Another job for consultants without any appreciable results all at taxpayer expense. If the community feels a need for better broadband services, then they probably do need better broadband services. The consultants will spend the money to produce a nice report without any increase in broadband penetration. Data are readily available for a county staff person to draft a high-level report outlining the issues and challenges then they could draft and RFI and provide it to several communications suppliers so they can provide their input as to how to improve broadband services in the county. A wise commission would proceed down this path and save the money. $6 million could serve approximately 10,000 homes which could easily eliminate a percent of those homes not currently served by any broadband access. Municipalities and counties need to be wise on how they spend their money.
Surprising as it might seem, there are areas of Shawnee County that don’t have adequate access to the Internet.
“We have students, families and patrons of 372 who are currently underserved or unable to access quality and affordable broadband,” said Tim Hallacy, superintendent of Silver Lake Unified School District 372. This, he said, at a time when teaching and learning — not to mention business interests — rely heavily on quality Internet access.
With Shawnee County’s selection as a pilot community for a statewide initiative to address that issue, a group of local taxing entities hopes to figure out exactly where those areas are and what they can do collectively to improve services.
In so doing, the entities hope to set a course for the community’s future, enhancing education, work force, public safety and financial stability by connecting to the digital economy.
“We’re going to be exposed to a lot of tools to help us learn more about what broadband means to our daily lives,” said Shawnee County Commissioner Shelly Buhler, immediate past chairwoman of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council. “I don’t know what the end result will be, but I think it’s important that we’re at least discussing it.”
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