Monongalia County approves Frontier broadband expansion, backs Mylan Park road grant and extends ARPA deadline

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…