Council grants franchise to Joe Wheeler for fiber optic line

At its regular meeting May 25, the Hartselle City Council passed an ordinance granting a non-exclusive franchise to Joe Wheeler Electric Membership Corporation for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a fiber optic transmission line that will allow the company to offer high speed broadband internet service to its customers within the Hartselle municipal limits.

Ordinance No. 1543 was passed unanimously.

Joe Wheeler EMC director of communications Michael Cornelison said, as far as the fiber is concerned, his organization is focused on getting JWEMC members connected at this time.

“Once we have all of our members connected, we will look into options for connecting in areas outside of our service territory,” he said.

Cornelison said the goal is for those JWEMC members in the Hartselle area to have access to the FlashFiber broadband service “sometime in 2022.”

Information on the company’s website details several service options to members, with a 300 megabit per second for $59.95 per month, 1 gigabit per second at $79.95 per month and 2 gigabit per second for $99.95 per month.

All packages include a modem, router and around-the-clock technical support.

Telephone options are also available. With internet service, phone service will be $29.95 per month; without it will be $59.95 per month.