The Peachtree City Council on Feb. 18 will hear an annexation request from Starr’s Mill Academy on Ga. Highway 74 South. The council also is expected to approve the contract with NuLink to provide fiber optic Internet services.
The council will consider a Step One annexation request from Starr’s Mill Academy. The 6.71-acre site is located on Hwy. 74 South and is adjacent to The Gates subdivision.
Step One is intended to provide a general overview of the proposed annexation and identifies how the annexation and zoning may or may not be compatible with the established goals and objectives within the city’s comprehensive plan.
Step Two requires the submittal of additional and detailed information pertaining to the impacts of the annexation and subsequent development of the property. A recommendation that an annexation request continues through the review process in no way implies that City Council will ultimately approve the property for annexation.
Council members on Feb. 18 are expected to approve the NuLink bid for a five-year lease of Internet and dark fiber totaling $92,520 per year.
The city recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the service.
The council opted to go with NuLink, the lowest bidder for those services, in lieu of having the city establish its own fiber optic network.
The council on Feb. 18 will also consider bids for broadband equipment and installation needed for the upcoming broadband project. The low bid for the equipment came from Cpak Technology Solutions in the amount of $209,178.
The only other bid received was from Presidio Networked Solutions at $229,862.
The equipment would be needed even if the city had gone its own way and established a city-owned broadband network.
Financial Services Director Paul Salvatore in a Jan. 12 letter said the upgrade would be needed either way because the current network equipment is not capable of handling either the Internet speed or bandwidth levels needed for a high-speed fiber optic network.
Salvatore also recommended that Cpak be hired for the installation at a cost of $53,500.
The previous estimate for the equipment and debt service was $365,000, or $73,000 over five years.
“However, the above recommendation totals only $262,678, with annual debt service payments estimated at about $40,000 per year if financed for a seven-year term,” said Salvatore.
Funding for the project would come from the city’s Public Improvement Program (PIP) fund and in the Stormwater Utility.
