Lucas Roof named to development authority
The Fannin County Board of Commissioners has taken the first steps to becoming a “Broadband Ready” county following a presentation from Fannin County Development Authority Executive Director Christie Gribble during the board’s regular meeting Tuesday, February 11.
“The state of Georgia created a program called Georgia Broadband Ready in 2018 as a result of legislation being passed at the state level, it was Senate Bill 402, to promote broadband deployment in areas not currently served at a minimum broadband speed of 25 megabits per second download and 3 megabits per second upload,” Gribble said. “If we apply, it shows the state, at a local level, we have taken steps to reduce obstacles to broadband infrastructure investment.”
Chairman Stan Helton discussed the importance of becoming broadband ready stating, “That has the potential to really help people who work out of their homes, particularly in rural areas.”
Both post commissioners agreed that moving forward would be beneficial to the public.
Post One Commissioner Earl Johnson said, “I don’t see how we could not move forward,” and Post Two Commissioner Glenn Patterson said, “I think we definitely need to do it. We don’t need to be slow about something like that. I like for Fannin to be on the cutting edge of any kind of technology.”
The board voted to take the appropriate steps to advertise, seek public input and potentially pass an ordinance declaring the county broadband ready and setting a single point of contact and providing a timeline for those interested in expanding broadband in the county. The board will also need to amend the comprehensive plan to show the county’s goal of expanding broadband.
According to Gribble, becoming broadband ready could help the county pursue grants to expand broadband in the future.
“Eventually the state of Georgia may have a pool of funding that they can grant to communities to help expand broadband services,” Gribble said. “As a county, we can’t put internet lines in the ground. However, if a utility line wants to expand to a certain area and put money into it … we could go after grant money to help expand broadband in the future.”
In other Development Authority related action at the commission’s meeting, Gribble requested that Fannin County School System Director of Applied and Integrated Instruction Lucas Roof complete Assistant Superintendent of Facilities and Operations Darren Danner’s term through July 2021 on the authority board.
“Lucas Roof got put into a new position to support CTAE and STEM for the school system and Darren recommended having Lucas come on the board because we’re already working together closely with different meetings,” Gribble said.
The request was unanimously approved by the board.
The board also voted to spend no more than $10,000 to fix various “significant” leaks at the authority’s Ada Street building.