Chamber Offers Update On Broadband Service To County

February 3, 2023 2:38 am

The Washington County Chamber of Commerce held their February Breakfast Briefing at the Claysville Community Center to update members of the strides made to bring broadband service to under-served areas of Washington County, specifically the southwest corner of Washington County. A round-table discussion with Rick Newton, Vice President of the Claysville Area Business Association, John Timney, Executive Director of the Washington County Authority and Christina Sarson from the civil engineering firm HRG provided their experiences with the project so far. Sarson described difficulty reaching residents for survey input that is usually done on line. Because of the lack of broadband service, they had to resort to 20th century tactics of communication such as postcards. Newton spoke of his group’s efforts to help “Highlander Country” get access to broadband not only for entrepreneurial purposes, but for education and tele-medicine purposes that were brought glaringly to light by the COVID-19 pandemic. Timney provided background on how the county decided that the area was prime for county investment in broadband expansion. His input was the stories behind the story of students needing to drive to cell towers or restaurants to download and upload homework. Foster parents having difficulties emailing required paperwork to service agencies and seniors not being able to access health care via tele-medicine because people just a half mile outside of Claysville are not able to effectively communicate with the outside world. Jeanne Schearer from broadband supplier Kinetic states that they are providing $2.2 million of their money to the project of bringing broadband to West Finley Township. She anticipates the project to be complete at the end of 2024. (Pictured left to right:  John Timney, Washington County Authority; Christina Sarson, HRG and Rick Newton, Claysville Area Business Association Vice President)