Westport Island selectmen met Monday, June 5 to review a mixed agenda that included a proposed state bill on broadband and a progress report on the sand and salt shed project.

Mary Ellen Barnes, executive director of the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission, sent the town an email request to encourage support for LD 1399, “An Act to Encourage Broadband Coverage in Rural Maine.” The bill was sponsored by Sen. Shenna Bellows of District 4.

As Richard Thompson, chair of the ConnectME Authority explained in his testimony before the joint standing committee on energy, utilities and technology, “This bill makes a major shift in the approach to broadband development and expansion. From the establishment of a Broadband Initiative Director appointed by the Governor to the authorization to take action by the Board of Directors, this creates advanced interest and ability to act on broadband access for all Mainers,” Thompson states in the testimony, as provided online at http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getTestimonyDoc.asp?id=71532.

The non-profit entity created by the bill would replace the ConnectME Authority, moving responsibility for Maine’s broadband infrastructure to the Department of Economic Development.

Funding for the new nonprofit, as Barnes explains in her email, comes from two sources: “The current ConnectME funding stays the same, and the bill uses the current telecommunications excise tax.”

Barnes encouraged those receiving the email to contact their representative and senator and ask that they vote in favor of the bill.

Selectmen also reviewed the sand and salt shed progress report provided by Jonathan DeWick of Pine Tree Engineering. DeWick reported that the hole for the foundation was complete. “Crushed stone was in place,” his report continued, and Randy McClintock Foundations, the concrete contractor, is expected to pour the walls during the week of June 12. Selectmen approved $2,500 to test the concrete.