Blandford and Westfield Gas & Electric officials hold “historic” kick off meeting to start the process for broadband connectivity to the town.
BLANDFORD – On Tuesday morning, members of Blandford’s Municipal Light Plant and Board of Selectmen met with Westfield Gas & Electric’s Whip City Fiber and Precision Valley Communication representatives to start plans for broadband connectivity in the town.
Peter Langmore, chair of the Blandford MLP said that Monday night, the selectmen had signed the $1,040,000 grant from the Baker-Polito Administration that would pay for 50% of the cost of the project. The total cost has a price tag of $2,295,000 million and will take 18 months to two years to complete, he said.
“It will come to the town in four payments. We’ll spend that down first,” Langmore said. He said the grant allows them to start the make ready work, and they have signed an intergovernmental agreement with Westfield G&E.
“This is a historic event for Blandford, one of the most historic ever. Besides the Water Plant, it’s the most money we’ve ever spent,” Langmore said at the start of the meeting.
Joseph Parda, project engineer for Whip City Fiber and Richard Carnall, senior fiber architect introduced Nick Sarnelli, field operations manager and Anthony Barbosa, quality control for Precision Valley Communication of Springfield, VT, who will begin this week doing the make ready work.
Carnall said what will happen next is that Sarnelli and Barbosa would start walking the streets taking pole measurements, span lengths and identifying the last pole to houses. They will also map out every address and every telephone pole for the entire community, and design what the network will look like.
“We are ready to start, and could have people here tomorrow,” Sarnelli said, adding, “We’re teed up and ready to go.” Carnall said they would let the police knew where they will be, so residents aren’t caught unaware. Langmore asked if they should alert residents that the work will begin through a Reverse 911 call. Parda said the town knows best how to communicate with residents. He said the vehicles would be identified as Whip City Fiber.
Parda asked whether there were any special circumstances or people that would have a problem with an unknown surveyor. Blandford MLP member June Massa said that Springfield Water was the only one that has created problems in the past. “They own a lot of land, and don’t allow any trespassing,” Dolby said.
Parda said the fiber would be laid out in a hub and spoke type of architecture, and from there tree and branch architecture. He and Carnall stressed that it’s important to lay fiber for every potential building or buildable parcel within the Blandford boundary, with an eye on future homes or connections. Parda said typically they recommend adding 20% additional fiber.
“A strand of fiber is $25 per mile. If you don’t have it, it becomes $30,000 per mile,” Carnall said, adding, “Anything you can anticipate, put in extra glass.”
The group also discussed laying fibers towards other towns for regional transportation rings, and also outlying areas such as the Water Plant, and structures on the borders of the town. Carnall said each individual “edge case” takes a while to evolve to a solution.
Another area of discussion was whether the town wanted a municipal network for town buildings and emergency responders separate from the residential network. “We would look at where are your buildings, and add fiber to connect buildings together,” Carnall said.
Dolby, who is in the Fire Department said the town has a dire need for First Responders network. “Right now, it’s a 50/50 shot if I get radio coverage. I think we need to plan to put that in,” he said.
“Precision Valley will paint the picture. It’s all about the path,” Parda said. He said that when Precision Valley is done with their mapping, they will come back to the group to see if they’re missing anything. “It’s the foundational basement. Everything gets built on that. We don’t want to miss a strand. That’s one of the most important parts,” he added.
Sarnelli said it would take three weeks to map out everything first. Pole surveys will come next, and take about four weeks. Pole applications to Verizon and Eversource take longer. “It’s a waiting game for the poles,” Carnall said. He said once everything is ready to go, they will build out quickly, one mile a day, starting next year.
Langmore asked whether the town could get help with publicity. Carnall said the town should let people know that Whip City Fiber mapping work will be done in the next few weeks. He said G&E has lawn signs for when they are hooking people up.
Langmore also said people don’t want to sign up. Carnall said that would be a part of the next process. He said some towns are working with Whip City Fiber directly, and some are going through WiredWest. Langmore said they hadn’t decided yet what they will do.
“A lot of towns don’t know what they’re going to do. We want to be as transparent as possible. We’re not going to force anybody’s hands,” Carnall said, adding that they are in the process of working on a contract with WiredWest to be the Internet Service Provider (ISP) for them, but it’s not done.
Sarnelli said he is ready, and just needs the go-ahead to start once the state signs the contract.
Following the meeting, Parda and Carnall were asked how working with the hilltowns impacts the progress of Whip City Fiber in Westfield. Parda said they are two independent projects. adding that everything goes out for procurement.
Carnall said it ultimately benefits Westfield customers through cost efficiencies, explaining that when WCF plunks down $150,000 for a router, they have the 6,000 Westfield Customers and the 6,000 customers in the towns to support the capital purchase. “The more people you have, the more efficient we get,” he said.
“It’s amazing for us. I’m super excited. I don’t know if we could come up with a more important project for the town,” Dolby said,
