BETHEL — The Mahoosuc Community Broadband Committee met with town managers and select board members from Bethel, Newry, Greenwood, and Woodstock on May 23 to present recommended next steps for achieving the shared goal of high-speed, affordable, reliable, and future-ready internet service for all residents.

For the past eight months, the Committee has worked to evaluate options, develop recommendations for the towns, and position the region to secure federal funding to address this critical issue. At the May 23 joint select board meeting, the Committee identified two approaches with clear potential for achieving the region’s broadband goal.

One option is working with First Light, the area’s incumbent internet service provider, to secure public grant dollars to expand its existing private network. The other approach involves using a combination of public grant funding and revenue bonds to build a new fiber network that would serve the whole region and be owned and operated by a local, multi-town Broadband Utility District. Based on input from the select boards, the Committee will further evaluate and develop these two options with the goal of reaching a final recommendation by the end of the summer. This work will involve securing legal assistance to develop an interlocal agreement needed for the towns to form a broadband utility district and draft bylaws to guide the operations of a utility district if it is formed.

As part of its process, the Committee is preparing a brief community survey to gather public input on some of the issues and questions it is considering. These include:

•   How important is it to create more local competition and choice of internet service?

•    Would people prefer more local control and responsibility for internet service (cost, customer service, maintenance, and operation) or leaving that control and responsibility in the hands of the private internet service providers who serve the area now?

•    How do people feel about investing public dollars in the expansion of an existing privately-owned internet service network versus investing public dollars in a new, locally-owned asset with potential for long-term revenue generation for the towns?

Public input on these questions will inform the Mahoosuc Community Broadband Committee’s final recommendations for improving local broadband service for the Mahoosuc region.

Please watch for the survey and let us know what you think. Thank you.