I have actively not been following the news in Burlington Vermont concerning the fincnial troubles of the local broadband provider. The super Reader’s Diggest version is that Burlington Telecom is a community-owned FTTH network. They are currently in financial trouble. One big question is whether the trouble began before or after Tim Nulty left.

I haven’t seen very convincing evidence to prove or disprove either side. Chris Mitchell pointed out to me that Burlington Telecom received $33.5 million in city loans in August 2007. Tim Nulty left about two months later. So it seems like the city would have looked into things before writing a check.

So why am I thinking about Burlington? Because Tim Nulty is part of National Public Broadband, which is involved the effort for Fiber in Lake County. They received $66 million of ARRA funds for te network. There have been articles in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota Public Radio, Duluth New Tribune and Muninetworks. Some seem worried about the information; others seem worried about the impact of the scandal.

It seems that all municpal networks have had to overcome barriers – either in the courtroom (as was the case in Monticello) or battle for pubic opionion (as appeared to be the case in North St Paul). With any luck this will help the folks in Lake County rally. I also hope that it will encourage transparency for the Lake County project.