County to get broadband funding…

When the state awarded funds to be increase broadband in underserved areas, making use of CARES Act funding to create the Connect Wyoming initiative, Crook County had high hopes it would be among the beneficiaries. But while two local projects did get the green light, it wasn’t nearly at the scale the county commission had been hoping for.

“We recently put out a request for proposals to obtain broadband service in the unserved areas of northeastern Crook County,” explains Commissioner Jeanne Whalen, who set out to investigate what became of the county’s hoped-for plans.

“The commission worked extensively with Visionary and Celerity, sharing data and writing a letter of recommendation for each company to submit along with the company’s application for funding from this particular pool of money.”

The Wyoming Business Council announced last week that Range was approved for $1,897,095 in funding for a fiber build to serve the residences and businesses of Aladdin. Visionary was approved $1,291,803.12 for a fixed wireless build to serve Recluse, Rozet, Moorcroft and Buffalo.

The two projects that came about through the county’s request for proposals were not on the list of approvals. The commissioners felt that those two projects would go a long way towards providing broadband access in rural Crook County, so Whalen says she was both shocked and disappointed.

“I questioned Kudera as to why those companies did not get funding while Range – who did not respond to the County RFP – did,” she says.

“Apparently there were technical issues with each application so they were put aside. Mr. Kudera assured me there was still state funding available and, once the companies fix their issues, they can apply for that stream of funding.”

The two applications that resulted from the county’s RFPs appeared to have support from the Wyoming Business Council. At July’s regular meeting Broadband Manager Ryan Kudera introduced the Connect Wyoming program, which aims to utilize CARES Act funding to install broadband in unserved and underserved parts of the state, and confirmed that areas of Crook County fit into these categories.

Kudera confirmed at that time that Visionary and Celerity were looking to “shift the application that was directed to Crook County towards that program.”

The broadband expansion initiative was created by Governor Mark Gordon and state legislators, with the goal of providing internet access in areas where there is no or little broadband. This was felt to be an acceptable use of pandemic-related federal funding because it will allow more Wyoming citizens to access telehealth, pursue education from home and work remotely.

“This funding will help connect rural communities in Wyoming that may not have had the chance to get service otherwise,” said Gordon as the announcement was made that, on August 14, the Wyoming Business Council approved 37 of the 81 project applications submitted to the Connect Wyoming program, totaling $86 million across 15 counties.

Whalen was able to confirm with Range that the approved project in the Aladdin area will run fiber from the WY Visitor’s Center north on Hwy 111 to the intersection of Hwy 24, and then go east. It will include the Aladdin Post Office.

“All of these CARES Act projects must be completed by the end of the year. There is still work that needs to be done: contracts signed, crew hired, etc., so even though the commissioners applaud the improvements some Range’s customers will receive, this is not a guaranteed deal yet,” Whalen says.

“Meanwhile, the 105 homes and businesses in the CenturyLink service area continue to wait for broadband opportunities.”