CEDAR KEY WATER AND SEWER BOARD TALKS HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND INTERNET
September 30, 2020
The Cedar Key Water and Sewer Board met this Tuesday, September 29, 2020, at the Community Center at 5 pm and discussed Chiefland-based Wifiber Corporation’s offer to provide the island with high speed broadband Internet service.
Present were Chair Steve Rosenthal, board members Joe Hand and Dottie Haldeman, and General Manger John McPherson. In the audience were Michael Johns and two Wifiber colleagues, Dianna and Steve Priessman, Mr. and Mrs. Childers, and Mandy and Frank Offerle.
WIFIBER CORPORATION, HIGH-SPEED BROADBBAND INTERNET
At its regular meeting on Monday, February 10, 2020, the Cedar Key Water and Sewer District Board began discussion with WiFiber Corporation President Michael Johns regarding the possibility of providing high-speed broadband Internet services to the island.
At that time, Johns explained that he could deliver reliable wireless high-speed internet to Cedar Key by beaming the signal from Chiefland and said he would prove that it would work by testing it here in Cedar Key and absorbing the costs of the equipment installation and the testing.
With the approval of the CKWSD and true to his word, through COVID-19 interruptions, Johns installed antennae and receivers atop the water tower and conducted successful testing over approximately a month. Initially discussed was the concept of trade for service, in which Wifiber Corporation would provide service for the Cedar Key City Hall offices the Library, and the CKWSD facilities instead of renting space on the tower. This arrangement currently occurs successfully in Fanning Springs with Wifiber.
This evening, September 29, 2020, the contract was discussed. The trade for service concept was negated by the concern of CKWSD General Manager John McPherson’s concern that, as custodian of the public entity, he could not simply allow a private entity to use the public tower; a contract/lease would be necessary.
To aid understanding of how to arrive at a rate, resident Steve Priessman distributed an informative booklet to each CKWSD member present detailing submissions by Wifiber and a suggested lease agreement written by the CKWSD. Priessman spoke to the issue of how lease agreements such as these arrived at rates, explaining the differences among larger companies, such as Verizon, NexTower, and Crown Castle Corporation differ from smaller carriers such as Wifiber Corporation.
1. Wifiber’s willingness to install its equipment and test the signal and service free of charge to the City of Cedar Key, the Library, and the Water District.
2. The Water District’s and Wifiber’s commitment to the citizenry’s ability to receive reliable high-speed broadband Internet service.
3. The fact that, after many discussions and many years, no other company has offered to come to Cedar Key, much less install equipment and test at its own expense.
4. Both Wifiber’s and the CKWSD’s desire to make an agreement happen.
1. Chair Rosenthal committed that he and his fellow board members, present and absent, would study Priessman’s booklet.
2. McPherson and Wifiber’s Michael Johns would finalize a lease agreement at a rate lower than the one CKWSD presented this evening, possibly incrementally increasing the rate depending upon Wifiber’s customer base in Cedar Key.
3. The intent to finalize this agreement at the CKWSD next board meeting in two weeks.
