Town Council Hears From Visionary Broadband

Visionary Broadband representative Brian Worthen met with the Whitehall Town Council at their January meeting on Monday, January 16 at the Whitehall Town Hall. For many, his information was an exciting new development of business opportunity for the Whitehall area. For the town, it was a bit of a headache in the form of legal processes, and for some local businesses, potential competition in the fiber internet realm.

Worthen detailed the federal grant he was awarded to put fiber internet throughout the town of Whitehall, information he had presented earlier last year to the Council as well when he was applying for the funds. Now that it has been awarded, Visionary Broadband, based out of Wyoming, will begin installing fiber in town limits. However, because the Town has no restrictions on using the right-of-ways, a discussion about how to handle this situation now - and for the future - was had.

Town Attorney Ed Guza noted that the town lacks structure, codes, and ordinances when it comes to right-of-way use, adding that current use has been a bit of “Wild West” in agreements made with a handshake and a smile. Guza added that a franchise agreement needs to be looked at, and then implemented across the board, to protect the Town now and in the future. He also noted that many franchise agreements like these require companies to return a portion of their profits to the Town. Currently, no one utilizing the right-of-ways pays the Town for their use.

Telesystems Services owner Lee Good disagreed that right-of-way usage has been “willy nilly” and expressed a need for the Town to involve his business in the decisions being made, and not just catering to an out-of-town company.

Joel Andrews, owner of MT Web, noted that what Visionary was looking for - ordinances and codes to cover themselves and the Town for future business - is necessary to ensure quality of service and standards of service - specifically depths of fiber digs, etc.

The Council voted to approve a temporary permit for Visionary for them to begin engineering, all the while the Town will look into ordinances and codes to provide fair right-0f-way use to all who wish to utilize it.

PERMIT APPROVALS

• Bridget Morse - storage container, Jeff Janacaro - storage container, and Amanda Kunz - storage container.

APPOINTMENTS:

• Colton Howser was appointed as Fire Chief as former Chief Joe Granvold has retired. New Assistant Fire Cheif Brad McDuff addressed the Town Council, ensuring that the Fire Department will be working towards better communication with the Council in 2024, and reported over 200 calls for the 2023 year.

• Wes Myhre was appointed to the Whitehall Planning Board, replacing Rebecca Robinson.

OTHER NEWS:

• The Town has a new website (www.townofwhitehallmt.com) to check out; the Town Hall has also been reconfigured to better suit meetings.

• The Council accepted the recommendation from Triple Tree Engineering for the water treatment plant bid from Hard Rock Road Building and Utilities in Helena for $8,662,771.38. Town Clerk Kennedy Kleinsasser reminded the audience that since the Town is under DEQ enforcement for this project, this is a “have-to project, not a fun project.” She also noted that though most of it is grant-funded, there will be loans needed.

• The next Whitehall Town Council meeting will be held Tuesday, February 20th at 7 PM in the Town Hall chambers.