FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — Town officials are looking to gather information from community members on the speed and capabilities of their current broadband internet connections in hopes of bringing the town toward complete broadband coverage.
During the most recent town council meeting on Wednesday, councilors heard from Mark VanLoan, a network engineer from national broadband consulting firm Mission Broadband, on the work he and colleague John Doughtery, who was not present for the meeting, have done to help Fort Fairfield look at broadband options.
“We focus our work on helping municipalities consider how they might expand broadband infrastructure,” VanLoan said. “Right now [with Fort Fairfield] we are in the early stages of this process and are putting out a community survey.”
Town manager Andrea Powers said that the survey will be available online on the Fort Fairfield town website and Facebook page and in hardcopy format at the town office and public library. Once individuals complete short surveys, they will have the option of completing longer surveys with additional questions.
Survey questions will focus on individuals’ experiences with broadband internet connectivity and related concerns.
Powers noted that in November 2019, she and town councilors began hearing increased concerns from community members about the slow speed and often poor broadband internet connection. Working with Mission Broadband has allowed the town to initiate more conversations and understand more about how internet speed can be negatively affecting residents.
“A lot of people are seeing broadband speeds of only two to three megabits per second when they should have 20 megabits per second,” Powers said.
Ideally, VanLoan said, a survey response rate of at least 50 percent or more from town residents is needed in order to understand the full range of issues with local broadband connections.
The survey will begin on Monday and be available to community members for three weeks. Sometime before the survey ends, VanLoan and Doughtery will conduct in-person conversations with business owners to gather information on how greater broadband internet connectivity could benefit them.
After the survey period ends, the town will seek proposals from local internet providers, one of which they will choose to partner with to ensure high-speed broadband access to all 72 square miles of the town’s region.
As the state works toward expanding broadband to rural regions, Powers said that having guaranteed broadband would put Fort Fairfield at an economic advantage moving forward.
“Community broadband helps people be able to work from home or take online classes and encourages families and businesses to move to certain areas,” Powers said. “It would bring about more possibilities for our town, including telecommunication and telehealth services.”
In other business, Powers gave councilors an update on Fort Fairfield’s new combined fire and EMS department. Fire and EMS chief Vince Baldwin and deputy chief Timothy Browning have begun the first round of interviews for firefighter/EMT positions and are working with the Frenchville-based company Autotronics to have two Type III ambulances delivered in early April.
The next town council meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 18.
