Sen. Stec visits Massena, praises SLIC for efforts to expand broadband access

BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI

North Country This Week

MASSENA — State Senator Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, visited St. Lawrence Recreation on July 12 to highlight work completed by SLIC Network Solutions bringing high speed broadband to 13 homes and St. Lawrence Recreation.

According to SLIC Chief Operation Officer Kevin Lynch, the project began in 2017 after St. Lawrence Recreation owner Shaun Prentice contacted him regarding a lack of broadband service to his business.

“We looked at it in our network…and the problem is that 13 houses and one business, economically, is really hard to justify because of the cost to build it. The return we would get, plus the operating costs is like ‘boy, Shaun, I’d love to do it. I just don’t know how we can piece that together,’” Lynch said.

But with help from the St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency and St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency, progress began to happen.

Lynch said the IDA agreed to contribute $20,000 to the project for the cost of construction, with the town also willing to contribute some funds. SLIC also heavily discounted the cost of labor in order to facilitate the project, however state regulations passed in 2018 stopped the project.

“Just as we get ready to go, the state passed a fiber occupancy fee,” Lynch said.

With that legislation in place, the state would be able to charge SLIC a fee per foot of fiber optic cable that would run along state highways.

“So it took a project that was cash flow positive, just enough, but that’s what we do, and put it in the red. We couldn’t do it and that’s when I had to contact Shaun like, ‘Shaun, I’m sorry. I can’t start the project.’ I laid it out for him. He’s a businessman, he understands that you can’t run a business and give money away,” Lynch said.

Insert Senator Stec, who lobbied the state to repeal the occupancy fee that affected every internet provider around the state.

With the fees removed, that allowed Lynch to…