In a special town meeting referendum vote June 28, Southport voters rejected a municipally owned fiber optic broadband network. In May 2021, voters authorized seeking financing for a network, but concerns over using municipal funds resulted in a petition seeking to overturn the authority. 

The special town meeting warrant had three articles dealing with the project. Article 2 sought authorization to direct selectmen to terminate any existing contracts related to building or operating a fiber-optic island broadband network and liquidate any personal or real property bought. Residents approved the article 144-129, ending the municipally owned project. 

Article 3 would have re-affirmed last year’s special town meeting referendum which gave selectmen authority to seek project funding. Article 3 lost, 124-144. Article 4 proposed allowing selectmen to seek funding for providing unserved and underserved residents with broadband coverage. Residents rejected Article 4 126-134. 

Selectmen will begin decommissioning the project during their July 5 board meeting. “I’m disappointed by the vote. I thought our proposal had merit in moving forward, but the people didn’t agree,” Selectman Gerry Gamage said. Prior to the vote, Spectrum officials offered to provide broadband expansion to the island’s unserved customers at no cost to taxpayers. On June 29, Gamage reported he hadn’t heard from Spectrum about its offer. 

Southport received a $400,000 Connect Maine grant. Gamage reported the town hadn’t received the funds. ‘We have to return a couple smaller grants and begin negotiations with Axiom and Hawkeye on what we owe them,” he said. 

Southport spent about $630,000 in municipal funds on the project. Gamage assumes the town can resell unused network materials to Axiom Technologies, LLC of Machias and Hawkeye Fiber Optics of Poland for use in their future projects. 

In April, Tom Myette, Celeste Brown and Doug Jones submitted two petitions requesting residents “rethink” the project with another vote. Opponents criticized the project as too expensive and unnecessary. “We hope the selectmen will do the right thing and unwind this ill-conceived project with independent help and advice – not from the vendors. And selectmen should consider Spectrum’s offer – being trustworthy is about follow through and Spectrum has – now it’s up to the selectmen to serve the community fairly and without prejudice,” Myette wrote in an email response.