Applications from two townships for broadband funding via the federal infrastructure bill have been approved by the Berrien County Board of Commissioners. Speaking at Thursday’s meeting, Commissioner Teri Freehling said the applications from Oronoko Township and Bainbridge Township are the first two to be submitted. There are still two months for municipalities to apply for ARPA broadband funding.
“There will be a letter that will be going out circulating to municipal leaders highlighting the work that BC Bit, the broadband taskforce, has been doing on this objective and also highlighting the fact that those two grants have now been approved by this board,” Freehling said.
Freehling said BC Bit will carefully consider future broadband funding. The grant approved Thursday for Oronoko Township is for $700,000 for 27 miles of fiber optic cable. The grant for Bainbridge Township is $562,000 for 15 miles of fiber optic cable. Each township put up a match, using the ARPA dollars they’ve already received. Also Thursday, the county commission approved a $185,000 contract with DCS Technology Design to do a countywide map of broadband availability. Freehling said it’s still needed by many townships. DCS will do a rural broadband inventory of 2,300 road miles and 1,581 square miles of Berrien County.
