Latest / Kendall County News - Shaw Local / Kendall County broadband initiative names leadership board
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- 0:05Speaker 1: Kendall County Broadband Initiative names leadership board. Written by Joey
- 0:11Speaker 1: Weslow and Eric Shelkoff, This article is being read by
- 0:15Speaker 1: an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. As a
- 0:19Speaker 1: new project aims to bring high speed internet to underserved
- 0:23Speaker 1: areas across Kendall County, the nonprofit organization leading the program
- 0:27Speaker 1: announced its new slate of leaders organized on behalf of
- 0:31Speaker 1: Kendall County. Foxfiber assembled community leaders to oversee the Kendall
- 0:36Speaker 1: County Broadband Initiative. The nonprofit will build, own, and operate
- 0:41Speaker 1: a countywide broadband network that delivers reliable, affordable, high speed Internet.
- 0:47Speaker 1: When completed, the county is projecting around fifteen thousand homes, businesses, farms,
- 0:52Speaker 1: and public institutions will be served by the network. The
- 0:56Speaker 1: new members of the nonprofit's board of directors are Keith Landovitz,
- 0:59Speaker 1: Scott Coppel, Megan Briganty, Tim Tremain, and Paul Plofchan. Foxfiber
- 1:05Speaker 1: said the board members bring a wealth of expertise in
- 1:08Speaker 1: local government, technology, manufacturing, economic development, and mapping and information systems.
- 1:15Speaker 1: Landowitz will serve as the board's chairman. He brings experience
- 1:19Speaker 1: in software engineering and as an engineering manager working on
- 1:23Speaker 1: commercial data processing systems. Coppel is the village administrator for
- 1:28Speaker 1: Sugar Grove. Between emerging technology, work from home and remote
- 1:32Speaker 1: school work, access to high quality, reasonably priced broadband is
- 1:36Speaker 1: vital for everyone, said Copel in the release. Briganty is
- 1:41Speaker 1: Kendall County's Director of Mapping and Information Services. Tremaine is
- 1:46Speaker 1: president of mt H pumps. Plofchan is president of Pivot Tech.
- 1:50Speaker 1: The nonprofit said both of them brings strong backgrounds in business,
- 1:53Speaker 1: technology and infrastructure initiatives. Tremaine said connectivity will strengthen the
- 1:59Speaker 1: carey's growth potential. I do not want the lack of
- 2:03Speaker 1: broadband internet service to limit what our residents, educational institutions,
- 2:08Speaker 1: or businesses can achieve, Tremaine said in the release. The
- 2:12Speaker 1: people deserve more choices when it comes to affordable broadband
- 2:16Speaker 1: internet service, and this project is designed to provide that,
- 2:19Speaker 1: he said. The nonprought said the initiative's mission is to
- 2:23Speaker 1: support economic development, enhance residents lives, reduce internet service costs,
- 2:28Speaker 1: and help local businesses thrive through community owned, locally operated
- 2:33Speaker 1: fiber connectivity in Kendall County. According to a release, Fox
- 2:38Speaker 1: Fiber said the initiative will benefit Kendall County families, schools,
- 2:42Speaker 1: and employers alike. Last year, the Kendall County Board approved
- 2:46Speaker 1: Denver based technology firm Pivot Tech Development to partner with
- 2:50Speaker 1: the county to build the broadband system. The first phase
- 2:54Speaker 1: of the project will pass about four thousand, seven hundred addresses,
- 2:58Speaker 1: bringing fiber connectivity to communities including Lisbon, Millbrook, Millington, Montgomery, Newark, Oswego, Plattville,
- 3:06Speaker 1: and Yorkville. The project is being built with no tax
- 3:10Speaker 1: burden on residents and will be sustained through network revenue.
- 3:14Speaker 1: The launch includes the integration of Newark net Ink into
- 3:17Speaker 1: Fox Fiber and the sale of about thirty one million
- 3:21Speaker 1: dollars in tax exempt bonds, alongside a fifteen million dollars
- 3:25Speaker 1: grant from the Illinois Office of Broadband to pay for
- 3:27Speaker 1: the project.