Oregon improves internet for fire stations, recreation

        Oregon City Council approved a contract with Telesystem, of Northwood, to provide voice, long distance services, internet access services, and point-to-point lines from the municipal building to remote locations for a three year period.
        The agreement will provide for the enhancement of internet and wireless services throughout city buildings as well as the recreation facilities.
        “One of the things that’s been an obstacle towards efficient communication for us has been our pipe to the internet has been too small for a long time,” said City Administrator Mike Beazley. “This provides for a considerable expansion of that capacity so our departments and those in the building can get easier access.”
        City solicitor Melissa Purpura said “it looks like it’s going to be a great plan for us for the next three years.”
        “Especially for increasing the bandwidth…to improve our efficiency,” she said.
        The old contract for 40 MB internet is no longer viable. The new contract will increase the bandwidth to 250 MB internet, which would allow city staff to use various software and internet browsers as efficiently as possible.
        The new contract will also allow E-Line service to all three fire stations, the water treatment plant, the wastewater treatment plant, and cemeteries from their current bandwidth of 3-5MB internet to 25MB internet.
        “Our fire stations have so little capacity,” said Beazley. “They couldn’t even download or share information prior to this.”
       
Concession stands
        The contract also includes the addition of internet service to the two concession stands at the recreation complex by the baseball diamonds and the soccer fields. It was requested by Parks and Recreation Commissioner Tim Borton to allow for a more reliable connection to the credit card machines. Telesystem has agreed to pay for the construction costs to run fiber connection to the concession stands.
        “We’ll be able to make a credit card machine work in concessions in a much more efficient way,” said Beazley. “In a world where people don’t use cash anymore, you have to have that capacity.”
        City Council President Dennis Walendzak asked Beazley what could be done to get expanded broadband width for the community.
        “Our citizens have mentioned it to many council members on expanding our broadband width for our community. I know our hands are tied on that,” said Walendzak. “Is there any way we can try to force somebody’s hand to deliver more broadband services to the community?”
        “We can encourage it,” said Beazley. “We continue to have conversations with interested providers. The challenge is that Buckeye has gone out and invested in the community. They have cable and lines installed. They’re the ones who have the service. And they do a good job. But every year, there’s more demand. We have built more cell towers, and they’ve done a tremendous job meeting demand. Every year, it seems, we’re sucking down more data through our phones and throughout our systems. Sylvania has something on their agenda this week arguing about a location for a cell tower as well. That’s going to continue to be a problem for all communities going forward. It’s a moving target. We’re very engaged along those lines. But we have more conversations than solutions.”
        Also at the meeting, council:

• Approved the purchase from Baumann Ford of a 2021 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor Utility AWD Base (K8A) vehicle to be used by the Street Division in the Department of Public Service for $34,698.14. The utility vehicle will be used for the purpose of general support, maintenance, and inspection;
• Authorized the mayor to issue purchase orders to Crystal Flash, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Great Lakes Petroleum Co., of Cleveland, for the 2021 purchase and delivery of petroleum products used by city divisions for vehicles and equipment.