I was initially alarmed to see Corey Wilson’s recent letter “Readfield broadband plan goes against will of voters”, where he suggested that “town officials are considering using it to ram through a municipal broadband initiative once again.” That didn’t match my understanding of things. So I checked the draft of the Comprehensive Plan.
The current plan has six mentions of “internet” and five of “broadband.” It accurately calls out that many in our community still struggle with “poor and costly” internet service, a reality which was affirmed by a town vote to explore options to solve this issue. That vote led to formation of the Broadband Committee, which proposed the municipal-owned fiber-based system, which was defeated last fall.
Nowhere in the current draft will you find a “blatant disregard” of the voters and suggestion that we spend “millions of town funds” to solve this issue. What does it say? That this issue remains one which should be addressed — the lack of quality internet access hampers business development and makes our community less desirable for the growing legion of “work from home” professionals which Maine is attracting. There are many ways to potentially solve this issue — negotiations with our existing provider, partnerships with other providers — which won’t run into the millions of dollars Wilson fears are once again on the table for discussion.
A comprehensive plan defines a vision and set of goals for the community. I for one am grateful that our town leaders are keeping an eye on this critical need as they envision the future for Readfield.
Rocko Graziano
Readfield
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