Iowa City Will Not Publicly Share Broadband Report Until May

(TNS) — Waterloo, Iowa, does not plan to publicly release its broadband study for taxpayers to review until May at the earliest, said  Andrew Van Fleet , chairman for the Telecommunications Utility board of trustees.

The announcement came at the board's Wednesday meeting. Van Fleet said the study remains in "draft" form. City officials are meeting with advisers to learn about infrastructure, financial and legal considerations for a city-owned broadband system. The system would provide high-speed internet, phone services and cable television services to local customers.

Officials will review engineering plans for the project in February and will bring them to the City Council, Van Fleet said. The city will have a financing proposal for the fiber installation of the system in March. In April, officials will work with legal and financial advisers to prepare the study for public release.

Van Fleet said the study should be publicly released and brought to the council for final approval in May or June.

City officials began privately reviewing the study in October, when they met in closed session with the consultant, Magellan Advisors of Denver, Colorado. The city commissioned the study about a year ago.

The Courier requested the study be publicly released, but was twice denied access to the study. The Iowa Public Information Board is reviewing the city's denial of the request at a Thursday meeting.

The city cited parts of Iowa code that allow documents to remain confidential if they are not finalized. The same section of the code says the exception does not apply to records that will be "used in the formulation, recommendation, adoption, or execution of any official policy or action by a public official authorized to make such decisions for the governmental body or the government body."

The city says another part of Iowa code protects utility records from being released that include customer information, marketing and pricing strategies or cost data.

The city's legal department previously said it worried publicly releasing the study would hurt Waterloo's competition with Mediacom, a major service provider.

"This process could be a little bit slower than some of us like, but we want to make sure that everything is done right," Mayor  Quentin Hart  said Wednesday. "But we also want to make sure that we all understand that this whole project — this movement — is more than just competing with those that may provide some level of service."

Hart said he wants the city to move toward becoming a "smart city." That includes implementing technology that allows agencies and officials to collect data about city systems. It would also allow the city to become more interconnected, allowing people to communicate more easily with one another.

"It's more than just providing potential internet service," Hart said. "This is about changing the way that this city does businesses for now and the future."

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