Municipal facilities across the Municipal District of Opportunity will soon receive their own independent internet connections, putting an end to a tangled network setup that has caused widespread digital headaches for local staff.
During the regular council meeting on July 27, administration outlined several ongoing hardware and IT issues troubling local municipal buildings. The discussion quickly focused on a major flaw in how the region’s internet is currently wired.
Right now, the internet connection for various sub-offices loops entirely back through a single firewall at the main M.D. office before going out to the rest of the facilities.
Chief Administrative Officer Chad Tullis told council that while this centralized setup was initially designed to save money, it has proven to be a logistical nightmare. Because everything is tied to a single hub, any minor maintenance becomes a massive problem.
“When we tried to update the connection at the main office, it crashed everywhere,” Tullis said, explaining the severity of recent network outages. “I had no ability to even log in. We had to completely change our plan and revert the main office back to where it was.”
To prevent these crippling, system-wide crashes in the future, council is moving to install direct fibre optic lines and independent firewalls at key locations. Tullis said the goal is to ensure that a simple software reboot at the main office does not completely halt daily operations across the rest of the municipality.
“Moving forward, each sub-office is going to have its own separate connection with its own separate firewall,” Tullis said.
The Wabasca-Desmarais Housing Authority (WDHA) building, which houses the local seniors facility, will be one of the first locations to receive a direct, hardwired connection. According to municipal agenda documents, the preliminary quote to completely bypass the main office and hook the WDHA building directly into the fibre optic grid sits at approximately $20,000.
When Councillor Robin Guild asked if there was a firm timeline for the installation, administration noted they are actively pushing to get the work completed as soon as possible.
The conversation about internet cables prompted Councillor Brendan Powell to bring up the initial fibre optic rollout in Red Earth Creek. Powell reminded council that when telecommunications companies were first laying cable in the area, the municipality went the extra miles to accommodate the work crews, even allowing them to safely store their heavy equipment and spools of wire inside the local M.D. shop.
Powell expressed frustration that despite the municipality’s generosity, many local municipal buildings were still skipped over during the initial construction phase.
“The original plan was to finally connect all the communities and buildings that did not have a stable connection, but that simply did not happen,” Powell said.
Administration advised council that completing the missing connections for the rest of the sub-offices will likely need to be bundled into a future capital project. However, they stressed that the immediate focus is to untangle the centralized network so the municipality’s digital infrastructure is no longer relying on a single, fragile thread.
Armaan Khanna
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter