‘Nebraska Broadband Bridge Act’ key discussion topic at city meeting

Tuesday, Sept. 28, Grant’s City Council met to discuss a variety of topics, including broadband expansion, a proposed street improvement project and nuisance updates.

Representatives from Great Plains Communications and Gigabit attended the meeting to share updates about LB388, “Adopt the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Act,” and what that means for the local community.

Action was also made on the proposed street improvement project on 8th St. from Sherman Ave West to the west end of the Perkins County Schools bus barn.

Nuisances were also once again discussed, and action was taken to abate one property in town.

Broadband expansion

When the floor opened for public comment, Kevin Poppe with Great Plains Communications shared updates on LB388.

He said it is a good program, and they have followed it to the legislature, and it mirrors the DED program that was administrated last year. Great Plains, he said, did seven communities with that program.

Unfortunately, he said Grant does not qualify for further broadband expansion under LB388 because the broadband speeds offered in the area exceed the standard set by the bill.

If speeds of 100 megabytes per second down and 20 MBps up, then the community is considered fully served and not eligible for grant funds.

Great Plains has added capabilities to now offer 1,000 megabytes per second download (gigabit) with 20 MBps upload.

Poppe said Great Plains would love to be a part of the broadband expansion, but the community simply does not qualify. LB388, he added, is intended for communities that cannot offer the services that are available in Grant.

Russ Pankonin also attended the meeting with the intention of proposing the City work with Gigabit to build a fiber-to-home network throughout the City of Grant.

However, because Great Plains has implemented speeds that make the community ineligible for funds from the bill, this was not an option for the city at this time.

Street improvement project

The council discussed the proposed street improvement project on 8th St. from Sherman Ave West to the west end of the PCS bus barn, and City Superintendent Ed Dunn said they had brought up this project during budget time and this is what they had budgeted for.

Now, it is time to get contractors bidding on the project, he noted.

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