County seeks letters of support for broadband effort

The Monroe County Broadband Committee is seeking letters of support to help fund its effort to bring broadband into the underserved areas of the county.

The committee, which met last Wednesday, has been working with four different broadband companies in a multi-phased project to install fiber optic cable throughout the county to provide high-speed internet.

Funding for the project is expected to come mainly from three sources, American Recover Plan Act (ARPA) funds, state grants and the broadband companies. The county’s townships also can choose to contribute money to the effort.

County Administrator Tina Osterberg said there will be a lot of competition for the state grants, which have a March 10 application deadline. If the county can show it has matching funds, it will have a better chance of being awarded a grant.

“It looks better the more people that are collaborating and willing to put money toward the project – it will go further in the grant review,” she said.

The committee also is seeking letters of support to enhance its chances of receiving grant money. It is reaching out to schools, townships, libraries, hospitals and small businesses in rural areas that don’t have access to broadband to send letters describing their challenges.

It also wants letters from residents whose lack of high-speed internet access has affected their lives.

“We’re looking for heartfelt stories,” said Osterberg. “Like the things they’re trying to do at home but they just cannot because of the slowness of their internet connection – kids at home not able to do school work or had issues when everything was virtual.”

Those letters can be sent to Adrian Lockington, assistant county administrator. Her email address is adrian.lockington@co.monroe.wi.us. She can be contacted by phone at 608-269-8006.

The committee is currently working with townships, encouraging them to get certifications as Broadband Forward and Telecommuter Forward communities. The county already is certified.

In February, the county board will be voting on a request for $5.1 million of its ARPA funds to go toward the project. The county will receive a total of $8.9 million from ARPA, which can be used for infrastructure, including broadband.

The four vendors the broadband committee is working wih are Vernon Community Cooperative, Coon Valley Telephone Cooperative, Hillsboro Telephone Cooperative and Lynxx, located in Camp Douglas.

Coon Valley Telephone Cooperative is moving forward on plans to install fiber in the towns of Portland and Leon before moving on to the towns of Jefferson and Wells. Hillsboro Telephone is looking at the southeast corner of the county.

The rest of the county will be done in phases. Osterberg said the timeline is dependent on funding.

The county has made broadband one of its priorities. The cities of Tomah and Sparta along with the Village of Cashton already have broadband infrastructure. The two ways to get broadband are through either satellite transmission or fiberoptic lines.

Osterberg said the county is focusing on fiberoptics because it is the most reliable and easiest to upgrade.

So far, the county has no hard figures on the cost of installing the infrastructure but is using road miles to estimate how much fiber optic cable it will take to reach every rural residence and business in southern Monroe County.

If the grant application is approved, Osterberg believes there will be fiberoptic cable in the ground in 2022.

The county board passed a pair of resolutions in December that will expedite the process, reducing administrative obstacles for broadband service providers.

The biggest of those obstacles is getting authorization to install the fiber. One resolution allowed for a smoother process for running the cables along highway rights-of-way, avoiding the need to obtain authorization for multiple private landowners.

High-speed internet is becoming more important with the advent of virtual learning, telemedicine and telecommuting, where workers can live in Monroe County and work anywhere using their computers.