The Marshall County Council discussed the intergovernmental agreement with Marshall County and the City of Plymouth for the Metronet project.
County Attorney Jim Clevenger presented the agreement to the council and reviewed the scope of the project with the council members.
“We have entered into an partnership with the City of Plymouth to provide fiber optic broadband services,” explained Clevenger. “We’re going to run conduit and then the fiber optics will run from South Bend at Ireland Road but it’s going to hook into the hotel up there. It will run down the U.S. 31 corridor, or Michigan Road corridor, to the city line. The city of Plymouth has a loop that they’re going to run a little to the west out by the jail and back around by the hospital.”
The agreement will help set up a local board to review the process. The joint board would consist of a county commission member, a county council member, Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter, a Plymouth city council member and a representative of a private entity. Council member Steve Harper said that he would be a county council representative on the board.
The agreement also provides that services can be expanded to other areas in Marshall County.
A concern was brought up by council member John Benedict that what was discussed earlier about the amount of conduit was changed. Clevenger explained that there would be enough conduit and strands available to expand to all of Marshall County and that’s what the agreement reflects.
The approval of the intergovernmental agreement between the county and the city of Plymouth was approved with a vote of 5-1-1. Judy Stone abstained from the vote as her property is affected in the project and John Benedict voted against the agreement.
The Metronet project is currently under construction.
