Lawrence County Commissioners approve an ordinance to spend ARP funds on broadband contract

BEDFORD – The Lawrence County Commissioners approved an ordinance to spend the American Rescue Plan funds, as well as a high-speed broadband deployment, operation and service agreement with Daviess-Martin Rural Telephone Corporation (RTC).

The county received $8,812,591 in ARP funds. Some of those funds will be used for water and sewer infrastructure projects. The funds will also be used for essential work and supplies the county suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ARP fund will also be used to pay for the high-speed broadband service to rural Lawrence County if approved by the county council.

The service will be provided 100 mbps download speed and 20 mbps upload speed through a wireline connection to 450 customers, 255 residents, 168 businesses, and 22 agricultural enterprises, but those numbers could increase or decrease based on actual customer locations.

After the commencement of the project, the county will pay RTC $200,000 upon completion of 25 percent of the fiber by the detailed engineering construction miles as determined by the detailed engineering; $200,000 upon completion of 50 percent of the construction miles, and $200,000 upon completion of 75 percent of the construction miles and another $200,000 when the job is complete.