It’s been fun to watch the Anoka County Fiber plan roll along. Last week, I learned from the Connect Anoka County Newsletter last week of a of the latest cities and anchor institutions that had signed on:

Member organizations that have approved the Connectivity Services Agreement:

Cities
Andover, Anoka, Bethel, Blaine, Centerville, Circle Pines, Columbia Heights, Columbus, Coon Rapids, East Bethel, Fridley, Ham Lake, Hilltop, Lexington, Lino Lakes, Linwood Township, Nowthen, Oak Grove, Ramsey, St. Francis

Other Organizations
PACT Charter School, Columbia Heights School District, Ramsey County, Spring Lake Park-Blaine-Mounds view Fire Department, Centennial Fire Department, North Metro Cable Commission, St. Francis School District.

This week the Coon Rapids Herald gave a little glimpse as what it takes to get each entity to sign on. (The quick reminder is that Anoka County and Zayo Bandwidth received ARRA-funding to construct an approximately 286 mile fiber network throughout Anoka County linking 145 governmental institutions.) The Herald reports that the Andover City Council recently approved the service agreement. They are planning to connect the city hall and the three fire stations. The monthly fee would be $75 per site or $300 total per month, according to the agreement.

This isn’t the first time Andover has thought about fiber…

[Andover City Administrator Jim] Dickinson said this is a bargain compared with what the city could have paid had it worked with the Anoka-Hennepin School District seven years ago.

The district in 2004 was planning to connect all its school buildings and the district office with fiber optic cable. Dickinson said it would have cost about $375,000 to extend the district’s fiber optic cable to city hall. Due to the high cost and the city’s study of a citywide wireless Internet plan, the council chose to decline the partnership with the district.

And not everyone is overwhelmingly positive. Councilmember Don Jacobson is concerned with potential loss of cable franchising fees, although Zayo is not providing video services. And some seemed unsold on the idea of public support for broadband…

Councilmember Sheri Bukkila said she has not been endeared to this project from the beginning because she does not feel enough time was spent deliberating this start-up program.

“We’re in something of a Catch-22 because like all grants, if you don’t accept it, it will go somewhere else,” Bukkila said. “The bottom line is this money is coming from the federal government that doesn’t have any money to begin with and yet we’re looking at expanding services to things that people can’t naturally afford.”

Others looked at it differently…

“To be able to get the benefit and not put that kind of outlay out there is just amazing to me,” Councilmember Julie Trude said, who also liked the fact that this service would be good for economic development….

Trude had a different point of view. She said this project would create jobs during construction, which is a positive. She also thinks it is fair for residents to see some benefit from all the federal taxes they pay.

But despite some reservations, the cities and anchor institutions are forging ahead and the service agreements keep rolling in.