County board gets update on broadband improvement work

KEWAUNEE COUNTY – During its Dec. 17 meeting, the Kewaunee County Board got an update on the work of the county broadband subcommittee.

“The broadband committee met twice, both at the end of November and then on Dec. 9, accepted proposals and heard from several interested providers about proposals related to the BEAD grant,” said Kewaunee County Administrator Jeremy Kral.

The BEAD — Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment — federal program provided $42.45 billion to expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs in all 50 states.
“And so, the broadband committee will also have two meeting agenda notices come out very shortly for January meetings that have been scheduled,” Kral said.

“The proposals were taken in closed session, so as of right now we’re not in the position to talk publicly about what was discussed but we are optimistic that there are some proposals on the table that the county would be interested in.

“And, we do believe that there’s an endorsement forthcoming. When the committee makes that decision, then I will, as the administrator, make sure that that decision gets out to town chairs and municipalities as soon as possible so they can consider that when they make their own endorsement decisions.

“And those meetings are in early January, and with the adjustment to the time for the grant submissions, we’ll actually have until I believe the date’s Feb. 25 for each local government entity to make an endorsement if they’re interested in doing that and get it to the provider that they’re supporting. That’s where it ultimately needs to end up is the provider will submit it with the rest of the grant application materials.

“There’s been some initial proposals provided, and we’re meeting in January to further consider that.

“The most likely scenario is the broadband committee will make a recommendation for endorsement of a provider or more than one provider for different various project units. “You can only endorse one per project unit, but that might conceivably be more than one throughout the county.”

Kral said that the recommendation will likely show up on the county board’s January meeting agenda.