Town Trustees Appoint Internet Committee  

Ore Cart photo - October 24, 2021

Rico Board of Trustees
regular monthly meeting

October 20, 2021

- 1st in a series of 2 reports -

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Town of Rico Board of Trustees appointed volunteers to an Internet committee at its regular monthly meeting, October 20 at Town Hall. The evening session was simulcast on KSJD-KICO and Zoom video conference service.

Town had posted a request for volunteers in the Community Announcements section of its website earlier in the month:

The Town of Rico is seeking residents that are interested in serving on an internet committee. This committee will be responsible for directing efforts to improve internet speed and access in the community. If you are interested, please attend the Rico Board of Trustees meeting that will take place at 6:30 PM at the Rico Town Hall located at 2 Commercial St. on Wednesday, October 20th.

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The same notice appeared on the Rico Bulletin Board Facebook page October 15, 2021, posted by Kari Distefano, with an option to submit Letters of Interest to townmanager@ricocolorado.gov.

Rico Mayor Pro-Tem Nicole Pieterse reported the results of a recent meeting with Direct Communications to the Board of Trustees. Direct Communications is Rico’s telephone and Internet service provider:

• Directcom has applied for State internet grants for service in other communities, and is willing to do so for Rico.
• Directcom's grant writer was present at the Rico meeting.
• The grant being considered will require no matching funds from Town.
• Directcom is willing to put-in $200,000 to $300,000 of its own money.

At the first Internet committee meeting October 26, Direct Communications representatives and committee members will discuss grant funding opportunities, according to committee member Jim Ostrem, responding to a text message inquiry October 21. Directcom representatives will travel from the main office in Idaho, as occurred for the September 6 meeting at Rico, which Ostrem, Pieterse, and Jory Hasler attended, he stated.

The October 26 meeting is likely to be closed to the public, as “legal aspects for the Town” may be discussed, Ostrem stated in a text message.

The proposed grant source is the Colorado Broadband Fund, which covers 75% of the cost of fiberoptic system installation. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) contributes 25%.

The Colorado Broadband Fund will present a funding application process webinar November 15:

Excerpt from Colorado Broadband Fund October 2021 newsletter:

Broadband Fund Winter 2022 Grant Cycle Webinar

Monday, November 15 at 10 a.m.

The Broadband Fund will host an informational webinar on the process of applying for funds from the Broadband Deployment Board. We will go over the mechanics of the application, highlight new developments in submission requirements and statutory modifications, and field questions related to the application process.