Greenacres connects with fiber-optic data network of county

The city council unanimously agreed tonight to spend $42,550 to connect city buildings to the network and approved a telecommunications agreement with the county - a move that is expected to save the city $124,800 over five years.

Instead of paying AT&T and Comcast $33,360 annually for transmission lines, the city will pay Palm Beach County $8,400 annually.

"It's basically cost sharing as opposed to revenue generating," said Mike Butler, director of network services for Palm Beach County. "We're not in it to make money."

Several other cities, including Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Juno Beach, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach and Riviera Beach, also have data-transmission agreements with Palm Beach County.

Internet service will be provided by Florida LamdaRail, the state university data-transmission network.

At 10 megabits per second, the speed of the fiber-optic network linking city hall to the Leisure Services building and Public Safety headquarters will be more than six times as fast as with the AT&T and Comcast lines, according to a May 29 memo to the city council.

The city will reimburse the county for the $42,550 cost of installing fiber optic lines from city hall to other city buildings. The county recently installed a fiber-optic line to the city's Public Safety building to support the emergency dispatch system.

Also tonight, the council awarded $1,500 college scholarships to five area students, appointed Merle Fine to the code-enforcement board and accepted a check for $5,000 for exercise equipment at Community Park from the Kiwanis Club of Greenacres and Western Communities.