VW County earns broadband designation

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Tuesday was a busy day for the Van Wert County Board of Commissioners, with meetings on old Community Action Commission business, as well as meetings with a group promoting broadband access in Ohio and one on fiber optic cable installation and a drainage dispute along the Kline Ditch.

The commissioners first met with Jim Stripe, who is involved with leftover items from the former CAC, to talk about possible county liability in connection with its involvement with low-income housing units in the county.

The commissioners, through the CAC, had some oversight over public housing units at Apple Glen Apartments and other units. A public housing agency had to be set up to provide a conduit for funds involved with public housing, but Stripe, who is listed as an officer of the entity, had some concerns that he and the county could have some financial liability related to public housing.

“We have sort of a lingering issue left over from the CAC,” said Commissioner Thad Lichtensteiger, who added that County Prosecutor Charles Kennedy III was asked for a legal opinion on whether the county could sign off on the entity and end the county’s involvement with public housing.

The commissioners also met with Erica Petrie, mobility manager for the Area Agency of Aging, who talked about that agency’s transportation services for seniors and those disabled. The services would be in addition to services now provided by the Van Wert County Council on Aging and Sources of Celina.

On Tuesday afternoon, the commissioners met with Jeff Beebe of Connect Ohio, who announced that Van Wert County would be the first of Ohio’s 88 counties to be a Certified Connection Community. According to County 9-1-1 Coordinator Kim Brandt, the county had to meet a number of criteria, including government and education connectivity, to qualify for the designation. The program is part of the Connected Nation initiative, which promotes broadband access, adoption and usage.

In a related meeting, the commissioners met with Lonnie Pederson of Telephone Service Company of Wapakoneta and several local people, including Brandt, Economic Development Director Cindy Leis and Van Wert Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming to discuss the possibility of completing a fiber optic “loop” that would provide needed redundancy for the county 9-1-1 program, as well as for government and educational broadband services.

A fiber-optic cable was previously installed from the S.F. Goedde Building to the Van Wert Municipal Building that provides high-speed Internet connections for Van Wert City Schools and city and county government, among others. The meeting Tuesday was to explore the possibility of installing fiber-optic cable from the east side of the city to the Municipal Building to close the “loop” for the local fiber-optic system.

Doing so would allow more flexibility in providing high-speed Internet and other technology services, as well as provide redundancies that could become important for 9-1-1 and other services in the event of a weather-related or other disaster.

TSC is to seek bid proposals for the project, which Lichtensteiger said could cost somewhere around $10,000, similar to the cost of the first project from the Goedde Building. Doing the project with TSC could also result in phone service savings for the city and county, the commissioner said.

The final meeting on Tuesday was with those involved in a drainage dispute along the Kline Ditch. Lichtensteiger said that meeting took two hours to conclude, but noted he thinks the situation should be resolved soon.