Not to distract from this website's current goal of getting city council candidates elected but an important issue has come up that will effect the long term quality of life of Farmington Utah residents. A City Council public hearing will be held September 4, 2007 to address Farmington City's possible bid to become a non-pledging member of UTOPIA. The City Council is not required to hold a public hearing to move forward with this decision but they want to hear the public's input.

This decision is a no brainer in my mind to improve the quality of life of Farmington residents. However this decision will rub two very big outside interests very wrong. The two companies Quest and Comcast will most likely be commenting at this hearing with their opinions of stiff opposition. My hope is that Farmington residents will throw their support behind the move to bring truely modern communications services to the city by pledging to be a member city of UTOPIA. Residents of Farmington often express frusteration at the constant demands of outside interests into the quality of life of Farmington. This will be an oportunity for residents to tell outsiders what is best for Farmington.

So what is UTOPIA and why should Farmington join the project. From UTOPIA's website, "The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) is a consortium of Utah cities engaged in deploying and operating a fiber optic network to every business and household in its member communities."

For more information about UTOPIA visit:

• http://www.utopianet.org/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Telecommunication_Open_Infrastructure_Agency

You can see the City Council meeting agenda here: http://farmington.utah.gov/downloads/administration/ccagenda09042007.pdf