Construction of new fiber optic lines should improve cell service in Gadsden

Gadsden residents should see improved cell service in the future through an agreement between the city and the country's largest shared communications infrastructure provider.

The City Council on March 5 granted Crown Castle a non-exclusive franchise to construct and maintain fiber optic transmission lines within the city's rights-of-way. The end result, hopefully, will be the elimination of coverage and capacity gaps throughout the city.

“This puts us in line for becoming a gig city,” Mayor Craig Ford said during discussion at the Feb. 27 pre-council work session.

That means residents having access to 1 gigabit-per-second fiber internet service. Chattanooga, Tennessee, became the first city in the Western Hemisphere to accomplish that in 2010; others have followed.

“This gets us prepared to be able to do that,” Ford said. “This is a big deal for infrastructure and industrial recruitment.”

Crown Castle will lease capacity on the lines to wireless carriers — it has national agreements with the major ones, according to Darryl Forster, the company's regional manager, who spoke at the Feb. 27 work session — and return 5% of the revenue to the city.

“It's a win/win for us, the city and the residents,” he said.

Forster said Crown Castle also has agreements with utility power pole owners, but as a certified utility itself can set up its own poles if needed. Any underground lines would be at a depth of roughly 3 feet.

The targeted coverage area, he said, would be parts of the city's main highways stretching down into Rainbow City.

In other action March 5, the council:

• Endorsed the city's first comprehensive plan in a half-century, which was prepared by Goodwyn Mills Cawood and adopted recently by the Planning Commission;

• Approved a one-year consulting agreement with Public Safety Consultants TE, owned by former Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin, to assist the city in recruiting and retaining police officers (the department is currently more than 30 officers below its full force);

• Approved a measure restructuring what it costs to establish garbage service in the city — currently that requires a deposit of two quarters' service, which is $120; it now will be an activation fee of $60 reflecting one month's service — and giving customers the option of a voluntary $1 per quarter donation to Gadsden City Schools.

• Authorized the purchase of a trailer costing $46,000 from Clayton Homes in Albertville to use as a temporary fire hall during construction of the new fire station at Noccalula Falls; that is expected to take roughly a year, and Clayton Homes has agreed to buy the trailer back at 90% of the price once the construction is finished;

• Authorized an agreement with Tillman Consulting for right-of-way acquisition for the upcoming Hickory Street Bridge replacement project.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: New fiber optic lines should improve cellphone service in Gadsden