Learn BEFORE you vote. (Not an official website of American Fork City.)

Month: July 2019

Fiber for American Fork, Part 1: What’s Proposed

(And Who Am I to Write About It?)

American Fork, Utah, is considering establishing fiber optic service to every residence and business in the city as a public utility, as permitted by Utah Code 10-8-14. Here we’ll discuss the proposal itself, and I’ll tell you how I learned enough to write about it. (Teaser: I got a head start.) Later posts will address specific issues in more detail and attempt to answer related questions.

This proposal will not be a measure on the November ballot, though candidates may make it an issue in the 2019 municipal election. The city council will hold a preliminary vote, probably in mid-August, to put some things in place for a final city council vote in mid-November.

The August vote will not be whether to build the system or not. The November vote is the big one.

In the meantime, several public information meetings will be held — one already has been — to explain the proposal and answer questions (of which more soon).

The Fiber Proposal

Under the proposal, each residence in the city will pay a monthly fee as part of its utility bill. No additional fee will be required for basic service. The numbers in discussions I’ve attended have ranged from about $9.00 per month to about $12.00 per month for each residence. Flyers at the first public information meeting said $9.95 per month, but that’s still tentative.

Each business will also have a monthly fee, again on the City utility bill. The same flyers at the same meeting projected that at $19.95.

The current plan involves no installation or setup fee.

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2019 American Fork City Council Candidates

There are six American Fork City Council candidates in the 2019 election, running for three seats. Terms are four years.

Since there’s no need for a primary election to narrow the field to two candidates per available seat, we’ll have only the general election on Tuesday, November 5. So even though the filing period closed four weeks ago, we haven’t seen much election activity. Things will probably heat up around Labor Day, unless a certain new issue gets more traction with candidates before then.

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