On October 19th, 2020, at the Doddridge County High School, Kris Warner, US Department of Agriculture Rural Development State Director, after requesting Denver Burnside to lead the group in Prayer and it was held, announced that Citynet would be receiving a 7.6 million dollar grant to install a fiberoptic cables to provide internet service to the those in Doddridge County who do not have service.
Attendees included USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources Jim Hubbard, Senator Shelly Moore Capito, Congressman David McKinley, Jim Martin CEO of Citynet, and many more State and local dignitaries.
USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources, Jim Hubbard spoke to the fact of the need of establishing internet service to the rural communities which will provide access for businesses, tele medical and for the students across the State.
Shelly Moore Capito, United States Senator, told her story about traveling the State in 2014 and realizing the tremendous need for broad band service in the communities, which she which led her to strongly support the ReConnect funding program in the US Senate. As a side note, she indicated that she would be voting to approve the new CARES Act and to move forward with the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett as the new Supreme Court Justice.
Congressman David McKinley recognized the DC Schools for being the only County in the State whose schools did not receive any type of State Aide. He went on to give kudos to Shelly Moore Capito taking the initiative and energizing the ReConnect program. He commented that the County Commission understood about moving the County forward and also thanked Amy Swann for her assistance in the development of the water lines in the County. He noted the plan for the area was coming together and thanked Citynet for their assistance.
Jim Martin, President and CEO of Citynet was introduced by Warner
and Martin began by telling the attendees that he was raised in Beverly,
WV and indicated he knew of the real problems with Broad Band in rural WV and it became his mission to bring Broad Band to the rural areas in West Virginia.
He spoke of the hard work in the County between the DCEDA, DC County Commission and the DC School Board in the prior planning and start up funding phase and of their first plan to build line of site broad band system, which ran into problems due to the houses being mostly built in the valleys, instead of the hilltops which led to Citynet to choose to run with fiberoptic cable that will follow the Federal Guidelines.
He indicated that Doddridge County was chosen for the ReConnect Broad Band initiative due to it’s growth and investment in education.
Their first thought to place the fiber optic cable along side of RT 50 but the houses were not there so they decided to instead place the cable alongside of the North Bend Rail Trail from Parkersburg to Clarksburg. This project began this past summer and he projected that when this phase of the project is completed, not only will the base cable be laid but the Rail Trail will be stoned from Parkersburg to Clarksburg.
Representing Senator Manchin due to the Senator being absent, having meetings in the Capital, Ryan Thorn conveyed Senator’s Manchin’s greetings and thoughts concerning the ReConnect program, thanking those who had been involved.
Shawn Glaspell spoke on behalf of the DC Commission, describing how they had begun hearing about the ReConnect program through Shelly Moore Capito as early as 2014, the decisions made by the Commission and their joining with the DC School Board with this project.
Adam Cheeseman, DC School Superintendent was introduced, and after pointing out that his mask was in support of the Doddridge County Cross Country teams, he voiced three reasons for his excitement over the ReConnect Broad Band initiative.
Number one is that ReConnect will create equity not only in the County for the students who need internet access but for the County in the business world; Secondly he said it is truly a Private/Private relationship and thirdly, there will be student input through Jason Learning Program and in the future, a call center at the schools for the students to answer the help desk, preparing them for future employment.
The total cost of providing Broad Band Internet service to areas of Doddridge County that does not have internet service was not spoken.
We know the Doddridge County Commission had ear marked 1.5 Million Dolars about a year and a half ago for internet service to the County and the School Board joined the Commission by ear marking $600, 000. Citynet at that time was to match the earmerked funds for a total of 4.2 Million Dollars.
With the USDA grant of 7.6 Million Dollars, this should being the total investment to at least 11.8 Milllion Dollars.
