The Monongalia County Commission on Dec. 30, 2024 voted to award its second-round broadband expansion RFP to Frontier and authorized the commission president to sign a substantially similar agreement by 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2024. Commissioners also approved a resolution supporting a West Virginia Industrial Access Road Grant Program application for the Mylan Park development and extended an ARPA subrecipient agreement for the City of Westover.

The contract with Frontier, as presented by Allison Ellis, Frontier's senior vice president of business development and private partnerships, covers a project budget the commission described in the meeting as $953,519. County officials said Frontier will contribute 17% of the project cost and the county would use ARPA funds for the remainder, reported in the meeting as $791,421. The project was described as serving about 80 unserved or underserved locations with a further ~171 addresses gaining an additional service option, for a total of roughly 251 potential addresses and about 11 miles of new fiber.

"We're looking forward to connecting these locations with fiber," Allison Ellis said, thanking county staff and noting Frontier's participation in the earlier RFP round. The commission president praised Frontier's local customer feedback and said the company had improved its reputation in the county over the past year.

County leaders framed the decision as part of a sustained ARPA-driven infrastructure push. The commission reviewed its ARPA spending for 2024 and said its ARPA investment of roughly $20.5M–$20.7M helped leverage about $46M in project value across water, sewer and broadband projects; the transcript provided those reported totals during the meeting. Officials described the county's approach as prioritizing water, sewer and broadband projects while using a revenue-replacement allowance for limited other work.

Separately, Russ Rogerson and Ron Justice described the Industrial Access Road grant application for Mylan Park, a project intended to improve access from Chaplin Hill to the KOA campground and other park facilities. Presenters said the state program typically provides up to $400,000 per county per fiscal year for industrial access roads and that the access work would be designed to state specifications and reimbursed to the developer. The commission voted to adopt a resolution supporting the application and forward it to the state.

The commission also approved two personnel actions in the sheriff's office: the appointment of Chris Wolfe as a full-time civilian administrative officer and the appointment of Perry Palmer as a full-time grants coordinator, both effective Jan. 1, 2025. Commissioners accepted the commission's 2024 year-end report and approved an amendment extending the ARPA subrecipient agreement with the City of Westover to Dec. 31, 2025.

Votes at a glance: All items below were approved by voice vote at the Dec. 30 meeting.
- Consent agenda (minutes, vouchers, payroll, fiduciary orders): approved (voice vote).
- Appoint Chris Wolfe, full-time civilian administrative officer, effective Jan. 1, 2025: approved (voice vote).
- Appoint Perry Palmer, full-time grants coordinator, effective Jan. 1, 2025: approved (voice vote).
- Authorize commission president to sign a broadband agreement substantially similar to the draft (RFP 2024MCC005) by 11:59 p.m. on 12/31/2024: approved (voice vote).
- Adopt resolution supporting West Virginia Industrial Access Road Grant Program application for Mylan Park: approved (voice vote).
- Amend ARPA subrecipient agreement with City of Westover, extend performance to Dec. 31, 2025: approved (voice vote).
- Accept 2024 year-end report: approved (voice vote).

What the record shows: meeting materials and on-the-record remarks list the Frontier project cost, contribution split and approximate address counts as described above; those figures were presented during the commission discussion and are reported here as stated in the meeting. The commission said Exhibit C (service-area phasing) and a performance bond level remained to be finalized before signing. The county also noted roughly $1.4M in interest earned on ARPA funds held pending project use.

Next steps: The commission authorized the president to sign the broadband agreement once Exhibit C and the performance bond language are finalized; staff said Frontier and county project leads expected to finalize attachments immediately and to coordinate public outreach and a potential groundbreaking once engineering is complete. The Industrial Access Road application will be forwarded to the state for consideration under the West Virginia program.