BOS talks about ways to help businesses

SHARON — The beginning stages of plans for increased broadband and high speed Internet in town were discussed at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 13. 

Bob Riva, a Salisbury resident and chairman of the Comcast Advisory Council (CAC), opened the meeting with an update of the group’s current activities. The council, which meets six times a year, acts as a liaison between the Northwest Corner community and Comcast and feeds issues and concerns to the company and helps facilitate resolutions. It receives roughly $1,600 to $2,000 worth of funding each year from Comcast.

Riva explained that recently they have begun having discussions about Internet “dead zones” in Sharon and several other towns in the Northwest Corner. Riva said he strongly believes the backbone of growth within the area will come from broadband and high speed Internet. 

Dead zones are especially apparent in Sharon, Salisbury and Norfolk, but they exist all over the Northwest Corner.

Riva said that the current system Comcast works with for their broadband and high speed Internet is great. The problem, he explained, is getting the company to spend the money to cover the “dead spots.” Riva, who is a real estate agent, said that he recently sold a house in Norfolk that was in a “dead spot.” Comcast told the homeowners it would cost $59,000 to have the proper cabling installed to run service to the area.

Discussions regarding the first steps toward resolving the problem are at the top of the agenda for the council as they begin their meetings in 2015. 

Riva suggested the possibility of approaching state legislators to develop a plan of attack. 

Another potential avenue is to look into a program, CT Gig, that is currently being used by roughly 46 towns to the south of Sharon. It is a high-speed gigabyte broadband system. More research into the program is needed.

Selectman Dale Jones suggested that the council look into how many miles of dead spots are in the area and then compare this to how many miles of new cable Comcast is required by the state to lay down each year, and possibly use that angle to put a little pressure on the company to fix the problem.

Also at the meeting, First Selectman Brent Colley gave a report on resources that have been recently provided to the town’s Economic Development Committee (EDC)  by the Northwest Hills Council Of Governments (COG). The COG is made up of the first selectmen from 21 area towns.

 Colley outlined three options the committee now has available to them free of charge.

The first is the use of a consulting group out of Hartford. The  committee could discuss ideas for supporting existing businesses, creating jobs and filling vacant commercial spaces, and ideas to increase economic activity while maintaining the old-fashioned, rural character of the town.

The second resource is the use of career workforce training services. The services would specifically focus on workforce development, higher education and employer training, which were identified as key issues for northwest Connecticut.

The third resource provided was the use of Jason Giulietti, a marketing and grant writing consultant. The EDC can use the services of Giulietti until June 2015.

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