Representatives from Vero Fiber Networks made a presentation at the New Florence Board of Aldermen meeting on June 8, proposing to enter a franchise agreement with the city.

Vero Director of Operations Brian Connors made the 19-minute presentation to talk about what Vero is and what goals it would like to bring to New Florence.

“We could go through Planning and Zoning and we have the right to submit our plans and do construction and everything,” Connors said. “What we’re proposing is not to do that, it goes a step further. It’s entering a franchise agreement with the city. This is an opportunity and avenue for the city to get some revenue from data centers on a professional basis.”

Vero is a company that is based in Denver, Colo., and was founded in 2017 to serve unserved and underserved communities where access to affordable broadband does not exist. It serves 26 states.

“Primary, Vero is an equal first funding. So we have tremendous respect for the communities that we build in,” Connors said. “Our goal is to make this a win-win and to leave everything as or better than we found it. If we’re doing construction, any homeowners who have complaints like problems with restoration, problems with streets, trash or whatever it is, those come directly to my team.”

Connors said Vero focuses on school districts, libraries and small government agencies. It uses directional drilling and installs fiber-optic cable.

“If there’s an opportunity for broadband internet access to schools, libraries, government facilities and private network conductivity, those are the kind of things that we love to do to help make a positive impact on all of the communities that we serve,” Connors said.

Connors said Vero is proposing a project that is 200,000 linear feet and 10 percent of it will be within the city limits of New Florence. The duration of the project will be between five to six weeks. No voting was made by the New Florence board members.

“During that time, we’re present, we’re local, we’ll be staying locally and we’ll be hiring locally to the extent that we can in any of our directions of drilling crews,” Connors said.