WV Sen. Rollan Roberts (R-Raleigh) has mixed feelings about the American Rescue Plan, but he told Raleigh County County Commissioners he was going to work toward ensuring District 9 gets some of the funding the plan will provide.
Roberts spoke before the commissioners during their Tuesday, June 22, meeting, just two days before the WV State Legislature plans to meet in a special session to consider the fate of $250 million in supplementary appropriations for 21 different state initiatives.
“You are about to enter into a challenging time,” Roberts began. “The money that is being given to the municipalities, to the cities and to the counties is going to come with strings attached to some extent, but it will also be a great opportunity.”
He noted that he wants to be fiscally responsible, but $755 million is in the bank for West Virginia and more will be coming. That money can be “piggybacked” and “partnered” with areas to complete much-needed county projects.
“I don’t want us to lose out,” Roberts said, comparing what is going on with fund distribution as a type of gold rush. He said this funding will support numerous projects throughout southern West Virginia including economic development of the New River Gorge National Park and for expanding broadband access throughout rural areas.
The USDA Rural Development Fund has already been set up to provide $8 million per year to West Virginia for the next 10 years to create a network of broadband connections, Roberts explained. However, more funding is needed.
Continuing discussion on broadband access, Commissioner Dave Tolliver told Roberts that the commission needs help finding a solution with fiber optics franchise owners who will not return their phone calls.
According to Tolliver, commissioners would like to use funding to expand broadband down Route 3 from Glen Daniel to Whitesville and along Co. Route 1, but they cannot move forward with the plan until Segra (a Virginia-based company that owns the fiber network franchise) representatives establish communication.
“What will we do if Segra doesn’t give us permission to hit the poles?” Tolliver asked.
Roberts said that the varying layers of service providers and pole ownership throughout the region is a “conglomerate mess.”
Because the many different layers of corporate ownership are difficult to manage, further legislation might be needed to end this practice — just as with a recent law to change how Frontier gave access to the poles, Roberts stated.
“With Segra, I’d be happy to go to bat,” Roberts said. “We need to play hardball.”
Tolliver concluded that students in some of those rural areas must travel to Liberty High School or another location to get to an internet hotspot and that the commissioners will continue to work with state officials to ensure broadband expansion is a success.
In other Raleigh County Commission business, Morgan Spolarich was approved as a new Raleigh County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney; commissioners approved a request from the EOC to change the name of Ellis Street to Daisy Way; commissioners approved the purchase of an $18,000 forklift for the Lillian James Learning Center; commissioners approved a $10,000 request from the Whitesville Volunteer Fire Department to update the radio communications system for the ambulance service; commissioners approved the purchase of 10 radios for litter and animal control at the cost of $35,000; commissioners approved a $5,000 DUI grant for the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department; and, commissioners approved the 2021 AML economic grant pilot program for the Piney View/Batoff Mountain sewer extension.
The next meeting of the Raleigh County Commission will take place on July 6, at 10 a.m. in the Raleigh County Commission Chamber.
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