First, thank you to everyone who engaged with last week’s post. It was amazing to see so many people jump into this issue and start discussing if, how, and/or when deploying and building our own 5G system could make sense for our community.
Coming off that article, there were some great questions posed by community members and I wanted to take a moment to respond to them below. If you question did not get answered or you thought of a new question due to this follow up, please comment on this post, or email me [email protected], and I will make every effort to respond.
1) Why Not Focus on Streets and Sidewalks First? (Or similar statements)
Without question, there is a ton of work that needs to be done on our street level infrastructure. However, there are two realities holding that back: money and time. Every year, the borough fixes as many roads as possible based on the budget and the number of weeks we can accomplish work on those roadways. Over the last five years, we have repaired and rebuilt significant portions of our street infrastructure and will continue to do so until we have properly repaired our roadways.
However, there is always more infrastructure projects than there is money to finance them. One of the challenges the borough faces today is that our population growth has outpaced our tax income, resulting in tax increases to keep up and expand infrastructure redevelopment. It is not sustainable, or reasonable, to increase taxes every year to fund more road repair. Instead, we need to build out other service offerings that will help supplement tax income while also delivering value to residents. By building a 5G service, we can use the revenue to improve our community by fixing roads, building parks, and further funding our police department.
This is a critical point: most residents already budget for internet services, but instead of that money going back into your community, it goes to Verizon and Comcast for their profits. Just like with our electric department, every dollar someone spends on Lansdale 5G would go back to either providing them better service or improving Lansdale as a community.
2) Who Would Maintain the System?
Lansdale, as a community, would be responsible for managing and maintaining our own infrastructure. This is not a new concept for us, as we currently maintain our entire electric system on our own without too much outside help. Lansdale Electric is our best model for the development of this program. It is a service offering that everyone uses, everyone values, and residents can be better serviced by managing it locally. It checks all the boxes we are looking for and, fortunately for us, we have an existing structure that will allow us to be more successful out the gate.
Critically, we would need to set aside some of the revenue to manage and maintain our 5G infrastructure. We would need to research the right percentage to ensure we are covering those costs. In my article last week, I suggested 25%, which is a standard number for many organizations each year when they look at upgrading their investments. While not scientific, it is a place to begin.
3) Contracting and Service Agreements?
This is a little bit of a grey area right now. We would certainly need to do a lot of investigation and discussion with the public on how to best develop service agreements with residents. Unlike electric, this would not be a mandatory adoption for every home. They would need to choose Lansdale 5G as their service provider. Most 5G contracts are for a year, with some extending as long as three years. In a municipal system built on the back of a loan, it would be more advantageous for us to have longer term contracts. However, I think we would need to make sure contracts are managed in a way that is simple and straightforward for it to be a viable option.
4) How to Appeal to Businesses and Non-Residents?
I believe that offering a 5G service would intrigue and entice businesses to continue to move to our community. More companies than ever operate online ranging from online retail to employees remote working to hybrid in-person/online services. Having a municipality tied into their world, speaking their language, would be of value to anyone operating from a digital first perspective.
Sadly, the one thing we would not be able to do is provide service outside the borough area. We would be limiting service to the Borough of Lansdale and would be dedicated entirely to supporting the borough.
These were just a few of the most common questions, I am always happy to discuss this topic more in-depth with anyone looking to explore it!
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert. The views expressed are his own.)
See also:
Mayoral Musings: Municipal 5G is Lansdale’s Way Forward
Mayoral Musings: 2023 Budget Discussion
Mayoral Musings: Remember to Vote on Nov. 8
Mayoral Musings: Commercialized EV Charging
Mayoral Musings: Lansdale Ballot Drop Box Opens This Weekend
