Ten Colorado counties and cities have voted by huge majorities to restore local authority over telecommunications. Such elections are needed to sidestep Senate Bill 152, enacted in 2005 to prevent cities, libraries, parks and community centers from providing subscription cable and Internet service.
A decade is a long time in the high-tech world, though. The iPhone hadn't even been introduced when that law passed, and many are pushing for it to be overturned — to spare the cost of special elections and to let Colorado communities compete quickly as more U.S. cities become gigabit providers. Longmont has led the way in Colorado, voting in 2011 to retake control of its technology. Two years later, voters there passed a $45.3 million bond issue to build the city's 17-mile fiber-optic loop.
Now the first phase of the installation by its NextLight utility, launched by Longmont Power and Communications, has obtained buy-in from 45 percent of potential consumers in that area, so the city is hastening its build-out of the service.
"Charter member" customers pay $49.95 a month for the high-speed service, and those contributions to city coffers can be used to develop other infrastructure without tax increases, the Longmont Compass reported.
Subsequent elections to retake local authority passed easily in Centennial in November 2013, Montrose in April 2014, and in San Miguel and Yuma counties plus Boulder, Cherry Hills Village, Red Cliff, Wray and Yuma in November 2014.
"Citizens expect to have this in their community," Makepeace said. "We are underserved and overcharged. If you don't have it, you're out of the game, you're not competitive at all."
Suthers agreed, noting that fewer people today work for corporations, and more work as contractors "and can live anywhere they want to live."
"We've got to be wired to the hilt," he said. "I will do everything I can to make sure we're as wired as can be."
Whether the City Council will support such an initiative by the new mayor, to be elected May 19, remains to be seen.
Councilman Andres Pico expressed reservations.
"If someone wants gigabit speed, they can have it," Picos said. "Capacity-wise, this city's already one of the most wired for capacity. Some people mean city-owned, and I have significant reservations about having the city compete with local, private industry when private industry's already providing that service."
Councilman Keith King had concerns about costs.
"The gigabit city is going to be city-owned, as opposed to free enterprise owning it, and we would have to do the infrastructure through taxation."
"To have it owned and created by the city, I'm assuming it's going to be quite expensive to accomplish."
That was echoed by Councilwoman Helen Collins, who said, "The bottom line you have to check in detail is the cost. There's so many different factors involved."
Said Councilman Tom Strand, "You just have to walk carefully to make sure government isn't interfering with private business. But I'm very interested in pursuing this because what it would do, especially downtown, it would vitalize that and feed our younger folks who are attached to technology."
Councilman Larry Bagley said he needs to do more research before forming an opinion. Councilman Don Knight was out of town, and Councilwoman Jill Gaebler couldn't be reached Friday.
Council President Merv Bennett and Councilman Bill Murray support the concept.
"I don't know what it takes for us to do that," Bennett said, "but I do know that as it relates to our business development and developing jobs, it should be a very, very positive thing for our city. If it's financially feasible and viable, I'm going to be very supportive."
"It's a means to an end," Murray said. "The main purpose of government is infrastructure. Just like the interstate system, it's the responsibility of government to assist, to build these tools, so businesses can use it to get products and services to you. We've lagged behind all this time because our telecommunications has not kept up with the speed.
"The ripple effects of these capabilities are immense. How much time do you save looking up a product online as opposed to driving from store to store to store? The system would totally pay for itself in just the build-out.
"The military wants it, businesses want it, hospitals want it. It's a known commodity as far as accelerating economic development in every venue it's touched."
Murray expressed concern that the city's Telecommunications Policy Advisory Committee, formed in 2005, "disappeared one day."
But also in 2005, he said, Makepeace produced a "green paper" on telecommunications, "and it was so far ahead of its time, it was amazing. It talked at great length of the importance and need to build up our telecommunications."
Council members are prepared to further research the possibilities. Bagley and Murray both plan to accompany the Regional Business Alliance on a trip to Chattanooga, Tenn., which touts itself as the first city in the Western Hemisphere to offer service of 1 gigabit per second — 200 times the national average speed — to all residents and businesses. That system was installed by the city's publicly owned electric utility between 2009 and 2012.
Colorado Springs also owns its utility, Makepeace noted.
"My thought is because we have a utility that goes to every building in town, that might be the public partner," she said. "I've talked to some industry reps. They do enter into public-private partnerships. The outcome is that you get much faster service and much more reliable service."
©2015 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
