SANFORD — The city needs to make sure up-to-date technology is in place to allow for the speedy flow of large amounts of information, leaders say, in order to be competitive.

There is no reason why a company doing business along the Route 128 corridor in Massachusetts can’t establish a Maine satellite in one of the old mill buildings in Sanford, or move their entire operation here, as long as the secure, high-speed technology is in place to allow the company to conduct business, said Sanford City Manager Steve Buck.

Over at THE Sanford Regional Economic Growth Council, Director Jim Nimon was having similar thoughts. And so they got together to talk about it ”“ and now they’re poised to tackle the issue.

The growth council has agreed to fund a study that will take a look at the capability of the system the community currently has, what it needs, costs associated with upgrades, how the need might be filled and the economic impact.

It’s all about fiber optic cable ”“ so-called “dark fiber” ”“ and the capability to transmit vast amounts of information quickly. And right now, though the examination by Portland-based Tilson Technology Management will tell the tale with 100 percent certainty, it appears Sanford’s connection to the World Wide Web isn’t currently as technologically nimble as it could be. While the school system, Central Maine Power and Metrocast have some fiber cable in the city, it doesn’t connect to the Three Ring Binder system. And as it turns out, the Three Ring Binder, which was designed to expand broadband capability, largely in rural Maine, skirted some parts of western York County, like Sanford.

In fact, Buck and Nimon pointed out, it appears to have stopped around the Jackson’s Corner area of Route 35 in Lyman, about 10 miles short of the city limits.

“Maine’s seventh-largest city is not in the Three Ring Binder,” Nimon said.

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration had $7.2 billion to spend to deploy broadband infrastructure around the nation. Between $25.6 million from the NTFA and $6.2 million in private investment, there was almost $32 million available to create a 1,100-mile corridor in Maine. Buck was city manager in Caribou at the time, and noticed as originally configured, the binder would bypass the community, but the city was able to intervene and Caribou was included.

The Three Ring Binder program concluded in 2012.

Some other communities, like North Berwick, which is in interior York County but south of Sanford, already had fiber optics, installed years ago by Time Warner Cable, as one several test communities that also included Wells, Ogunquit and York, said Town Manager Dwayne Morin.

Sanford’s city center and millyard area, the schools and industrial parks are among areas being eyed as locations where dark fiber should be available. Representatives from Sanford Medical Center, formerly Goodall Hospital, and industry representatives like David Jagger of Jagger Mills are among stakeholders involved with the project.

Nimon said bringing dark fiber to Sanford is one of the top three priorities of the growth council.

“Within the next two to three months, we’ll have a plan,” he said.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros contributed to this report. Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.