Clark Board preparing for decision on broadband proposal
The Clark County Board of Supervisors will be meeting in a special session on July 6 to get more information on a proposal from a private carrier to use the county’s borrowing power to finance a major broadband communications upgrade around the county.
The Board will meet at 7 p.m. at the Courthouse in Neillsville. No action will be taken that evening, and Board Chairman Wayne Hendrickson said it is strictly an informational meeting to prepare supervisors for a July 21 vote on the proposal. The session is open to the public.
The Board will be getting more information from Bug Tussel Wireless, a private company that is looking to build a fiber optic network in the county to improve broadband internet service. At a May 19 meeting, Bug Tussel presented a plan that asks the county to use its borrowing power to obtain $18 million in financing for the fiber optic upgrade. As a private company, Bug Tussel cannot obtain either the interest rates or the loan length term that a county can, and it says it needs that financing option to be able to invest in the network upgrade. It would then recoup its investment over the years when it sells faster internet serves to county residents.
Bug Tussel has recently had its application approved for state Public Service Commission (PSC) grant funding for its Clark County proposal, to the tune of $2.27 million. That would reduce the amount of funding it wants the county to back to less than $16 million.
Clark County would not actually be borrowing the funds, but would allow Bug Tussel to use its municipal borrowing capacity to get the money. Bug Tussel is asking multiple other counties in the state to also sign on to similar proposals, and could eventually invest as much as $240 million on broadband service expansion.
Mitchel Olson, Bug Tussel Wireless chief development officer and general counsel, told county supervisors in May that it is a “very expensive proposition” to build the backbone fiber optic network needed to improve internet speeds for underserved areas such as Clark County. Using counties’ financing power to get cheaper money over a longer period of time (30 years) would make the investment affordable, he said. Bug Tussel, which is owned by Hilbert Communications, would take on the debt, Olson said, and the county would only be on the hook to repay it if the company would fold.
Some supervisors at the May meeting said Bug Tussel’s proposal does not protect the county from possibly having to repay a loan.
“Clark County provides absolutely all the security and your company provides none,” said Supervisor Fred Schindler of Curtiss. “The liability is off the charts, in my opinion ... That’s asking way too much.”
Hendrickson also said the venture has risk.
“We’re not a banking business. Why should we guarantee your loan?” he said.
Other supervisors contend this is a rare chance for the county to upgrade its poor internet service speed issue. Mitch Weber, the county’s IT director, said most of the county is now covered by digital subscriber line (DSL) service and it provides slow speeds, at a relatively high price.
Hendrickson said it will take a yes vote from a three-fourths majority (at least 22 of 29 supervisors) of the Board to pass the measure on July 21. In May, the Board voted 16-13 in favor of a preliminary resolution that allowed Bug Tussel to explore options further. That resolution required only a simple majority approval for passage.
If the measure does not pass on July 21, Hendrickson said the chance for having a countywide fiber optic system for better internet services will be lost. Other companies such as TDS and Frontier offer services in parts of the county, and may invest in better services but only in their coverage areas.
“I don’t know what the other options are,” Hendrickson said.
