Commissioners will pledge money toward grant application to expand high speed internet in rural area of county

YORK – The York County Commissioners have unanimously agreed they will be pledging $400,000 from the county’s inheritance fund as part of a grant application – which if awarded, would result in a $1.4 million project expanding high speed internet in a rural area of the county.

After a few meetings with folks from Glenwood Telecommunications – a company which has been expanding high speed internet offerings in a variety of rural areas in the state, including in York County – the county board decided to pledge a local contribution to help a state grant move forward.
Glenwood is the applicant for the grant. With a local contribution of $400,000, the strength of the grant application is greatly improved, they said during recent meetings with the county board. The company would do the work and make a financial contribution of its own – with the intent to see a return on their money in 20 years, company representatives have said.
Glenwood is finishing a similar project near McCool Junction (Sacks Lake area).
This next project would be in the rural area near Lushton.
They only apply for grants to do projects in rural areas that are currently unserved.
“The way the grant works is that they mapped out the project, they put an estimated cost of $1.4 million to it, and the grant says they can apply for up to 75% of that amount. Glenwood is going to apply for 70%, is my understanding,” said Commissioner Daniel Grotz. “Their request is that the county provides $400,000 to put in this fiber in the southwest portion of the county.”
“This project would connect 53 homes,” said Commissioner Chairman Randy Obermier, “with 34 miles of fiber optics. There will be an agreement as far as timelines of our payments. If it is awarded, which would be in January, we’d pay 25% of our portion at that point, then 25% when the project starts and then 50% when it is completed. Their part in all this is providing the service. My recommendation is that this money would come out of our inheritance fund, which sits at about $5.5 million right now. It’s expensive, but it is a huge benefit for the rural population.”
The commissioners agreed to move forward, upon a motion from Commissioner Andy Bowman which was seconded by Commissioner LeRoy Ott and all the other board members voting in favor.