By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The suggestion of using $100,000 of the $8.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded to Dunn County for broadband grant applications is one step closer to being implemented.
The Dunn County Board’s Executive Committee approved at a meeting February 9 forwarding a resolution to the Dunn County Board for consideration at the February 16 meeting to designate $100,000 of the ARPA money for broadband grant applications.
24-7 Telcom, Mosaic Technologies and Bloomer Telephone are planning to submit grant applications to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin for the $100 million available in this grant cycle to expand fiber optic Internet service in the county.
The deadline for the applications is March 17.
The three internet service providers will submit seven grant applications — 24-7 Telcom will apply for five grants to provide service to various locations in Dunn County, while Mosaic will apply for the Town of Grant and Bloomer Telephone will apply for the Town of Colfax.
Past grant applications that have been successful have included a certain amount of funding from the ISPs and the municipalities where the ISPs plan to expand fiber optic Internet access.
Special meeting
The Community Resources and Tourism committee held a special meeting February 7 and approved forwarding a resolution to the executive committee for up to $100,000 of ARPA funds for broadband grant applications, said James Anderson, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the CRT committee.
Dunn County does not have a procedure for allocating ARPA money other than through the county board, said Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing and a member of the CRT committee.
The resolution provides a special process for a short-term funding request for this grant cycle, he said.
Rather than submitting a whole procedure for awarding ARPA funds for broadband expansion, the resolution focuses on the current grant cycle, he said.
The county board can authorize up to a certain amount and then could authorize the CRT committee to work with county administration on a procedure for reviewing future applications and evaluating requests, Quinn said.
Why $100,000?
Diane Morehouse, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the executive committee, asked why the amount was set at $100,000.
Down the line there may be other broadband requests, and there will be more federal funding for infrastructure, Quinn said.
Right now, there is no formal process in place, and the resolution is a short-term solution to meet the deadline for the grant applications, he said.
In late March or early April, the county board will be meeting about the Capital Improvement Plan, and if a larger amount is needed for broadband grants, county board members can discuss the additional amount then, Quinn said.
All ARPA
Many of the townships included in the grant applications have dedicated all of their ARPA money to the broadband expansion grants for the ISPs, Anderson said.
Dunn County wants to be able to show a partnership as well, he said.
Charles Maves, county board supervisor from Boyceville and a member of the executive committee, said he was confused and wondered how allocating ARPA money to include on grant applications would help if the money was allocated after the grants had already been awarded.
If Dunn County is not putting in the money up front, how would that help the ISPs get the grants? Maves asked.
If the ISPs do not get the grants, then Dunn County would not spend the money, Quinn said.
If the Dunn County Board approves the $100,000, the ISPs would submit an application for a certain amount of funds, he said.
It was not clear from the discussion whether Quinn was talking about the ISPs submitting an application for a certain amount of funds for the grant application — or submitting a request to be paid according to the amount designated for each grant application if/when the ISP received the grant award from the PSC.
Gary Stene, county board supervisor from Colfax and a member of the executive committee, said he had been contacted by officials from the Town of Grant, who were waiting to see what Dunn County would contribute on the grant application.
Stene said he was in favor of designating $100,000 for broadband expansion grants.
For both the townships and for Dunn County, if the ISPs do not receive the grants from the state of Wisconsin, the townships and the county are not obligated to give any money to the ISPs and would be free to spend their ARPA money in other ways.
The Dunn County Board’s Executive Committee unanimously approved forwarding to the county board the resolution designating $100,000 of the county’s ARPA funds to put toward broadband expansion grant applications that will be submitted by the local ISPs.
