FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Fort Collins City Council has begun the process of figuring out how to launch a city-run high-speed internet service.
Voters in November approved a ballot measure that authorizes the city to provide broadband internet and issue bonds up to $150 million to launch such a service.
At a Tuesday work session, councilors discussed the next steps in the process, including soliciting bids for design and construction of the internet service and the infrastructure it will require.
The city also is looking at a number of options for how the service will be run. The city says it could build and operate the internet service itself or seek a private-public partnership with an existing internet service provider.
The council expects to spend the next several months issuing requests for proposals and hiring the necessary staff to start getting the operation off the ground.
Fort Collins officials hope to start construction and sign up their first broadband customers sometime in 2019.
