JCED gets support to go after rural broadband funding

     Jones County Economic Development is working to try and bring broadband internet to rural Jones County.

   During the March 14 Jones County Supervisor meeting, JCED Director Derek Lumsden asked for the board’s support as he applies for the designation as a Broadband Intervention Zone.

   “This designation would allow for the unserved and underserved areas of Jones County to get a chance to have access to broadband internet, which is not the case in many of the unincorporated areas of the county,” stated Lumsden via a draft letter of support. “The lack of access to broadband can hinder our residents from accessing important information like weather alerts, the ability for students to not be able to complete online assignments from home, the opportunity for our workforce to engage in remote work, etc.”

   Lumsden said the point of the broadband project is to get internet service into areas where telecoms (such companies as Mediacom and CenturyLink) are not.

   “One of the things they’ve done in the last decade is get funding into small telecoms in Center Junction, Oxford Junction, or wherever they can get some of that broadband and fiber run to every home and business,” continued Lumsden. “Over the last 5 years, they began looking at where are we missing.”

   That prompted the OCIO (Office of the Chief Information Officer) with the Department of Management to produce an online map showing the areas lacking broadband in Iowa.

   “All of the blue dots are currently areas that are unserved or underserved by fast enough internet that would qualify with the state’s broadband policies,” explained Lumsden as he showed the board three versions of Jones County maps. “That just shows a small fraction of our region. There are a lot of blue dots across the entire state.”

   Telecoms, like many of the big-name companies, tend to serve the cities versus rural, unincorporated areas.

   “A lot of rural areas don’t have telecoms anymore, so they have somewhat of a monopoly on them,” Lumsden said.

   The State of Iowa is now trying to get service to the underserved areas, a project Lumsden recently found out about.

   His request of the supervisors was two-fold: One, approval of a letter of support to go after the designation of a Broadband Intervention Zone, two, decide on an 8-mile radius map to submit to the state for consideration.

   “It is our hope that a Broadband Intervention Zone will help alleviate these problems while also allowing Jones County to become a more attractive option as our region and the State of Iowa look to encourage more growth and development,” the draft letter stated. “Without reliable and fast broadband access, not only does Jones County not appear as enticing to new businesses or residents, but we are also unable to guarantee retaining the population we do have.”

   The board approved the letter of support.

   Lumsden explained that if a sector of the county were designated, it means “we’re recognized as a highly unserved or underserved area” that needs financial assistance to build up broadband infrastructure.

   “All it takes is time to put the application together; there’s no cost or anything to it,” said Lumsden.

   Once the federal broadband money is divided among the states, “anybody (telecoms) who will put fiber internet at those speeds (100/20) in unserved or underserved areas get priority, which means they’re more likely to get that opportunity.

   “There’s a benefit down the road, potentially, if we are designated. There is no guarantee that we will be designated,” said Lumsden.

   “This will help serve the rural areas that are underserved,” said Supervisor Joe Oswald.

   Lumsden said he’s been asking for letters of support from those areas of Jones County to accompany the application, which has to be submitted March 31.

   “I think it’s a no-brainer,” commented Supervisor Ned Rohwedder.

   While the application cannot include the whole county, Lumsden presented three 8-mile radius options to the board.

   “It cannot include the whole county,” prefaced Lumsden.

   The board chose to go with Option 1 because it covers the most households (456). This area lies between Anamosa and Monticello, and includes Langworthy and Amber.

   “The goal at the state level is to do as many areas as possible, but trying to hit so many within each congressional district,” Lumsden explained. “And to make them geographically distributed within the districts. That limits our capabilities.”

   In addition, Lumsden talked with several local telecoms who would look to expand services in that area if they had the funding to do so.

   “Option 1 gives us the most coverage. My goal was to serve as many homes as possible with a designation and hopefully expand from there, depending on the cost share.”

   While Option 1 does include the cities of Anamosa and Monticello, the cities themselves would not be included in the application.

   “Technically they’re already served, so no funding can be used inside the city limits,” said Lumsden. “It’ll mainly all be rural areas.”

   Options 2 and 3 would serve around 350 households, not making the application as attractive.

   “You did your research,” praised Supervisor Jeff Swisher.

   The board approved submitting Option 1 with the application.

   Lumsden said he should hear by the end of April as to whether he was successful or not. He said as to whether the telecoms would apply for the funding once approved, that would depend on the funding match.

   “When it was 80/20, telecoms were all over it. One of the last rounds, it was 50/50. Some of them just couldn’t afford to do it.”