(Spencer)– This Sunday marks the 15 year anniversary of Spencer’s entry into the municipal communications business. It was on May 6th of 1997 when Spencer voters approved a referendum to establish a municipal communications utility to be owned and operated on behalf of the citizens by Spencer Municipal Utilities.
In early 1997 a group of Spencer citizens organized a group called “ACT Now!” to promote the concept of a community-owned and operated communications utility. During the winter and spring the group held information meetings, gathered signatures on a petition and actively campaigned for passage of the referendum. On May 6th, 1997, voters approved both questions on the ballot. About 91 percent said yes to forming a communications utility, while about 90 percent said yes to placing the operation of the new utility in the hands of Spencer Municipal Utilities.
After preliminary design and cost estimates were prepared, “ACT Now!” reactivated in the summer of 1998 to gather signatures from citizens who wanted to move forward with building the system. Over 60 percent of Spencer households signed a “Statement of Support” pledging to purchase services from SMU if the system were built. The SMU Board of Trustees gave the go-ahead to build the system in August, 1998.
Construction of the network began in July, 1999. The first cable TV customers began receiving service in the fall of 2000. Internet services were deployed in the spring of 2001. Telephone operations began in the late summer of 2001. To date, over 4,800 residences and businesses throughout Spencer are receiving one or more communication services from SMU.
