by John McLoone

If one good thing comes out of COVID-19, areas of

Dakota County that have limited internet access should have that changed.

The Dakota County Board heard of plans at its special meeting last Tuesday to use Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to help boost broadband in underserved areas.

Chief Information Of_ cer Dan Cater presented the plan.

“What we’d like is to use CARES Act dollars in the area of broadband and to focus on the underserved areas and try to get the private ISPs (internet service providers) to go out there and provide service,” he said.

Cater noted that companies like Charter and Comcast have expressed interest in expanding _ber optic lines to serve areas not currently served with help from the county.

With people working from home, and just as importantly learning from home into the near future, the plan could be a big help.

“We don’t know what this fall will look like,” he said. “Residents of the county in areas that are unserved are

kind of hurting.”

Under the plan, an unspeci _ed amount of the county’s allocation of CARES Act funding would help expand

_ber optic cable to allow

internet access. The county will not own the cable upon

competition, the ISPs will.

“The county is not going to own anything,” said Cater.

“This is trying to incentivize or lower the cost for the providers within areas of the

county where there might not

be R.O.I. (return on investment).”

County board members

were supportive of the plan and will review spending

requests when proposals are

presented by ISPs.

“We all want to improve

broadband in our county. There are little tiny pockets

all over the place unserved,”

said Commissioner Kathleen Gaylord. “It’s kind of funny to see how it is that one block doesn’t get served. Let’s

hope we can get someone interested in doing this.”

The ISPs are champing at

the bit to get going.

“Charter for one has already brought a project in front of me and said, ‘Do you think this will meet the criteria,?’” said Cater.

County Commission

Chair Mike Slavik directed to get word out to the ISPs to develop projects,

and the commission will tackle them as soon as possible.

“We’re kind of in a weekly meeting with the CARES Act. We do have

some options that if you

can move fast on some of

this, we can look at it.”

Commissioner Liz Workman asked about project ownership. “Did I hear you say

we would not own that _ ber?” she asked.

Cater answered, “The way I see these projects going, who knows what will end up being proposed, I see this going a lot like the last state Border to Border Broadband Grant. I see CARES Act and private money going

into these projects. And in the end, the county didn’t

own it. We don’t have to maintain it. It’s the ISP’s

asset. When Charter and Comcast both contacted

me, they were very happy

with that answer.” “That makes sense

when you give that explanation,” said Workman.

It was noted that some

county townships have

asked about putting a portion of their CARES Act funding into expanding broadband also.

“Townships were allocated roughly $400,000. Collectively, a number of them have approached me on giving some of the money they’ve received to Dakota County,” said

Slavik. “There might be

some local dollars coming from the townships as well.”

While there’s no budget, the county has set aside $2 million in CARES Act funding for the broadband expansion. Plans from ISPs for commission review are expected in early August.

Minnesota Employment and Economic Development Of_ce of Broadband Development map showing broadband service in

and around Dakota County.