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Infrastructure committee recommends Marathon County send letter supporting Serenity’s broadband grant application
Summary
The Marathon County Infrastructure Committee unanimously recommended the county board provide a letter of support to Serenity/Wittenberg Tower for a state broadband expansion grant application; Serenity said it will seek two grants covering roughly 250 locations and that applications are due July 27.
The Marathon County Infrastructure Committee voted to recommend that the full county board provide a letter of support for Serenity (also referred to as Wittenberg Tower) to accompany an application to the state's broadband expansion grant round. The motion was moved by Supervisor Coyle and seconded; the committee carried the motion by voice vote.
Supervisor Robinson introduced the item and turned the floor over to Scott Diamond of Serenity, who described recent grant developments and the company’s proposed projects. “This grant round caught us all by surprise,” Diamond said, explaining that the state issued a new $60 million grant round and released a list of eligible locations. He said Serenity already holds a BEAD award to build fiber serving approximately 272 locations in the Pike Lake/South of Hatley area but is preparing two additional applications—a smaller and a medium-sized proposal—targeting roughly 250 locations on Marathon County’s map of eligible sites.
Diamond said NEPA and environmental-permitting materials for the previously awarded BEAD project have been submitted to the state broadband office and that he expects environmental approval could take about six months. He indicated that applications for the new round are due July 27 and that a county letter of support is a factor in the grant scoring process.
Supervisor Robinson and other supervisors noted Serenity’s prior performance on state grant projects and encouraged the company’s application; Robinson said the request was for an expression of support rather than a financial contribution. Committee chair Dickinson confirmed the procedural step: the infrastructure committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the full county board for final action.
The committee did not discuss the technical details of individual network routes during the vote; Diamond said towns of Reed and Ringle, among others, were part of the outreach process and that municipal support was being sought. The committee’s recommendation clears the way for administration to provide the requested letter in time for the July submission deadline.
