Huron County councillors want some answers before they put any more money into the South West Integrated Fibre Technology project.
The Western Warden's Caucus has initiated the project to bring broadband internet service to rural communities in Southwestern Ontario.
Huron County CAO Brenda Orchard explains so far hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on consultants. Each county has been told how much they would have to pay to participate in the project, but Huron has now been asked to pay a $20,000 advance without seeing a business plan and before council is ready to commit to the project.
Orchard points out that Huron County is already well ahead of most of the other counties in providing broadband service so one concern is at what point would there actually be work done in Huron and would Huron have to wait until the other counties catch up.
Another concern is that local service providers have done an excellent job of providing service in Huron County and council wants to have some control over the money they've put into the project so that local providers do the work in Huron.
Orchard has been asked to send a letter to SWIFT requesting a full accounting of the money spent to date before Huron contributes any more money or commits to the project.
Orchard also points out the SWIFT project doesn't address a major concern for Huron County and that is getting broadband service to very remote rural customers, or what has been referred to as going the last mile.
