago. The Select Board met with officials with Westfield Gas & Electric’s Whip City Fiber division to learn what was needed to start a town-owned fiber optic network. Since then, the town has been taking the steps needed, including a vote to establish a municipal light plant at the Special Town Meeting in November 2022. Under state law, starting the town-owned utility required two votes at separate meetings.

The May 16 vote required a two-thirds majority to pass. Town Moderator Celeste St. Jacques ruled it to have passed easily on a voice vote, without needing a hand count.

With that approved, debate began on the borrowing authorization. There were several questions about how, if the borrowing were approved, it would be paid back.

Select Board member Doug Moglin, who has been the primary supporter of establishing the network, acknowledged that initially taxpayers would help to pay back the bond.

However, he said, once the network is up and running, the municipal light plant would operate as an enterprise fund, which could then take on debt that would be paid back by receipts generated by those who use the service.

Answering a query by Andrew Gale, who described building the network as the town’s “moonshot,” Moglin acknowledged the “possibility it won’t be successful.”

But Moglin added that companies that set up new fiber optic networks often struggle by trying to include television programming as an available feature. He said the Southwick network would offer internet access only, much like Whip City Fiber.

Moglin also said the network would be able to reach every single home in town, no matter where it might be located.

“That is non-negotiable,” he said.

When town officials met with Whip City Fiber officials in 2018, the estimated cost was $60,000 per mile, with an additional $1,000 for each customer connection.

Moglin said that puts the cost of covering all of Southwick at $8 million to $9 million.

Planning Board member Robert Horacek said setting up the network would “future-proof us and draw more businesses” to town.

Jim Johnson spoke of the internet service residents can now access.

“The kind of internet we now have is not going to work. We need it and this is a way to get it,” Johnson said, who joined several other voters who were unhappy with the reliability of internet service offered by the cable television utility.

When St. Jacques called for a voice vote, there were a few nos, but those who remained in the auditorium — it was near the end of a four-hour meeting where several other topics were debated and voted — said yes to the authorization.

Also at the May 16 meeting, voters:

  • Approved a general bylaw change that would allow the opening of recreational marijuana dispensaries. The town’s zoning bylaws still do not allow dispensaries; this would require another Town Meeting vote.
  • Adopted a fiscal year 2024 town budget of $16,991,482, which included $12,792,744 for general government expenses, $1,327,043 for the sewer fund, $1,574,333 for the water fund, and $1,098,669 for the EMS budget.
  • Appropriated $12,940,426 as the town’s assessment for the regional school district’s fiscal year 2024 budget.
  • Authorized borrowing $515,000 for school district network improvements ($400,000) and the purchase of a maintenance van ($65,000).
  • Authorized borrowing of $1 million for road reconstruction and $318,000 for the Department of Public Works to purchase a dump truck with a plowing package.
  • Approved Community Preservation Act spending  of $71,600 for alum treatment of Congamond Lake, $16,500 to restore four bronze plaques affixed to the town’s two war memorials, $294,000 for the installation of a spray park at Whalley Park, $29,075 for repairs at the Joseph Moore House, $105,000 for tree removal at the Old Cemetery, $70,000 for roof repairs at the police station, and $45,000 for replacing flooring at the Southwick Housing Authority facility on Depot Street.
  • Rejected a citizen petition to establish term limits for members of the Select Board.
  • Approved a citizen petition to have three of the seven members of the town’s Conservation Commission elected instead of being appointed by the Select Board.
  • Requested from state legislators a home-rule act to separate the town’s office of treasurer-collector-clerk into separate appointed town clerk and town treasurer-collector positions.
  • Approved a new rule allowing Town Meeting to start before 7 p.m. but not before 5:30 p.m., at the discretion of the Select Board.
  • Approved a bylaw allowing and regulating short-term rentals, like Airbnb.
  • Approved a program that would give property tax relief to veterans and their spouses for volunteering with the town’s Cemetery Commission.
  • Approved taking the steps to implement a municipal electric aggregation plan.
  • Authorized the Select Board to negotiate the terms of a new sewer contract with Westfield.