On the surface this is a bill about Scandia – one of the few places in the Twin Cities and certainly in Washington County without broadband. On a broader level, it’s a creative way for a community to provide services (such as broadband) to parts of their community and to only charge the users of that service – through a Subordinate Service Districts. You can learn more about them on the MN Legislature site.

Brief notes and handouts from the meeting:

Scandia – Washington County is 98 percent served. Scandia residents make up most of the remaining 2 percent. The city has looked at options. We surveyed user and it’s one of our major users. FTTH is estimated at $13 million. The residents will have to pay for a portion of this cost.

If we bond we have to charge everyone and that wouldn’t be fair to those who have access already. So we want to create a subordinate service

25 percent of homeowners need to sign on to establish the

Move to general register.