Fort Collins starts hiring process for broadband leadership

Fort Collins officials hope to have leadership for its city broadband utility hired around the beginning of summer.

A recruiter was brought on Jan. 26 to start looking for four top leadership positions for the developing utility: broadband director, network manager, marketing manager and outside plant supervisor. Officials have also started issuing requests for proposals for several aspects of the utility, with more to come.

City officials also presented a suggested governing structure for the utility: City Council would set policy, while city staff would oversee operations. Several council members at Tuesday's work session also suggested creating a citizen advisory board, where guidance is given to staff but no formal votes are taken.

Under that structure, the advisory board would give input to the City Council, though the council would have the ultimate say on setting policy on things like net neutrality and low-income pricing.

Opinion: Fort Collins starts mapping residents' interest in broadband

"Some of this is a tricky business we haven't been involved in yet," council member Kristin Stephens said in supporting the advisory board. "To have some kind of community expertise could be helpful."

Mayor Wade Troxell added that an advisory board could help get the community on the same page about the utility and what the policy conversations are like. He noted that terms like "net neutrality" can be politically loaded, but the broader conversation is still needed.

The city's timeline still has the beginning of construction months away and no planned customers until the second half of 2019. The council recently approved using $1.8 million in general funds as a seed fund for the utility that should be paid back via the $132 million bond to be issued in coming months.

More than 57 percent Fort Collins voters supported adding broadband to city utilities in the November election.

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