No one in Belmont County knows the exact percentage of residents that do not have Internet access, but it is an issue that was quickly recognized during the time when school students were forced into virtual learning when the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020.
In Ohio County, Superintendent Dr. Kim Miller estimated that 11 percent of the district’s students are without broadband in the areas in which they reside, but Belmont County’s public school system is set up very differently.
“We have seven school systems in the county, and parts of other districts, too, so it makes it tough to calculate,” explained Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton. “But if you speak with each of the superintendents, I’m willing to bet they could go from one student to the next and tell you about their situation.
“In 2020 and last year, we had a few companies reach out to us to see if they could help, and those people were immediately connected to the school officials for efforts to add access in problem areas,” he said. “And those conversations have continued, too, and we have reached out to Congressman Bill Johnson because he sits on a committee that has direct federal oversight of broadband. He’s been informed about the superintendents and their knowledge about the access issues their students have had. We believe that raw data would be information the congressman could use when making the case for sending funds in this direction, and I believe we will see that take place in the near future.”
On the List
Cost of Living. Housing. Crime rates. School systems. Job market. Roads.
And broadband access.
When an individual or a business owner is investigating a new location, those are the top factors they research before making a decision. The more attractive a community is, the better chance to gain new commerce and residents, and that is why Dutton is dedicated to improving what Belmont County has to offer.
“One of the reasons why we are working to expand broadband in Belmont County is because we believe it could lead to some of the former residents of the county to move back because now they are working remotely from home,” the commissioner explained. “Maybe they want to move back here to family property, but that area lacks the kind of Internet access they would need for whatever reasons.
“What I hear the most from people who have moved away is that they wish they could be raising their kids here, but it’s not possible because of the lack of broadband,” Dutton reported. “That’s why, in a bunch of years, I really want to be able to look back and know that we had something to do with laying the groundwork. If we’re successful, maybe residents can continue to live here and raise their children here while working remotely for a company somewhere. Expanding broadband is definitely a piece of the puzzle when trying to add population.”
From Private to Public
The premise is easily understood.
Private companies such as Comcast have developed broadband systems throughout the country, but the concentration always has focused on areas dense with population. That is the primary reason why residents living in the most rural areas in the Upper Ohio Valley have been left behind.
That, however, is changing in some ways, according to Commissioner Dutton.
“In some cases, establishing the infrastructure to expand access in rural areas will fall back on the public sector,” Dutton said. “At least that is something we’ve started to see with state and federal programs that have come on board with grant funds during the past year. I believe there’s also some pressure on the private companies to expand access as much as they can on their own.
“Of course, when it comes to the private sector, business is business, but certain projects have been identified that have not been very expensive at all. If they do more, they would be eligible for the grant money from the state or the federal government,” he said. “I am very hopeful that we will see improvement during the next couple of years. I know we are doing as much as we can as a county government to make that happen.”
Tax Dollars
Dutton and Belmont County’s two other commissioners, Josh Meyer and Jerry Echemann, have worked extensively on the Commission’s budget to make sure the taxpayers are getting the best bang for their buck.
They also have restructured the county’s debt service while continuing to utilize federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan in the best ways possible.
That is why, Dutton revealed, if the county Commission chooses to enter into a private-public partnership with a broadband provider, the dollars just might make sense.
“Providing funds is a possibility in the future, but to this point, we’ve not had to expend any money. All of our work has involved granting access to our water towers and 911 towers so they could extend their signals for cell phones and wifi access,” the commissioner said. “One company is laying fiber as we speak, but that company raised all of the funds that were needed. They are putting in $12 million worth of fiber, too, so some residents will be very happy in the future.
“But if funding from the county is needed, it is definitely an option for us,” Dutton explained. “We have seen a lot of progress being made in the county and the last thing we want to see is the expansion stop taking place.”
This has been an issue of mine since I was in high school. Even then I could tell it was going to be a big problem for the area because folks running things around here just don’t get the importance of something like broadband internet. It is really refreshing to see Commissioner Dutton speak to this though. As far as I’m aware there has been little, to no, communication about the gigantic lack of broadband access here in Belmont County. Dutton is correct that if this area had more readily available broadband internet we’d be more attractive for people to stick around or even move here. We haven’t made many decisions to address this for essentially my whole life which is quickly approaching 40 years. I work in tech and saw firsthand how bad the situation is here when looking for a house 4 years ago. My work requires I have high speed internet available at home. Great neighborhood after great neighborhood on main roads, like State Route 40, that had zero broadband access. So frustrating when you can see the Comcast line on the poles on 40 but they have no interest in running it in the neighborhood. I ultimately settled on a house where I had to pay Comcast almost $5,000 to extend their line by three telephone poles. I was fortunate to be able to afford that but not a lot of folks can and quite frankly no one in the country really should have to given what we waste money on in this country. I think, on the whole, that people would like to be able to stay near their families. People can’t do that when their career choices are so limited. To be brutally honest, the job selection here isn’t going to attract the majority of folks. Highly volatile energy sector jobs just won’t cut it. Not everyone wants to deal with that kind of uncertainty. The pandemic has shown us that any kind of work in front of a computer can be done at home with a good internet connection which has exploded the work from home options. We have the lower cost of living that people have been flocking out of cities for. We weren’t prepared to capitalize on this trend and we really haven’t done much to correct that. Kids having to go to their local McDonalds parking lot to get access to internet so they could do their homework shows how sad the state of affairs are around here. Thankfully, there are a couple of companies running fiber in the area around the two colleges, but we need to have an all of the above approach. As far as I’m concerned, if a house has electricity/phone lines running to it then there is zero reason why they can’t also have fiber connected as well. Is that an oversimplification? Sure. I am also acutely aware that a lot of folks will sit here and tell me it costs too much? Absolutely. My counter to that is that if it were pipelines for oil and gas it would be done already. Local government would be jumping to give all kinds of breaks and tax dollars for it. Money can be found, the will just has to be there, and the will hasn’t been there. I hope that the commissioners will continue to be vocal about this issue and collectively work with the local/state/federal government as well as private enterprise to get this thing taken care of. Only good things can come of this. Increase installation of quality broadband internet to all the corners of the county then more people can move here or stay here. Local businesses can be more competitive by offering more, or more efficient services. Local agriculture can utilize more technology with their farming. All of these things lead to a higher tax collection which can allow all of our local governments to afford to keep their utilities/infrastructure maintained. We’re all acutely aware of how bad that situation has become as well by just looking at all of the water issues we have here. We cannot keep letting young folks leave this area in droves while dumping the burden on the elderly around here to keep things going by constantly raising their bills to pay of the loss of tax income.