Town of Tarboro, North Carolina

7 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 10 high-speed internet is crucial in the 21st century,” Mayo adds. As Tarboro moves ahead into the future, they hope to continue to see sustained growth, but in a way that maintains the charming quality the area is known for. “One of the highlights of our community is that you can walk just about anywhere that you want,” Mayo says. “You can do just about anything by walking or riding a bike. Having lived in Raleigh, NC and graduated from school up there, you get to see the good and the bad of living in a big city. What I’d be wary of all of a sudden is that we end up with too much traffic and lose that small town feel. I don’t think we’re on the road to that by any means, but a steady growth would be good.” Mayo also hopes to add a bit more green infrastructure to the city – namely in electric vehicle chargers. Having those will help attract a few more people to make a stop in Tarboro, and maybe they’ll decide to stay a little while longer. “I think we can capture those folks that just need a quick stop and they can see what makes our town something worthy of living in,” he says. anywhere, they’d rather work in Tarboro,” Lewis says. The town is now aiming to upgrade its broadband internet access to accommodate this growth. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tarboro’s broadband proved that it just wasn’t going to cut it. “The pandemic showed us, as kids were homeschooled and people were working from home more, that there were some challenges. We had access to broadband through a couple different providers, but the customer service and infrastructure was not up to par,” Lewis recalls. “To overcome that, we went seeking a new provider and we were able to work out a deal with some pole attachments with a company called Infinity Link that is going to provide a fiber home network here in Tarboro.” The new network is currently under construction, but should be fully built out within the next few years. It will provide speeds of up to 10 gigabytes to every home in the town. “We are dependent on internet and internet infrastructure, and the ability to have reliable, PREFERRED VENDORS/PARTNERS n LS Cable & System USA www.lscsusa.com LS Cable & System U.S.A., Inc. is a leading U.S. manufacturer and supplier of energy wire and cable products and distribution systems serving the Commercial, Industrial, Renewable Energy and Utility markets. Our electrical product offering ranges from Low Voltage Tray Cable instrumentation, control, and power, to Medium Voltage, UL Type MV-105, and Primary URD, all in full compliance to U.S. industry standards. n Sara Lee Frozen Bakery www.saraleefrozenbakery.com