Pella To Vote on Municipal Broadband May 1st

Pella could become the latest Iowa community to authorize a municipal telecommunications utility as voters head to the polls in a special election on May 1st.

Proposition A reads “Shall the City of Pella, in the County of Marion, State of Iowa, be authorized to establish a Municipally-Owned telecommunications utility?”. The issue was approved by the Pella City Council during a special meeting on March 12, 2018.

If authorized by voters, the city is expected to move forward with a feasibility study, having already solicited RFP's for companies to perform a study earlier this year.

There have been three municipal broadband elections in Iowa since 2015.  In November 2015, voters in Decorah voted by a margin of 93% to 7% for municipal telecom and Vinton's referendum passed 88 to 12 percent the same day. A year ago, Adair made it unanimous with  100% voter approval of their referendum.