When the Arrowhead Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI) newsletter The High Line By Line went out to customers in May, it included an update on the electric cooperative’s efforts to bring broadband Internet service to Cook County. The newsletter reassured cooperative members that although progress is slow—only 100 miles of the 800 planned miles of fiber optic cable have been installed— work is still progressing.
Members in the Grand Marais area were also encouraged upon receipt of a letter at the end of April from AECI that included a permission mailer and customer site survey form in preparation of bringing fiber optic lines to homes. However, AECI CEO Jeanne Muntean said the collection of that information does not mean installation of broadband in imminent.
Muntean said unfortunately, the process of receiving economic stimulus funds from the USDA Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for the $22 million broadband buildout is taking longer than expected. “It’s bureaucracy,” Muntean said in a phone conversation on May 8.
Something she is used to, said Muntean, noting that RUS funding for projects on the “electrical side” has been known to take up to two years. With million-dollar projects involving federal government funding, progress is frequently slow. “This is a $22 million project. Arrowhead’s entire physical plant is $23 million. It takes a lot of planning to complete projects like this,” she said.
The broadband project is complicated by the fact that it is new to everyone— including AECI’s contacts at RUS. “RUS was handed a plateful of projects all at once,” said Muntean. “There are over 300 projects under way at this time in the United States. RUS has to do its due diligence. With all of these awards in the United States, it has slowed things down for everyone.”
Muntean said some communities have withdrawn their request for broadband funding because of how drawn out the process has become. “If anyone has ever applied for a grant for anything, they know all the paperwork that is involved,” but Muntean said she is confident that the funding will eventually be available.
“Because we are used to dealing with RUS, we are slogging through this,” said Muntean.
However, that does not mean the cooperative is moving ahead at full steam. Muntean said the cooperative first applied for stimulus funding in 2009 and learned that it would be receiving a broadband infrastructure grant and loan in 2010. At that time, AECI was informed it had a 36 month deadline to complete the project.
Muntean said AECI began construction prior to receipt of grant funds. “The money we used to build the 100 miles is all Arrowhead money. When we found out all that needs to be completed before receiving the money from the federal government, we put the brakes on. The board and staff don’t want to spend any more money until these agreements are in place.”
Muntean said there is a long list of documents that must be completed for the stimulus funding. Agreements and approval must be obtained from a number of agencies—the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, the Cook County Highway Department and others. Once those agreements and approvals are completed, they must then be reviewed and approved by RUS.
AECI continues to work with its RUS general field representative (GFR) and the cooperative is using the time to continue planning, said Muntean. She said the deadline for completion is now June 2015. She said AECI still has a contract with Pulse Broadband for design and engineering on the broadband project. Mastec is still the construction company.
But for the near future, planning is all that is being done, which Muntean acknowledges is frustrating. “It is especially troublesome because we only have a three-month construction season.”
She said in addition to working on the documentation for regulatory agencies and RUS, AECI is seeking assistance from federal legislators. The Cook County Broadband Commission is not involved in the buildout of broadband in Cook County, but they obviously have an interest and broadband committee members Howard Hedstrom and Danna MacKenzie have contacted legislative representatives to see if they can do anything to speed up the process.
“It is like building an electric system from scratch and our focus is on making sure we do everything right according to federal policy,” said Muntean. She added, “This project means so much for the people of Cook County and I know that Arrowhead is up for the task.”
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