Tears of joy, sighs of relief, smiles all around, standing room only, and lots of high fives! A pledge card was handed to Tim D. from a commissioner showing his support…. That was the scene yesterday at the commissioners meeting following a 5-0 resolution to back the RS Fiber project to the next phase.
The RS Fiber Marketing Committee kicked off over a year ago with zero pledges in the bank. With tremendous volunteers and community support, today, we have 3,903 pledges. That means 10,900 residents in Sibley and Renville county want to be a part of this fiber infrastructure and make their lives a better place today and their future.
Before you can support a project, you must first understand what it is and what it means to you. If you believe in a project you take ownership and share your feelings with friends, neighbors and family. That is exactly what, together, our communities have done.
Mr. Nytes moved his vote today by saying, “The numbers are there, so I support it.” Yes the numbers are there. Over 55% of the people have spoken with a positive pledge. This is support.
What is next?
On Thursday, April 26th, the Joint Powers board will be deciding on the engineer. Then it is off to bonding. This process will take approximately 60-90 days. The legal papers will go to the city councils and commissioners for their review. In order to remain a player in this project, you will need to agree to the terms of the bonding. Following this step, it is onto the building of the infrastructure and hooking up of customers.
On behalf of the marketing team, we say “Thank you” to everyone who stepped forward with their pledges, time, support and efforts in accomplishing this major step. It was truly a team effort!
WELL DONE! This is VERY EXCITING NEWS. Let’s keep this project going and make it a reality!
I have been contacting the Arlington City Council and Mayor trying tell them how important rsfiber in Arlington. I feal Arlington will be left in the cold if are not in.
Rick