More of the city’s “dark fiber” computer networking cabling will be lit up in the coming months.

The Dowagiac City Council approved a lease with Ann Arbor-based Merit Network for expanded use of the city’s fiber optic network during council’s regular meeting Monday night at city hall. Per the terms of the five-year agreement, which costs $13,000 upfront with an additional $300 every year, Merit will gain access to around 1.5 miles worth of network cable within city limits.

The agreement can potentially help facilitate expansion of the city’s high-speed fiber network to the community at large. Merit, a nonprofit computer networking company, provides services across Michigan to educational, government, hospitals and other nonprofit organizations.

“The hospital [Borgess-Lee Memorial] needs lots of communication bandwidth between Dowagiac and Kalamazoo,” said Mayor Don Lyons. “This gives them the opportunity to access that.”

The city, in partnership with Dowagiac Union Schools, installed approximately six miles of fiber optic cabling across the city in 2005, as a way to serve both city and school district facilities. The network consists of a 3.8-mile loop around town with two spurs — one running out to Pokagon Street past the industrial park and another down Riverside Drive past the water tower to the middle school.

“When our fiber system was built, we only used around 4 to 5 percent of the capacity of the line,” said City Manager Kevin Anderson. “Everything else was built for future expansion and use.”

This is the second time the city has given another party access to its fiber network, to expand its usage to other entities. In 2013, the city approved a five-year agreement with ACD.net, a phone and internet service provider offering a variety of communication-related services.

“This opens the doors for some additional competition for some of those high speed services, especially to the business clientele,” Anderson said of Monday’s lease. “It’s a nice way to use some investment that was built a number of years for this purpose.”