The Town of Dolores and the Southwest Colorado Council of Governments entered an agreement Monday that will essentially bring Dolores the ability to have faster Internet connections and transfer more data.
All of the stars have aligned for us to participate in the broadband grant, Dolores Town Manager Ryan Mahoney told the Town Council.
Town Council members gave the nod for Mahoney to enter into the agreement, which would essentially allow crews to lay cable and bring higher internet speeds to Dolores.
Fiber optic infrastructure allows for greater capacity for upload and download Internet speeds.
The benefits are numerous, Mahoney said.
Residents would be able to download movies and television over the Internet and local businesses would be able to send more documents. Schools would be able to offer distance learning.
Its an opportunity we shouldnt pass up, Mahoney said.
The Dolores Public Library is also supportive of the effort.
The Town will likely have to come up with a $15,000 match for the project, which will bring the broadband cable through town.
I think we can make this fairly cost neutral to the town and get fiber into the town, Mahoney said.
Council member Megan Waterman seemed interested in the project and hoped that it would allow the Town of Dolores to offer a free hot spot in town for Internet connections.
Mahoney said he would look into that.
The cable for the increased Internet speed will likly be in the ground by August.