Cassian board hears update on broadband project

The Cassian town board, as well as those in attendance for the group’s Feb. 10 meeting, received an update on Oneida County’s move toward enhanced broadband access for its residents.

The update was provided by Tony Pharo, executive director of the Oneida County Economic Development Corporation (OCEDC).

“The county has assigned our organization as the task force for broadband expansion throughout Oneida County,” Pharo said, adding that the OCEDC broadband committee was formed in 2013. “Recently, we’ve been working on the BEAD funding.”

According to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) website, named “Broadband USA,” the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program “provides $42.45 billion to expand high-speed Internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs.”

“NTIA approval means all 56 states and territories are taking the next steps to request access to their allocated BEAD funding and select the providers who will build and upgrade the high-speed Internet networks of the future,” the website states.

Of that $42 billion, the state of Wisconsin received “a little over” $1 billion, Pharo said.

Oneida County has a $28 million “package” with internet service provider (ISP) Bug Tussel, one of four ISPs the committee considered, he added.

“We currently have in our county roughly about 18 percent that doesn’t have broadband, which is about 5,644 residents who don’t have that,” Pharo explained.

In January, the Oneida County Board passed a resolution approving Bug Tussel for the project. 

“There’s no guarantee that Bug Tussel will get the money,” Pharo continued, as he explained the steps needed for the broadband grant. The approval process is judged on a points system and the county board’s resolution is worth seven points in the process, he explained.

Points are also awarded for letters of support from various towns and residents of the towns. 

Grant applications are due by the end of February. 

Pharo said the rest of the grant application process centers around Bug Tussel’s writing of the grant application and what it determines it would contribute in matching funds. 

“That’s the update,” he said. “The current $28 million project is moving along nicely. They’ve got about 130 miles of tubing in the ground and right now, they’re blowing fiber in.” 

The short-term goal is to get some county residents and “county buildings live in the spring.”

As for further broadband grant funding, Pharo said the amount Oneida County will receive won’t be known until July or early August.

“We’re hoping the money is allocated and goes out as soon as possible,” he said. “With what’s happening at the federal level right now, we just don’t know if those funds will be allocated but we’re working as if they are. We’re hoping that we get our share.”

Pharo’s statement about “what’s happening at the federal level” was a reference to President Donald Trump’s efforts to put an end to, or at least put on hold, federal grant programs previously approved during the administration of Joe Biden. 

He said the estimation for further grant funding, which is determined by a complex formula, ranges anywhere from $25 to $35 million “but again, we won’t know until later this summer.”

Cassian supervisor John Schaub said members of the town crew have been wondering if the funding for the broadband program does end what will happen to sides of roads where Bug Tussel has been doing work. 

“You go along the roads, there’s a lot of areas that are dug up, that aren’t completed,” he said. “Will they cover them up and take care of it? Or will they just walk away from the project?”

Pharo said what’s been done already is part of the $28 million part of the broadband project the county has with Bug Tussel and has nothing to do with the next BEAD grant for which the company is preparing to submit an application.

“We monitor them all the time,” he said. “We have to give a report on a monthly basis to the county board so they understand what’s going on. We will continue to monitor that and make sure everything’s put back the way it’s supposed to.”

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].