08-08-2011 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, August 8, 2011 7:00 o'clock p.m. - (3. LMCC PRESENTATION, Continued) attempting to diminish the facts by stating this is not taxpayer money when it is taxpayer money. Jabbour stated it is more than likely that the City will be asked to bond for this project. Franchot stated the next stage of the project is the stage the LMCC needs to do to see if this is a sensible project, which is to create a business plan, determine the financial requirements of the project, and describe what would be needed and what the demand is. If the demand is not there, then it should not be pursued. McMillan commented there is an enormous amount of unknowns in this project and that the local City Councils are discussing whether they should go down this path of spending money on a study that may demonstrate the project is not feasible. McMillan commented other city councils are very concerned that the taxpayers might be on the hook for these bonds and that another bigger point being discussed is whether the LMCC should be spending money on studies. The cost of the business plan is $50,000 and bonding would be $90,000. The LMCC is talking about $150,000 being spent in the next year on studies for a fiber optic network project that may not be viable. McMillan stated there is a lot of concern about whether this is a path cities should pursue and that in her view the local city councils should vote on this. The LMCC has completed the market study and she did.not see anything that came out of the market study that says they should be rushing ahead to do this project. Franchot noted the market study found that 77 percent of the population would be interested in purchasing from a public system. McMillan pointed out the survey did not ask whether the citizens would be interested if taxpayer money would be on the line, which should have been asked. McMillan stated the question is whether the City wants to go down the path of funding a high risk and expensive build -out of a fiber optic system versus the private sector. Franchot stated 61 percent of the citizens said they thought it would be fine if the public were involved. Rahn commented that anyone who reads a survey can have major differences of opinion based on how they read it. The City Council is up here for the public and that what he gleaned from the survey was that they would only be in favor of it if it was a cost saving measure; and that if it wasn't going to save them money, they were not interested in it. Rahn stated he sees this as more of a private enterprise type of venture and that if it was possible that someone could make money at it, someone would have done it. Rahn stated in his view the risks of the project were not fully explained. Printup asked how many Orono residents were surveyed. Franchot indicated approximately 143 residents. Printup stated the City's responsibility is largely public safety and infrastructure, and that in his view the fiber optic project does not fits into that governmental role. Page 5 of 21