C.J. seeks study on laying fiber optic system
Carl Junction city leaders are moving forward with a feasibility study to examine the costs of laying as much as 50 miles of fiber optic line in town to improve Internet access for residents and businesses.
Optical fiber outperforms copper in that it can push greater file sizes more quickly — often at 100 times the speed — and would benefit higher technology users such as those who transmit videos, as well as those who send emails with numerous attachments.
A lengthy discussion about the merits of the study and the ultimate cost to the city of laying the fiber optic cable led to the council’s approval to explore the project, which could cost the city as much as $4 million, according to Steve Lawver, city administrator.
He said the study would have an estimated cost of $139,000, which would be taken from the city’s capital improvement fund.
Those in favor of the city leading the charge on infrastructure development, including council members Mark Powers, Don Marshall, Richard Zaccardelli, Dee Lynn Davey, Sean Haase and Steve Daniels, said it could create growth, as it would be attractive to new and existing business, as well as residents.
The council has brought the issue up several times dating back at least six years. According to City Clerk Maribeth Matney, a survey the city conducted of residents in 2008 indicated about 90 percent were unhappy with their current service, and would be willing to pay increased fees for high speed Internet.
“The only money we can be out is $139,000,” Powers said.
Robert Cook and Ed Reeves have previously opposed the city doing the study and want to know what the city’s return would be if it invested $4 million.
Mediacom currently offers telephone, cable and Internet packages in Carl Junction. Lawver said the addition of a fiber optic service provider would not be a replacement, merely a different option.
Mediacom provides similar services in about 1,300 communities in 22 states.
“Mediacom already has its own fiber in place, but it’s aerial and not everywhere in town. It’s limited,” Lawver said.
Tom Larson, group vice president of legal and public affairs with Mediacom, said the 16-year old company has been a provider in Carl Junction for about 10 to 12 years.
He said it is not uncommon for cities to embark on such a project.
“Cities from time to time believe they need to get into the communication business because there is a perception their current providers aren’t meeting the perceived needs they have, or they might be upset with some aspect,” he said.
“I would caution that any city that gets into it do research. It’s a very expensive proposition,” Larson said.
He said he does not believe a new fiber optic line would be an improvement over existing services provided by Mediacom.
Gary Stubblefield, president of the Carl Junction Chamber of Commerce, said he believes a larger fiber optic network would benefit current and future businesses.
“If our merchants can process orders faster, that’s beneficial, and the options of bringing in more business would be good because we could say we have this in place,” he said.
Robert Stokes, owner of Stokes Educational Services in Carl Junction, said that although he hasn’t studied the specifics of it, the idea is an attractive one to him.
“Certainly for us, anything that we can do to increase the high speed Internet is beneficial because we do a lot of business over the Internet. We use Skype and similar types of resources,” said Stokes, who has a business partner in India with whom any delay in the Internet connection can cause issues pertaining to business delivery.
Missouri statutes forbid municipalities from operating small ISPs, or Internet service providers, but does not forbid them from building infrastructure and leasing it to providers.
Two service providers have indicated interested in leasing and operating such a system, according to J. Pendergraft, a consultant who met with council members about the details of such a system.
“AT&T and Windstream are both interested,” he said.
Lawver said an individual whom he did not wish to identify and who owns 300 acres west of town is interested in developing a “high-tech business park,” and if the city were to build there it would lease to a company to operate the system.
“What we lease it for will be the debt service amount plus the amount of administration,” he told council members. If the city were to build it, funding would be from a revenue bond and would not be attached to property taxes.
Pendergraft said if the feasibility study would result in the council proceeding with the project, the best-case scenario for completion would be two years, with worst case taking three years.