Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Whitman County commissioners Monday approved $1 million from the .09 economic development fund to go to the fiber-to-the-home and rural fiber extensions to transmitter sites project for the Port of Whitman.
Another $600,000 was approved for the Moscow-Pullman Airport runway realignment.
The $1 million will go to design and construction of a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network in five rural towns in Whitman County. The project will also bolster an existing transmitter network with mid-mile fiber extensions to three transmitter sites.
The towns are Rosalia, Oakesdale, Palouse, Tekoa and Garfield.
The county funding is one part of the $4 million project cost, to go with the Port’s $2 million local match for a .09 grant and a $1 million loan from the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB). The final $1 million is a grant from CERB.
“There’s no clearer nexus to economic development in Whitman County, in my opinion,” said Michael Largent, commissioner.
The project is expected to start in the second quarter of 2020, to be completed by the end of the following year.
The work is slated to add broadband internet capacity, improve speed of access in the towns and give new access for areas around the towns.
Brenda Stav, communications director for Port of Whitman, cited project beneficiaries as homeowners, businesses and farmers using precision ag tools.
“Any of the businesses located in the towns, quite a few work from home, private businesses, things of that nature,” Stav said.
$600,000 to airport runway project
County commissioners also approved Monday $600,000 for Moscow-Pullman Regional Airport runway realignment project, partly because, as noted by Commissioner Art Swannack, the federal government matching funds are available for 92 cents to go to every eight cents put in by the county.
.09 program/Hawkins
Much of the $450,000 - $600,000 coming to Whitman County each year from the state .09 program was being set aside in recent years for the county’s obligation to the former Hawkins project.
“Where that obligation is gone, we have more flexibility with this money now,” said Swannack.
.09 funding comes from a refund of that percentage to state sales and use tax collected in the county.
The county had $3.6 million in its .09 fund before these two awards.
Also as part of the .09 funds, the county each spring grants $100,000 of it to towns or economic development agencies, chosen by the Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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