Town council report: fiber, broadband and new municipal software approved; five-year broadband contract signed

Commissioners reported that the town council approved two items intended to upgrade municipal technology: a townwide software procurement and a five-year broadband contract that includes a fiber ring to town hall and the wastewater treatment plant, upgrades to public Wi‑Fi at parks and a dedicated bandwidth allocation for amphitheater acts. A commission member reported that council approved “Noble Solutions,” a software package designed to consolidate town operations on a single platform. The council also approved a broadband contract (reported as “Bridal Us Down Broadband” in the transcript) and is partnering with Astound for some services; the broadband contract includes a five-year, price‑locked term and an additional recurring cost reported at about $128 per month for the enhanced dedicated services. The broadband work will upgrade internet connectivity across municipal facilities, add dedicated lines for critical services, and provide a dedicated portion of bandwidth for performers at the amphitheater while preserving public Wi‑Fi access for park users. The commission member said the decision followed a multi-vendor review and a recent outage during an ice storm that left municipal internet down for nearly four days; that outage motivated the council to pursue more resilient and dedicated connectivity for municipal operations. Council also plans phone-system upgrades and broader connectivity improvements at municipal buildings; the transcript noted some copper lines will be retained for backbone functions. The council’s actions were described as approved at its meeting; no details about contract amounts beyond the recurring monthly premium were provided in the commission record.