Council rejects Boston Heights contract, advances fiber to homes project 

by Judy Stringer

March 18 city council meeting

Hudson City Council voted down a resolution in which the city would have partnered with the village of Boston Heights to split the cost on resurfacing Walters Road, with President Chris Foster and Ward 3 Representative Skylar Sutton citing ongoing litigation with the village. The measure failed with a 5-2 vote. 

“It’s important to note that almost, I think, every member of city council, excluding the mayor and including the city of Hudson, is currently being sued based on defamation and slander from the [village] of Boston Heights and the Mayor Ron Antal,” Foster said. 

Boston Heights is party to a breach of contract suit filed against the city of Hudson, council and individual council members, which stems from council’s 2023 refusal to extend a Chittenden Road waterline and provide water for a planned fireworks store in the village. 

Foster suggested he would rather the city bear the entire cost of the Walter Road surfacing between Hines Hill and the Macedonia border, rather than “getting in bed with Boston Heights in any way, shape or form.”

City Manager Thom Sheridan said the total bill to resurface the portion of Walters shared by the city and the village will cost $232,000 and the project is on the city’s 2025 road program based on its condition. The agreement would have allowed Boston Heights to reimburse Hudson for its half. Sutton said he would support a contract for only Hudson’s half of the resurfacing. Sheridan suggested Hudson “patch the road on our side and see what happens.”     

Fiber to the home

As part of its consent agenda, council green-lit four resolutions related to the Fiber to the Home initiative. Those include a $171,000 contract with Calix Inc. for fiber distribution equipment and three years of support and services, and three resolutions related to bidding fiber construction materials and installation contracts.

Sheridan announced at his Feb. 13 State of the City address that Hudson was moving forward on a pilot project to provide 10-gigabyte speed to residents who do not currently have fiber in their neighborhood. 

“The plan is to install the system over a four-year period at a cost of $18 million,” Sheridan had said. 

During the March 11 council workshop, the city’s Chief Innovation Officer Paul Leedham outlined personnel needs to support Velocity Broadband’s residential rollout. The city-owned utility currently services businesses.  

Leedham said a broadband technician and an engineer are the immediate needs, with a fiber install technician and a technical support representative to be added later this year. All these positions, he added, were “factored into the model,” used to determine if residential fiber was “fiscally viable.” 

Council member Chris Banweg restated the importance of keeping the initiative “cost neutral” to the city.“So, if we are a little off, just keep us aware, and that also keeps the public aware of where we are in the plan and then what we are doing to mitigate [the overage],” Banweg advised Leedham.