The Spencer Board of Aldermen decided Tuesday to hold an open house regarding the proposed stormwater utility and also voted to open discussions with the city of Salisbury about bringing Fibrant to Spencer.

At the meeting, the Board held the second public hearing regarding the proposed stormwater ordinance, which would create a separate utility funded by fees paid by residential and commercial property owners.

The four people who spoke during the hearing said they need more information from the town about how the utility will work, how much money is expected to be generated by the fees and how much improvement projects will cost.

Dan Patterson said he understands there is a need for upgrades to the system, but that it will cost a lot of money. He owns property at Yadkin Avenue and 4th Street and said 4th Street has major problems with flooding during heavy rains. He said the area should be a priority for the town.

Another resident, who lives on 4th Street, said the stormwater issue has been a problem for years in the town and that something needs to be done, but that the citizens shouldn’t be asked to provide all the funding.

Later in the meeting, the board discussed holding an open house where residents could come and look at information and photos of problem areas regarding the town’s stormwater system. At an open house, residents could also talk to and ask questions of town officials and aldermen about the town’s plans for the utility.

The board decided to hold off until the April meeting before setting a date for the open house — in order to allow the town manger and department heads to collect more information.

During the meeting, a town resident, John Blake, asked the board to take steps to allow Fibrant to expand to Spencer. Blake, a software developer who works from home and lives near the Salisbury city limit, said fast upload and download speeds for Internet are important to his work. He said he would like more choices when it comes to an Internet provider.

The recent ruling by the Federal Communications Commission to pre-empt state laws regulating municipal broadband networks, like the one passed in North Carolina in 2011, has opened the door for the future expansion of Fibrant outside of Salisbury.

In 2011, Spencer’s Board of Aldermen passed a motion stating the town wouldn’t take up any contractual discussions with Fibrant until Spencer residents had voted on the matter.

But Tuesday, the board voted unanimously to have Town Manager Larry Smith begin discussions with Salisbury about expanding Fibrant to Spencer.

Jeff Morris, who led the push for the 2011 motion, said he has had a change in thinking about Fibrant and that he has neighbors who would consider signing up for Fibrant — adding he might even give it a try.

He laid out five terms Salisbury needs to agree to before moving forward with an expansion of Fibrant into Spencer. They are:

1. Delay any installation request until an agreement is reached.

2. Fibrant would be made available to all households in the town by a preset date.

3. There would be no cost to the town of Spencer for installations or repairs that might be needed to the system.

4. All costs, fees and billing practices must apply equally to Spencer households as they do to Salisbury households.

5. Pole connections, rentals, etc., would be calculated so as to fairly compensate the town of Spencer without seeking any net profit for the town.

The board included the terms in their motion to have Smith begin discussions with Salisbury.

Before Blake spoke, a representative for Time Warner Cable, Mike Tanck, and the director of Fibrant, Kent Winrich, addressed the board during public comments.

Tanck talked about the upgrades TWC will be making to its Internet service in the Charlotte region, including Rowan County, in the coming months. Time Warner Cable will be upgrading all its current Internet packages at no additional cost to customers, Tanck said. The fastest download speed that will be offered to households will be 300 mbps.

Customers with the “standard” Internet package from TWC will see their download speeds go from 15 to 50 mbps.

Fibrant currently offers up to 1 gigabit of speed, for both downloads and uploads, to households.

Winrich said the FCC’s ruling has created a great economic-development opportunity for Spencer and Salisbury to partner together to bring Fibrant to the town.

Contact Reporter David Purtell at 704-797-4264.