The Dakota County Board of Commissioners voted in December to withdraw the county from the Dakota Broadband Board and terminated its financial management services of the board.

The commissioners voted 6-1 to pull out of the consortium with Commissioner Mary Hamann-Roland casting the lone dissenting vote.

Since 2016, the number of homes in Dakota County that have access to high-speed internet has increased from 64 percent to 97 percent, according to Dakota County statistics.

The Dakota Broadband Board was formed in 2017 and is comprised of 10 cites in the county – Hastings included, Dakota County and the Dakota County Community Development Agency.

The Dakota County Broadband Board websites states, “Broadband fiber plays a key role in the provision of many public services across Dakota County. In December of 2017, the Dakota Broadband Board was formed through the creation of a Joint Powers Organization to support the efficient and effective management and expansion of broadband.”

The county had pushed for the Dakota Broadband Board to pass a dissolution plan. That was tabled until May 2023 in November. A resolution passed by county commissioners states: “WHEREAS, a draft dissolution plan was created and considered by the Dakota Broadband Board at the November 2022 board meeting; and WHERERAS, the Dakota Broadband Board voted to table the consideration of the dissolution plan until May 1, 2023; and WHEREAS, the Dakota Broadband Board joint powers agreement allows members who have not provided any system components to withdraw, effective immediately, by providing written notice to the chair of the board; and WHEREAS, Dakota County provides financial management services to the Dakota Broadband Board; and WHEREAS, Dakota County will require all cities who use the county fiber network to sign an indefeasible right to use agreement.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Dakota County Board of Commissioners hereby directs the County Manager to provide written notice on December 15, 2022 withdrawing from the Dakota Broadband Board effective March 1, 2023 and terminating the financial management services agreement with the Dakota Broadband Board; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Dakota County Board of Commissioners hereby directs staff to continue to work with Dakota Broadband Board members to develop a dissolution plan that the Board can support.”

The move was criticized by Hastings City Councilmember Tina Folch at the City Council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 17. Folch is a member of the Dakota Broadband Board.

“I just wanted to quickly give the council an update on the proceedings of the Dakota County Broadband Board. As you know, we’ve been a member since its inception. I feel very personally sad about the course of action which has happened,” said Folch. “They ended up moving forward with dissolution of the Broadband Board. The county is planning to pull out of DBB. They were going to do it immediately, which is amazing within itself, because it’s a very complex group of 11 cities that are members within the county. Everyone signed off on the Joint Powers Agreement that we had.

“What’s really very sad is the haste in which the board has moved and it really was super disheartening,” said Folch.

Folch said now County Commission Chair Liz Workman and representatives from Lakeville and Burnsville pushed the dissolution.

“It was just really shocking. The entire endeavor got kicked off because we wanted to be the most efficient managing fiber assets for our county. The most cost effective, efficient way to do it was by all the cities in the county working together. There’s so much potential for furthering economic development into the future and helping to assist businesses,” said Folch. “We really hoped for the future that it could be an economic development tool. It would put Dakota County in such a position that we would be ripe for going after major grant funds from the federal government. We’re seeing now that the Biden administration is coming out with a lot of money for fiber in the last half of 2022. These three individuals, including the majority of the folks who are on the Dakota County Board just hastily made decisions about dissolving the group and really showed very little interest in being supportive of the other cities that are within the group.”

Funding for future projects that included Dakota County would be individual agreements with each municipality, and Folch said that would give the county control over local projects.

“It really just flies in the face of local government decision-making authority,” she said. “What has happened to the DBB in the last year and a half, two years should be studied by political science professors at major universities, as to the dysfunction of having elected boards, governing groups like this. Good government means having synergy by working together collaboratively. How it all can just be torn apart by political motivation.”

“Our county could have been the leader in our state of Minnesota, just a powerhouse when it comes to moving forward with joint initiatives and fiber projects, and it’s just all been flushed down the toilet, and I can’t even begin to imagine the taxpayer dollars that have been wasted as a result,” said Folch.

She said cities will be asked to sign an agreement with Dakota County that would switch decision-making powers to the municipalities, not the county board.

“When it just comes down to the fundamental rights of municipalities and being able to know what’s best for our own communities, and to have a county board trying to take that away from us, we really need to stand up and pay attention to what’s going on,” said Folch.

Councilmember Trevor Lund suggested having a Dakota County representative attend a council meeting to answer questions on the issue.