Plymouth Township chair urges county help after incomplete BugTussle fiber build leaves rural homes without service

Don Baumkamp, chairman of Plymouth Township, told the Rock County Board of Supervisors during the public comment period that he and neighbors contracted for fiber service from internet provider BugTussle but that the company has not completed buried service to several homes. Baumkamp said the fiber lines currently installed remain above ground, and that a nearby resident’s mowing accident severed a fiber line. “We ended up coming down Orfordville Hanover Road … I do live off the road approximately a quarter of a mile … They said they could put it in and then they decided that they weren’t because it was too much of a cost,” he said. The county administrator was asked to follow up. County Administrator Randy was asked by the board to “look into that and kind of get back to us,” a request acknowledged during the meeting. Baumkamp said he and neighbors had agreed to take multiple paid connections to offset build costs; he said his current over-the-air service delivers about 50 Mbps for $72 per month while a completed fiber connection would provide 1 gigabit for about $8 more per month. “Both my wife and my neighbor’s wife do work from home and rely on the internet,” he said. The item was raised during the citizen participation section and no formal action or resolution was taken; the county administrator’s follow-up request is a staff direction rather than a board vote. Board members did not debate policy changes or funding during the meeting; the matter was left for staff follow-up and possible later reporting to the board.