County reviews options for ARPA funding

Indiana counties and municipalities have until the end of the year to allocate their American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

Jay County officials have a few different options they’ve discussed for the funding.

An Indiana company proposed another offer for Jay County’s remaining allocation Wednesday.

Jay County Council and Jay County Commissioners heard a request for a match of roughly $2.4 million American Rescue Plan Act dollars to go toward Mainstream Fiber Networks installing broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved locations across Jay County.

If pursued, those sites would include addresses on the east and southeastern portion of the county, as well as a few locations north and northwest of Portland.

County officials also discussed how American Rescue Plan Act dollars may be used per legal requirements.

Council and commissioners agreed Feb. 5 to commit $3.9 million toward a project from Mainstream to install 395 miles of fiberoptic or fixed wireless internet across the county, connecting homes and businesses categorized as unserved or underserved. The overall project, estimated then at $19.4 million and partially funded by a partnership through Mainstream and Searchlight Capital, hinged on receiving approximately $9.5 million in grant dollars through Indiana’s Next Level Connections grants or the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.

Mainstream was not awarded Next Level Connections funding. (Brightspeed, an internet service provider already established in Jay County, was awarded $5.6 million to expand its fiber broadband network to an additional 3,300 locations in 10 counties, including Jay.)

Projects were split amongst counties, with $2.168 million divided between expansion in Jay and Wells counties. (Brightspeed will provide a match for each project, committing a $1.6 million match toward expansion in Jay and Wells counties.) Expansion in Jay and Wells counties would connect 645 additional “passings,” also known as addresses for homes or business, to fiber internet.

Mainstream representatives shared a presentation with county officials Wednesday, displaying a map of Jay County’s current landscape for broadband internet. Chief commercial officer Jeffrey Marston pointed to Brightspeed’s plans for expansion, which generally extend from rural areas in the northwest portion of the county (surrounding Pennville) in a diagonal direction toward the southern portion of the county. Mainstream Fiber Networks had originally planned to build fiber internet in those areas as well as other sites on the east and southeast portion of Jay County. Marston noted the company’s fiber internet locations installed on the west side of the county would have helped subsidize work on the east side of the county.

Between 150 and 200 unserved and underserved addresses are still eligible for funding through Indiana’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, explained Marston. They include addresses on the east and southeastern portion of the county, as well as a few locations north and northwest of Portland.

Mainstream proposed a $7.8 million, two-year broadband project to county officials Wednesday, asking for approximately $2.4 million from Jay County. The company would match those funds at $2.5 million and pursue a $2.9 million grant through BEAD, which opens applications for its first round of funding Sept. 9 and announces awardees Nov. 1.

The goal would also be to cover addresses not categorized as unserved or underserved per state grant requirements for various reasons but could utilize a fiber internet connection.

“After that Next Level Connections was awarded, there were about 3,700 passings — homes or addresses — that still remained uncovered without fiber. With what we’re proposing, this could get us to the next 2,200,” said Marston.

According to Jay County Auditor’s Office, the county has $2,366,882.90 left out of its initial $3.9 million allocation of American Rescue Plan Act dollars. County attorney Wes Schemenaur noted county officials had discussed utilizing other funding streams as well for the project.

Commissioners president Chad Aker pointed out that through BEAD, 75% of project costs are funded by the state with the remaining 25% from the internet service provider, with no required match from the local community.

“But there were organizations or counties that were providing the match just as an incentive,” he said.

Commissioner Rex Journay asked Mainstream representatives why its project was not awarded funding from Next Level Connections and, subsequently, why the company believes it will get funding from BEAD.

Shawn Gardner, director of community outreach and government affairs at Mainstream Fiber Networks, said he believed a lot of the funding went to fiber providers planning to expand their pre-existing connections.

“Early on, in Next Level Connections (round) four project, (state officials indicated) counties who don’t get funding in Next Level Connections (round) four will be first of the line in BEAD,” Gardner said. “So, we’re holding them to their word on that.”

County officials also heard from Jay County Emergency Management Agency director Samantha Rhodehamel about efforts to switch local emergency responders to the Integrated Public Safety Commission’s 800 megahertz statewide radio system.

Jay County Commissioners approved a $178,500 contract Monday with Ritter Strategic Services for planning, procurement, engineering, project management and other work related to joining the statewide system.

Rhodehamel explained that the consulting firm’s owner, Barry Ritter, is expected to provide a cost for portable radios by mid September and potentially determine the overall cost for infrastructure in October.

Also Wednesday, council and commissioners heard a presentation from Schemenaur on the county’s potential usage of American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Schemenaur explained American Rescue Plan Act dollars maybe used in four main ways per United States Department of Treasury’s guidelines: as a revenue replacement for lost revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic, as a response to public health and negative impacts of the pandemic, as premium pay for essential workers or as an investment in water, wastewater and broadband infrastructure.

Funds must be obligated by Dec. 31. Obligations include the county being under contract or an interagency agreement. (The obligation requirement isn’t fulfilled if the funds are merely budgeted, appropriated or moved, or if only a resolution is passed.)

Schemenaur noted a few projects on the table for the county, which include developing the county’s 68 acres on the west side of Portland — he suggested the county could enter into an interagency agreement with Jay County Redevelopment Corporation, Portland Redevelopment Corporation or the City of Portland for the project — Mainstream’s broadband project or investing in emergency responder radios. (Other potential uses, he noted, could be constructing a new Jay County Highway Department building, a new public safety building for Jay Emergency Medical Service, Jay County Health Department and Jay County Coroner’s Office, or a new building for Jay County Solid Waste District.)