GILL — Town officials are expressing disappointment in how the Massachusetts Broadband Institute has handled the state’s broadband expansion.

The Selectboard Monday night unanimously endorsed a letter from one of its members and the Gill Cable Advisory Committee, detailing concerns about the town’s dealings with MBI and Comcast. Gill is one of many communities served by $5 million in state money meant to bring broadband internet to 96 percent of houses in those towns.

Greg Snedeker of the Selectboard and Gill Cable Advisory Committee said the letter was also sent out to local media outlets.

The letter said there were inconsistencies between Comcast and MBI, with Comcast saying the town would be above the 96 percent threshold. When the town disputed that claim, the letter said, Comcast said MBI had given them the data, but MBI said Comcast had given them that data. Neither are said to have verified that number with town officials, who said it was incorrect.

The town and Comcast negotiated for a year and a half and came to an agreement in May of 2015.

Gill forfeited some state money in exchange for $220,000 for a cable build-out. That build-out will not bring the town to 96 percent, but the town was hopeful MBI would be able to meet that threshold through the rural build-out money.

“I can only wonder if Gov. Baker, someone who advocates for the limited role of government, realizes his state broadband initiative is actually punishing a small town like Gill that took charge of its own build-out with Comcast?” the letter asked.

A statement from MBI said the organization can’t speak agreements that Comcast and the town made between those parties, but said that the discrepancies between the town’s numbers and MBI’s were small. MBI also said that Comcast has set up a meeting with Gill for July. 

MBI said that in June of 2015 they started the procurement process for the partially served towns and said that Comcast exclused Gill from that list because the town and Comcast had reached another agreement to get to the 96 percent threshold. 

MBI said it was not party to the three-year agreement the town and Comcast came to, but that MBI set up the two-year agreement for the nine towns in the “partially served” towns build out. 

“Lastly, on two separate occasions MBI’s technical staff conducted desktop reviews of Gill’s data, including premise-by-premise reviews comparing the Town’s data to the MBI’s,” The statement said. “Those reviews found extremely small discrepancies, a margin of five less houses according to Gill’s data, but with MBI’s still showing over 96 percent coverage. On several occasions we have asked Comcast to undertake this review under their agreement with Gill. This occurred as recently as May 2017, when MBI advocated on behalf of the Town with Comcast, requesting a reconciliation process to ensure that 96 percent of premises are reached.”

Snedeker brought the issue before the Selectboard, which he said had been discussed at a previous Cable Advisory Committee meeting as well.

Selectman Randy Crochier said he supported the letter and trusted Snedeker’s judgment on the issue.

Snedeker said Gill was essentially left behind by MBI and Comcast with the rural build-out.

“This just doesn’t seem right and the answer we’ve received from Comcast hasn’t been satisfactory,” he said.

Reach Miranda Davis at:
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