By Myrna Trauntvein
TN Correspondent
A digging permit, recommended for approval by the city planning commission, was temporarily sidelined in Mona before finally being approved. Jens Mickelson wanted a digging permit so that he could begin work on erecting a pole as the first step in preparing to bring in fiber optic communications to Mona. “The planning commission has recommended approving a digging permit for Jens Mickelson at 275 West 700 South,” said Lynn Ingram, city planning commission director. Mickelson said that he had gone with two of the city employees and looked at the site. The pole was 80-feet tall, he said, but only 70-feet of it would be above ground. “Did you talk to the neighbors to see if it was O.K. with them?” asked Bill Mills, mayor. “That was part of the agreement that you check with the citizens.” Mickelson said that he had tried to talk to the person who lived across the street but had never found them home. “There will be three homeowners that you need to contact,” said Mills. Mike Stringer, council member, agreed that they wanted Mickelson to contact the neighbors before they approved the permit. Jay Mecham, council member, said he thought that it was important that those contacts be made prior to the council giving approval and granting a digging permit. “We made it very clear what we wanted you to do,” said Katrina Long, council member. “We want you to do your due diligence.” Ingram said he did not know about the conditions placed on the permit because he had not been able to attend the last council meeting. Mills said he would not recommend approving the permit until Mickelson contacted the neighbors of the project and got their approval. “I wouldn’t want one near my house,” said Mills. At that point, Mickelson left the meeting. He later returned and, before council meeting was closed, he asked for more speaking time. “I went to the homes of the neighbors of my project,” said Mickelson. “I have the signatures of the neighbors approving my pole being erected.” He presented the signatures to the council. With that, the council agreed to approve the digging permit for Mickelson which will now allow him to move forward .He said the person he had tried to contact unsuccessfully was a person who worked during the day and that was why he had been unable to contact the individual. However, he had finally caught them home that night and had obtained their signature approving the pole. Mickelson is proposing the pole for a field at the edge of the city. NeboNet, owned by Mickelson, is a high-speed fixed wireless internet service provider based in Utah covering parts of Juab County, Utah County and Box Elder County. Mickelson requested that he be allowed to place a utility pole to support an antenna to increase internet speeds to his customers in Mona. The speeds needed by a customer to allow such services as internet streaming continues to increase. Keeping up with the demand takes continual improvement. Streaming television (also known as streaming TV, online TV, or Internet TV) is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming video delivered over the Internet. Movies and TV shows can be viewed online or streamed right to a smart TV, smart phone, game console, PC, Mac, mobile, tablet and more. “I have been providing service for about 20 years,” said Mickelson. The pole would be wooden and would be, for comparison’s sake, 18-feet taller than lights at the ball field. Mickelson said that customers wanted 20 to 100 megs or Mbps (megabits per second) per home. “Usually it takes about 5 megs per device in the home, said Mickelson. He said that keeping up with the demand for higher speeds and the ability to provide for more devices in a home were problems that were universal and that there was congestion traffic worldwide. There are a number of reasons for choosing an aerial solution, such as the fact that it is much faster and cheaper to deploy than buried networks.
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