With a $50,000 grant from the Arizona Commerce Authority in hand, Gila County is poised for the next phase of its plan to establish county-wide broadband service.

The grant, awarded to the county in March, will be utilized for a $50,000 contract with planning and design consulting firm Kimley-Horn to develop designs and costs for Phase 2 of the county’s strategic broadband plan. In their Oct. 6 meeting, the Gila County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the contract.

“We started with the idea of looking for something that’s affordable for residents and available countywide as much as possible,” said Assistant County Manager Homero Vela. “If somebody lives 20 miles off the road, they may not get broadband.”

The county has been looking  into broadband since January, when it hired a Utah-based consulting company named EntryPoint Networks. Working with EntryPoint to start crafting a plan, a strategic planning team visited with six local cities and towns to discuss the need for and benefits of a broadband network.

Kimley-Horn will also organize and host community meetings in Jan. 2021, to inform the public and hear their input on a fiber broadband network.

“One of the most important things is the community meetings next January,” said Vela. “We’re going to have at least one public meeting in Globe-Miami and one in Payson, and we can do other meetings virtually. We want to share the plan, the structure, the best cost estimate we can give and as much information as we can gather. We want to gauge the interest not of one, but of many. After we get done with this strategic plan, the constituents of Gila County will drive the process.”

As part of the contract, Kimley-Horn will look into operational models for such a broadband network. Vela said the possibilities are a co-operative, an improvement district, county ownership and municipal ownership.

“There are a lot of electric co-ops all across the United States, but mostly in the West. They’re found in rural areas where the power company didn’t want to go. They don’t generate power; they just distribute it to local customers. The co-op concept could be something we could use for broadband.”

The planning team also reviewed 37 improvement districts that counties are allowed by state law.  A road district is one example: “If you want a paved road and don’t have one, you could create an improvement district in your community,” said Vela. “What does an improvement district do? It helps fund infrastructure the community wants; in this case, broadband. We looked at them to see if there was anything similar to what we think a broadband district would look like.”

Working with EntryPoint, the team compared municipal broadband models; checked into different media such as DSL, wireless internet and 5G; and examined 130 internet service invoices from around the country.  They have also been in contact with service providers like APS, SRP and Sparklight to determine if existing lines could be used.

“Those things are not decided today. You don’t enter into a strategic plan with a decision. You’re looking for the best solution; it’s a brainstorming session, if you will,” said Vela.

He added that the final strategic plan should have enough detail that the county knows the cost not only to create the fiber network - “It should be smart and future-proof, and therefore needs to be fiber,” he said - but also the monthly and installation costs for residents.

When Gila County started down this path, there was no Covid-19 pandemic; but the following months have just highlighted broadband’s importance. “Covid has taught us that we need broadband,” said Vela, “for security, for medical, for education, for entertainment - for all those reasons we depend on it. It’s about quality of life, not just recreation.”

For more information on the county’s broadband plan, and to take a public survey, visit www.connectgilacounty.com.