Burlington Council Takes Next Step in Providing Internet Service to More Rural Residents During Special Meeting

At a special meeting on Aug. 10, Burlington City Council voted unanimously to have the City enter into a municipal access agreement with Internet Access Solutions to help more residents in rural Burlington get access to Internet services.In the summer of 2021, Internet Access Solutions was awarded the Universal Broadband Fund project in the North Burlington area. This project is to provide high-speed Internet services to rural and remote communities.We've seen Internet access become as important a piece of infrastructure as water and heat, particularly in the last year and a half of this pandemic. I want to thank my Council colleagues for coming together quickly for this special council meeting to get this going. This municipal access agreement gets the rural broadband project in Burlington up and running almost a month and a half sooner than waiting to the September committee/council cycle of meetings.Council approved the following staff recommendation:

That staff be authorized and directed to negotiate and that the Mayor and Clerk be authorized and directed to enter into, on behalf of the City of Burlington, a Municipal Access Agreement with Internet Access Solutions, in a form satisfactory to the Executive Director of Legal Services & Corporation Counsel and with content satisfactory to the Director of Engineering Services.

You can read the full staff report with additional background here: ES-43-21 Internet Access Solutions MAA.-- Mayor Marianne Meed Ward