The Urbana City Council discussed the possibility of initiating a city-sponsored not-for-profit broadband Internet service at their meeting Monday night.

Mayor Laurel Prussing said the service would be aimed at areas of the city with less than 40 percent internet usage.

Dennis Roberts, alderman for Ward 5, said the city should be careful about implementing a system that has not been attempted across the country.

“There would have to be people who understand it,” Roberts said. “I’m the kind of person who still carries around pencils instead of pens.”

Diane Marlin, alderman for Ward 7, said the service could be very beneficial, and the council should start working out the details now.

“We’re going to need a lot of your graphite, Dennis,” Marlin added.

Peter Folk, Urbana resident, said the city should not underestimate its privately-owned broadband business competition.

“You cannot run a business by committee,” Folk said. “This is what you are attempting to do by entering this very competitive market.”

Folk, who owns and co-founded the local broadband service Volo, said the city will have to actively convince people to switch from their old provider to the city’s service, and that it would be difficult to obtain even 1 percent of the market share.

“Don’t wait for the grant to start working on this,” Folk said. “You should run this service like a business.”