A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review discusses how robust public interest technology can overcome historical inequities and ensure that everyone in a community can fully benefit. The City of Longmont in Colorado is putting this into action. Longmont was ranked 17th on PC Magazine's list of The Best Work-From-Home Cities for 2022, according to a recent article by Kelsey Hammon at the Times-Call.
Valerie Dodd, executive director of the City of Longmont's NextLight municipal internet service, said that Longmont began by building a fiber loop in 1997, laying the groundwork for a network that would be available to all residents. A 2005 state law supported by the cable industry temporarily put this on hold, restricting the ability of local governments to provide internet service. Longmont voters eventually repealed this restriction and passed a bond issue to build out the NextLight network, which signed up its first customers in 2014.
Since then, Longmont has been steadily paying back the bond, and NextLight has been going strong. Ms. Dodd came on board in 2019, leading a community-owned internet utility and a dedicated team of over 40 employees, including customer service and technical service representatives, field and network engineers, field technicians, and sales and marketing staff.
Joanne Zeas, the Chief Human Resources Officer, describes how this has impacted employees and the city. She explains that the city needs to attract and retain good candidates in a time of high demand for productive employees. The fact that employees have easy access to affordable and highly functional broadband helps fuel flexibility at the workplace. This flexibility is attractive to good candidates.
Certainly, there are positions within any municipality that do not rely on or need an internet connection, and those positions usually require the employee to be physically present. This typically includes public works, fire, and police departments. Talking to employees about flexibility in these positions is also important.
Involving employees in discussions about the future of the city and their employment is an ongoing task. The focus is on future policy, physical spaces, and the culture of the workplace. Employees are an important voice when innovating at the community level and in the workplace. Many employees are residents, and changes will impact them both as citizens and workers. The City of Longmont is also growing, creating a greater need for city services, provided by these same employees. Longmont’s focus on flexibility and innovation from employees creates a better city for all who live there.
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