Broadband access to expand in phases around county

Broadband internet becoming available to all residents of Taylor County is continuing to make progress. Mike Bub gave an update to the Information Technology committee on September 5. Bub stated, “we have good news, the county buildings are now all connected.” He continued, ‘The City of Medford is connected, but not up and running just yet.”

Bub also gave an update on the progress that Bug Tussel has made in Taylor County. Bug Tussel is one of the companies the county has contracted with to provide broadband internet to residents of Taylor County. Bub informed the committee that “they (Bug Tussel) are building towers in Taylor County as we speak.” Bub continued, “Bug Tussel will be connecting residents to broadband later this fall.”

As a result of the added competition in Taylor County, residents of Taylor County should see much better pricing. Bub mentioned that, “consumers in Taylor county will be getting much better pricing than we have had in the past.”

Also on the agenda was discussing the Taylor county Information Technology 2024 budget. The budget will see a 12.5 percent increase in 2024. Information Technology Director, Melissa Lind, prepared the proposed 2024 full budget. Lind started by stating, “the budget will see a big increase,” but added, “we did add a position for 2024.” The position that is being added is the broadband manager position. The broadband manager position was recently posted but not yet filled.

During the meeting the committee decided to make a couple of changes to the proposed salary of the broadband manager. It was decided that the proposed budget would include the maximum salary of $81,432. The committee was in agreement that it would be better to budget for a higher amount, rather than propose a lower amount and the position ends up costing more than what they budgeted for.

A far as the operating budget, the budget will stay relatively status quo. One area where the county will see a big change is savings on internet. In 2023, the county budgeted $75,600 for internet. But in 2024, the county will see major savings. The proposed budget calls for internet to cost $30,000, a savings of $45,600.

The last big topic of the meeting was a discussion on the possible creation of a remote work policy for the county. Bub stated, “We don’t have a policy right now.” He questioned the committee, “do we want a policy?” Working remote has become a very popular trend throughout the state and country since the Covid-19 pandemic forced many people to work from home. Bub said, “ remote work is becoming more and more prevalent.”

Along with remote work comes the need for added security. Cyberattacks are on the rise. Bub questioned, “Do we need to look at our security?” This prompted a lengthy discussion on cybersecurity and different avenues the county can take to protect their systems with the possibility of more employees working remotely. One of those avenues would be adding multi-authentication when employees log on to the county’s network. Member Tim Hansen said, “A lot of things are requiring multi-authentication.”

There is still discussion that needs to be had on what the policy would look like and steps the county will take. But as Bub stated, “We need to stay ahead of the curve.”