HOLYOKE – The City Council has tabled a ballot question that would gauge voters’ interest for residential high-speed internet service with Holyoke Gas and Electric as the provider.

A citizens’ petition drove the initiative, which gained the recommendation of the council’s Charter and Rules Committee. The question, if approved, would appear on the Nov. 5 municipal ballot.

Ward 2 Councilor Terence Murphy, who chairs the committee, on Tuesday night noted that the ballot question is nonbinding and has no legal enforcement.

Councilor David Bartley said James Lavelle, HG&E’s general manager, opposed the ballot question. He asked the council to table the motion followed by a City Law Department.

City Clerk Brenna McGee concurred with Bartley’s assessment. She also asked for a legal review, particularly how the question was constructed and the language used.

James Leahy said a citizens’ petition should hold more than a few dozen signatures for a question to appear on a ballot.

Residents who attended last week’s committee meeting, including Laura Clampitt, a Locust Street resident, said HG&E should conduct a feasibility study on a slow roll out high-speed internet for residents.

The petition also called for the council to review the study’s findings by April 2022 or earlier.

HG&E offers a commercial version on its fiber-optic network, which also serves the Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center. The east-to-west network runs the length of the state, which includes a branch for Holyoke.

Comcast is the city’s sole internet provider. The cable giant signed a 10-year agreement with the City of Holyoke in 2014.

Lavelle said a residential rollout would cost upward to $30 million. He told the committee HG&E currently does not have the funding for a residential buildout.

“We have been, for the last several months, looking at a gradual build out to see if that would be viable,” Lavelle said. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”

Lavelle cited that HG&E spent $75 million in the past five years upgrading hydroelectric generating plants and substations, which left little funding to expand the high-speed network for residential use.

Councilors Joseph M. McGiverin and Jossie Valentin were not in attendance.