MORGANTOWN — Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday opened technical proposals from 10 firms looking to help design a comprehensive broadband plan for the county.
Thompson & Litton, of Princeton, was the lone West Virginia representative among proposals from Missouri, Virginia, Colorado, Utah, Maine, Ohio, Maryland and Iowa.
“That’s a great response,” Commission President Sean Sikora said, later noting, “Honestly, I would have been happy with five.”
Each submittal came in two portions, a technical proposal and a cost proposal. The cost proposals were not opened.
Asked if the commission had a ballpark as to what this planning process might cost, Sikora declined to provide a number.
“They tried asking for that, too,” he said. “We didn’t want to provide that. I don’t know what the region plan costs. I hate to put a number to that.”
Sikora did say the commission earmarked $250,000 in its current budget to initiate broadband efforts.
Commissioner Tom Bloom previously mentioned using a portion of the roughly $20.5 million identified for Monongalia County as part of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package in the push for broadband.
Bloom said he’s hopeful the state will also contribute, as West Virginia is set to receive $138 million specifically for broadband as part of the relief funds.
“So there’s $130 million coming from the feds for broadband, plus what we may want to put into it,” Bloom said. “We want it done correctly. That’s why it’s got to be a comprehensive plan.”
The proposals will now go before the county’s broadband committee, which is made up of Sikora, Jeff Welsh (county IT director), Andrew Gast-Bray (county planner), Mike Fortney (MECCA), Erik Carlson (Morgantown Area Partnership), Ron Lytle (BOE) and Bill Austin (MMPO).
Also Wednesday, the commission approved the annexation of one parcel, located at 370 Chaplin Road, into the city of Westover.
Westover Mayor Dave Johnson said the parcel was the lone holdout when The Gateway development was being put together, but had since been purchased by the developers.
“There was a deal already worked out that they would stay there until they decided to leave or whatever happened,” Johnson said, noting the longtime resident of the property had died in recent weeks.
Lastly, the commission approved Main Street Morgantown’s request to use the Courthouse Square April 10, May 8, June 12, July 10, Aug. 14, Sept. 11 and Oct. 9 for arts walks.
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