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SERGEANT NAMED | Scott Taylor promoted to Orcas and Lopez sergeant position [2] COMMENTARY | Letters to the editor [4&5] ARTS | Concerts, classes and more coming soon [13-15]
SOUNDER THE ISLANDS’
Serving Orcas, Lopez and San Juan County
www.islandssounder.com
WEDNESDAY, January 30, 2013 • VOL. 46, NO. 5 • 75¢
Dawn of a new era
OPALCO on the cusp of launching Broadband Initiative; community to decide whether phase one begins or not by CALI BAGBY Staff reporter
PUTTING IT TOGETHER Final look at the primary election by COLLEEN SMITH ARMSTRONG Editor/Publisher
It's all about to change and it’s up to county voters. With the Charter Review changes now in effect, the council will consist of three members – one from each district. Before those candidates are chosen, there is a primary and a general election. Each member of the three-person council will be paid an annual salary of $75,000 plus benefits. The primary is on Feb. 12 and ballots are out now. There are six candidates total: Greg Ayers, Lisa Byers and Councilman Rick Hughes from Orcas and Councilmen Bob Jarman, Marc Forlenza and former Councilwoman Lovel Pratt from San Juan. All voters, on all islands, will cast their ballot for these six candidates. Two from Orcas (District 2) and two from San Juan (District 3) will go on to the general election on April 23. Councilman Jamie Stephens and Brian McClerren are vying for the seat from Lopez, which is part of District 3, along with Shaw and surrounding outer islands, in the general election. Two weeks later, on May 7, the April election would be certified, and the new council members would take office the following Monday, May 13. At that time, the terms of the six sitting council members would end.
Candidate bios District 1, San Juan and surrounding islands
Marc Forlenza
Economic development and job growth top Friday Harbor businessman Marc Forlenza's list of priorities. He intends to meet with business leaders locally and in Seattle, and with representatives of state government, as a means to help create new economic opportunities in the islands. He supports expansion of the broadband initiative (see story at right) to foster new educational and telecommuting opportunities. Part-owner and manager of the Technology Center on Mullis Street, Forlenza claimed a seat on the county council in the November election, defeating two-term incumbent Howie Rosenfeld by 99 votes. In the race against Rosenfeld, Forlenza opposed the Charter Review Commission's proposed changes to the charter, Propositions 1-3, and along the way drew the endorsement of Local 1849, the largest labor union of county employees. His campaign website is www.campaignforlenza.com.
SEE ELECTIONS, PAGE 6
The future of OPALCO’s Broadband Initiative to bring high-speed Internet to the islands is in the hands of the co-op’s members. OPALCO’s Board of Directors has the power to make the decision of whether or not to move forward with the initiative, but they have decided to hand over that choice to the people. “The resulting system would be owned by the membership, just as the membership owns the electrical system, thus all members would contribute to buildings that we will own,” said said J. Foster Hildreth, OPALCO’s assistant general manager, in a recent letter to co-op members. “The monthly broadband subscription fees would cover the cost of operating the system and thus would be borne only by those who use it. For that reason, we are leaving the decision about whether or not to build the system to our members.” If about half of OPALCO members support the plan by making a “pre-subscription commitment” then the board will move forward. In order to help people reach this decision, OPALCO is launching a six- to nine-month member engagement effort to explain the plan, get input and measure response. Suzanne Olson, communication specialist for OPALCO, said that people should be able to “presubscribe” or say no thank you on the co-op’s website in about a month. “The benefits are not just broadband – that’s just the frosting,” said Olson. She said the main advantages are system reliability, public safety communication and the potential improvement of cell phone signals.
Background Three years ago, the San Juan
County Economic Development Council and the San Juan Island Community Foundation took on the task of researching what improved broadband speeds could do for the economy and community. An OPALCO member survey in the fall of 2011 showed broad support in the islands. OPALCO’s plan is to expand broadband access to members – reaching up to 90 percent of San Juan County with a minimum speed of 10 megabytes per second. The recently published document “OPALCO Broadband Study Summary Findings” addresses data communication needs for operating the electric distribution system, the communication needs of first responders and public safety personnel and explores possible co-location facilities to cellar providers. The proposed system would combine fiber in
SEE OPALCO, PAGE 5 more populated areas and wireless in less dense areas. Fiber-optic lines are strands advertising: ofDisplay optically pure glass that carry Friday at noon digital information over long distances. The fiber network needs to Classified advertising: be expanded andatpoles installed to Monday noon carry the wireless signal between Legal according advertising: islands, to OPALCO. OPALCO fiber-optic Thursdayhas at noon “trunk” lines, mainly running Press releases, underground theLetters: islands, in its Friday at 3 p.m. service territory of San Juan, Orcas, Lopez, Shaw, Decatur and Blakely. OPALCO staff estimates that it Office: 376-4500 will cost $34 million to build the Fax: 376-4501 system, which will be funded by a loan from the U.S. Department of Advertising: advertising@ Agriculture Rural Utilities Service. islandssounder.com Subscribers would pay a monthlyClassified: fee of $151-800-388-2527, for building infrastructure and an additional $75 a classifieds@ month for a subscription to cover soundpublishing.com operating costs. Editor: But if editor@ you aren’t in favor of islandssounder.com broadband, Olson said that mem-
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