Glasgow council gets EPB report

By JAMES BROWN
Glasgow News 1

The most discussed topic at the July 8 Glasgow Common Council meeting was not an actionable item.

Dave Puskala, superintendent for the Glasgow Electric Plant Board, gave his annual presentation and some of the items in the packet Puskala provided to council members sparked questions.

The electric power supplier for the city also provides television cable and internet services. As part of the latter services, the Glasgow EPB is in the midst of a switch from coaxial delivery to fiber optic delivery.

Puskala said that Phase 1 of the fiber to home project is complete. The area is in southwest Glasgow, “… mostly south of Cleveland (Avenue) and west of the 31-bypass. We have close to 800 customers…, so that’s 73 percent penetration rate.”

“We were going to do this in four phases, but as we got into Phase 2… it was time to take what we learned in Phase 1 and just build the backbone throughout the rest of the city,” he said. “So we went from calling it Phase 2 to Phase X.”

Puskala explained that Phase X is set to build the backbone and arteries “to the rest of our electric meters, and that will probably be done by the end of the year. Splicing has to follow that and then we have to install drops to every house…, we are hoping to have most of the city able to get fiber to home, if they want it, by the end of 2025.”

“We connected our first customer to Phase X on Friday…, and it was the [Glasgow Municipal] airport,” he said.

The superintendent explained the objective is to have fiber optic connection to all Glasgow EPB electric customers, then they will examine whether to expand fiber optic beyond the city.

Council member Joe Trigg asked Puskala if the move to fiber generates the potential for the EPB to gain broadband customers.

“Once Phase 1 was complete, we’ve added, I think, 10 or 11 new customers that came over from another provider,” Puskala said.

Council member Marna Kirkpatrick asked about the decline in cable and broadband subscribers with the EPB.

Puskala explained the cable decline is a national trend as more television watchers chose to utilize streaming services. The broadband decline has been ongoing since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said many people who had to work from home, or who had children who did school work from home, have no longer had the same need for internet service since the end of the pandemic.

Prior to the EPB report, the council members voted to amend the agenda and to include an item pertaining to Park City becoming a voting member of the Barren County Economic Authority. The council approved amending the interlocal agreement that designates the dues paying — and thereby the voting — members of the economic authority. The city of Glasgow, Barren County and the city of Cave City are present members of the authority. The Glasgow council approved amending the agreement to allow the city of Park City to join the authority. The other members must also vote to amend the interlocal agreement.

The council also unanimously passed municipal order No. 2024, which enacts and adopts a supplement to the city’s code of ordinances.

“This is our standard municipal order we adopt from time to time enacting the supplement to our code of ordinances,” said city attorney Rich Alexander prior to the vote.

The next scheduled council meeting is July 22 at 6 p.m.