Making Holland City Fiber a reality will both move fast and feel slow. Fast because there are fewer than five months before the voters make or break it. Slow because it’ll be another year before construction begins.

Here are the key dates.

April 20

Final ballot language and business plan get presented to City Council for approval. Council has been very favorable so far, but still has to vote. This is when we’ll know the official top end millage amount.

August 2

The city votes. The millage proposal appears on the ballot with state and national primary elections. We need a majority of voters to vote “yes.”

But actually June 23

This is the day absentee ballots become available. So voter outreach and mobilization needs to happen by then. That’s just over 3 months away!

Fall 2023-Fall 2025

Construction of the network. This is the part that will feel slow. There should be some network expansion before that, and we may see it begin sooner, but this is the conservative timeline.

Winter 2023-Fall 2025

Service rolls out in phases. As construction wraps up in an area, service is available for residents.

That’s it! Fast at first, slow to roll out. Waiting is hard, and I definitely wish we had done this years ago. But this plan is solid and we’re closer than we’ve ever been. Let’s do this!