MORGANTOWN — Nine months.
That, according to Ice Miller Whiteboard’s Lindsay Miller, is how long it will take to pull Monongalia County’s comprehensive broadband plan together.
Miller explained as much during a Wednesday work session that included the Monongalia County Commission and members of the county’s broadband technical committee as well as representatives from the city of Morgantown and the West Virginia House of Delegates.
A subsidiary of Ohio-based law firm Ice Miller, Ice Miller Whiteboard was selected to put together the county’s broadband plan at a cost of $250,657. The firm is working with consulting firm DLZ on the project as well as Lit Communities, which specializes in network infrastructure.
Putting together the plan will not only involve figuring out what the county currently has and lacks in terms of connectivity and service providers, but also engaging with stakeholders, identifying potential funding sources and piecing together exactly what it will physically take to get everybody online.
“What we want to be able to provide the county with in the end is really options,” Lit Communities Lead Jessica Fowler said. “We need to know what this whole thing is going to look like so we can understand how much it’s going to cost to build.”
And while cost would have traditionally been a stumbling block for a project as complex as providing county-wide broadband, Monongalia County Commission President Sean Sikora said the $20-plus million coming to the county through the American Rescue Plan has significantly reduced those concerns.
He went on to say the commission is ready to turn “broadband” from buzzword bandied about by politicians and talking heads to a reality in Monongalia County.
“We’re looking to start showing them fruits and progress going forward so they say, ‘Ok, these guys are really doing something,’ ” he said.
