Rock County’s portion of the $14 million broadband Internet service project was paid in full Wednesday, April 6, at the start of a pre-construction meeting.
Rock County Board Chairman Jody Reisch presented Alliance Communications General Manager Ross Petrick the check for $1 million, as the formal agreement was signed.
Alliance Communications, based out of Garretson, South Dakota, is providing the bulk of the monies for the county-state-private business venture called the Rock County Broadband Alliance Project.
The project received a $5 million state grant to bring fiber-to-the-premises service to rural residents in Rock County and the cities of Jasper (Rock County side), Hardwick, Beaver Creek, Magnolia and Kanaranzi.
Because of the increased costs due to the grant’s prevailing wage stipulations, the southeast portion of the county originally wouldn’t have received the service.
To bring the option to the entire county, commissioners opted to bond $1 million to match Alliance’s additional contribution.
About 50 people representing contractors, subcontractors, the railroad, county, townships and area cities attended the Wednesday morning pre-construction meeting.
The group was informed of construction plans as follows:
•Last week crews with Michels Corporation, the project contractors, and project engineers Vantage Point Solutions of Mitchell, South Dakota, began moving equipment into position to bury the almost 555 miles of fiber-optic cable. The Michels representative expected crews to be at full force by the end of April.
The number of machines would tally at two rural mainline plows, two rural drop crews, two to three town crews and one to two town drop crews.
•Burying of cable is scheduled to be completed by late November with every residence signed up for the service fully connected by June 2017. The schedule could change depending on weather conditions.
•The crews will primarily work Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. However, survey crews marking existing utilities in the rights of way may work weekends and longer hours in order to stay ahead of the cable-burying crews.
•Crews will work in a north to south progression through the county.
•Marking of the tile lines within the ditch rights of way are the responsibility of the tile owners. To alert plow crews to tile locations, owners are to use plastic pink-colored flags to designate them from utility lines. The pink flags are available through Alliance Communications and/or from township officials.
•A temporary construction office is being sought, preferably in Hardwick.