Frontier offers to wire the town

CORNWALL — A proposal by Frontier Communications to wire every house and business in town with fiber optic cable was discussed at the Tuesday, April 5, meeting of the Board of Selectmen.

Michael Cicchetti, director of Government and External Affairs for Frontier, said Cornwall would be the first in the state to be completely wired by the company.

The cost to the town would be about $20 per unit per month for the first five years of service. For the next 10 years, the rate would drop to $10 per month per unit. All expenses would be paid through taxes to the town.

“The goal is to have every business and residential unit connected,” Cicchetti said. Each unit would be supplied with a wireless modem that supports a base level Internet service of 18 megabits per second.

Television and phone services from Frontier would be available for an additional cost.

The selectmen and about a half-dozen people in the audience agreed that 18 megabits per second is a faster Internet speed than what most Cornwall residents currently have.

The selectmen asked about multi-unit buildings: Would they count as a single $20 unit or would each unit within the building get billed separately?

Cicchetti said that this depends on the technology that is already existing within the dwelling. It is possible that a single modem could be distributed to multiple uses.

“It’s something we’re willing to discuss,” Cicchetti said.

“In other words, it’s negotiable,” added Brian Savin, a Cornwall resident who has been vocal in the town’s ongoing conversation with Frontier and other regional organizations such as NWCONNect (a group seeking to improve telecommunciations in the region) and the Northwest Hills Council of Governments (a group of first selectmen from 21 area towns).  

The board posed many questions that they felt still need to be resolved. If the wireless modems are inserted at curbs instead of in the houses themselves, Selectman Richard Bramley asked, will they effectively serve Cornwall’s many living units that have long driveways?

There was also concern that not everyone in Cornwall would feel the need to have their Internet access improved, and they would therefore be unhappy about an additional required monthly payment.

First Selectman Gordon Ridgway questioned whether the town could afford the project. He mentioned a recent state law that caps town budgets’ yearly increases at 2.5 percent. He said the law is more ambiguous than explicit, and he will need to check on its applicability to Cornwall and how it would impact the cost of the fiber optic installation.

“It’s a big decision for the town, and we hear and respect that,” Cicchetti said. “We want to work with you every step of the way.”

Several people attending the meeting had specific questions about the plan. Cicchetti did his best to answer them, and said repeatedly that Frontier wants to be transparent and informative throughout the process.

Savin said the Frontier proposal would be discussed at the Economic Development Commission’s meeting April 12 (after this week’s newspaper went to press).

The selectmen expressed a desire to hear from NWCONNect at their next regular meeting.

Residents of Cornwall were encouraged by the selectmen to join the conversation. Video recordings of the meetings are available  on the Cornwall website (www.cornwallct.org) under the tab “BOS meetings videos.”