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Residents press Carlin council on broadband access, housing shortages and alley maintenance
Summary
Residents raised broadband enrollment and costs, housing availability for a prospective manager, alley maintenance, and concerns about rising utility bills; Council reported library fiber installation, median-income survey results for grant eligibility, NDOT outreach and code-enforcement activity.
Residents used public-comment time and agenda discussion on Oct. 25 to press the City Council on several local quality-of-life issues.
Broadband: Mayor Dana Holbrook and Councilmembers described a recent Governor's Office ribbon-cutting for fiber installed at the Carlin library and identified Eccelerate (with SATVIEW mentioned as the wider network) as the provider working from City Hall westward across town. Councilperson Cameron Kinney said residents can sign up at City Hall and pay a $50 setup fee; Kinney estimated a common consumer package (50 gigabits, coax to home rather than fiber-to-the-home) at roughly $49.99 per month but said full fiber-to-the-home is not yet available across Carlin.
Housing and staffing: During the city-manager interview, candidate Richard Braithwaite and Council discussed local rental scarcity. Braithwaite said he and his family would prefer to live in Carlin and would need a three-bedroom, two-bath property to relocate; Council members asked staff to consider moving assistance in any offer.
Code enforcement and alleys: Resident Caroline Carpenter pressed the Council about alley maintenance, nuisance vegetation and red-tagged travel trailers on private property. Vice Mayor Johnston said code-enforcement actions and citations have increased and encouraged residents to file complaints via the city website to trigger enforcement. Mayor Holbrook noted staff and code enforcement will investigate specific properties when complaints are filed.
Other: Councilmember Denise Taylor reported on an NDOT and Governor's Office economic development meeting she attended; NDOT officials expressed interest in supporting local projects such as ADA improvements and truck-stop development if the city helps coordinate contracting and right-of-way issues. Madison Aviles said the police department is drafting a report for the district attorney related to a train-stoppage incident.
Next steps: Council asked staff to continue outreach about broadband signups and to work on housing/transition details for the city manager hire. Code-enforcement follow-up was encouraged for alleys and properties with red-tagged trailers.
