Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission has received an extra pair of “eyes and ears” and a few more dollars to assist local community broadband expansion. On April 5, Executive Director Mary Ellen Barnes told commissioners LCRPC received a $10,000 Maine Broadband Coalition grant. County commissioners accepted the grant which makes the commission a “community practitioner” and includes funds for a “connectivity booster.” Under the grant, LCRPC receives $6,000 and a $4,000 stipend is paid to Evan Goodkowsky who will serve as a connectivity booster.

 

LCRPC will serve as one of several community practitioners administrating MBC grants. Commission representatives will attend monthly community broadband committee meetings, provide input on agenda topics, share tools and resources for successful broadband planning and oversee the connectivity booster’s work, based on grant guidelines.

 

Goodkowsky has already worked with one local broadband effort. Wiscasset and Dresden are working with the Sagadahoc County town of Woolwich in developing their municipal broadband networks. The three Midcoast towns all contributed $7,500 from municipal American Rescue Plan Act funds for network development. Barnes told commissioners cooperation between towns would likely lead to expanding common resources toward each town reaching its broadband goals. 

 

“There are 18 towns in Lincoln County, and a lot is going on,” she said. “We’re here to communicate with the towns in assisting their broadband projects. Some are pretty well-built, and others are just underway. This will keep us in touch with communities and provide them information and resources.”

 

The grant is designed to provide resources in developing several broadband expansion goals such as creating an up-to-date inventory of all-county broadband priorities, weekly communication with commission staff, expanding the commission’s webpage, and coordinating multiple town projects. Another goal is introducing towns to the state’s VETRO Broadband Intelligence Platform which assists in broadband mapping and coordinating with a commission point-person on GIS (geographic information system) mapping. VETRO is a Portland software company.

 

Under the grant, there are also shared responsibilities between the community practitioner and connectivity booster. Joint duties include assisting in filing grant applications, tracking rules and expectations and communicating with town leadership about potential local matching grants. 

 

Barnes also updated commissioners on several communities’ broadband expansion progress. She described Damariscotta and Newcastle as starting anew. The Twin Villages have worked with their incumbent provider Lincolnville Communication for a couple years. “Newcastle and Damariscotta are at an interesting point in their development. They have a lot of information, but haven’t submitted an application yet,” she said.  

 

South Bristol is a town Barnes described as just starting out and working with LCI similar to other towns on the Bristol peninsula. Alna had an expansion a couple years ago and Barnes estimated the town was 50% broadband served.

 

Edgecomb has no broadband committee and is “about 95%” served by Spectrum. “There are pockets which need expansion like Mt. Hunger and Spring Hill Farm Road. Selectmen are still determining how many households need service,” she said. Nobleboro is about 33% served with fiber optic and coverage is divided between providers. 

 

Whitefield and Westport Island are working with Spectrum and are “mostly covered.” Barnes described Boothbay, 94% covered, and Boothbay Harbor, 98% covered, as “in good shape.” Barnes added both towns would likely continue to work with current provider Spectrum. In Southport, the town is working on a municipally owned option for expanding broadband. “Southport is in a decent position. They applied for a $400,000 ConnectME grant which we should know about in a month, and they have a solid plan,” she said.

 

More broadband funding may be available later this year. Maine received $129 million in federal monies designated for broadband expansion. The funds will be doled out by the Maine Connectivity Authority. “It will be rolled out later this year and funding may be available by the fall,” Barnes said. “The money is there, but towns will likely have to provide matching funds by showing they’ve invested in the project. This can be accomplished by using town or county funds, working with a provider and possibly starting a municipal committee.”