County backs out of million dollar commitment to fiber internet project; Commissioners instead give $200,000 to WRVEC as local contribution

Ozark County commissioners have changed the amount of money they are giving to White River Valley Electric Cooperative as a local contribution toward a region-wide high speed internet project.

Presiding County Commissioner Terry Newton told the Ozark County Times that, even though commissioners last year committed $1 million to WRVEC for the fiber optic internet project, they have decided to only give $200,000.

County Clerk Brian Wise confirmed that a check for $200,000 was given to WRVEC this past week.

Newton said he hated to go back on a commitment, but that there were several major county building improvement needs and other funding issues that have to be addressed.

“Of course I hate it that we can’t keep what was promised to them,” Newton said, adding that the decision to earmark the million dollars was made before he took office. “I mean, obviously I never voted for it and I want to live up to commitments on behalf of the county, but our first obligation is to the people of Ozark County and what’s best for them,” Newton said. “We have to spend money on what’s best for the county.”

Commissioners last year submitted a written commitment to WRVEC to earmark $1 million toward the high speed internet project that includes all of WRVEC service areas of Ozark, Douglas, Taney, Christian and Stone counties.

WRVEC had asked for a $10 million total commitment from the five counties it serves. The cooperative had requested $1.4 million from Ozark County from the $1.8 million the county had received from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA), federal funds tied to covid-19 relief.

“It’s unheard of,” said Cassie Cunningham, Manager of Communications and Member Engagement for WRVEC. “It’s unfortunate that the Ozark County Commission can’t fulfill their written commitment. We hope they will re-evaluate their decision and keep their commitment.”

“I understand some people are concerned about the written commitment, but we’ve presented this to our county attorney and have gotten other legal advice, and it wasn’t a contract so we’re not bound by it,” Newton said. “Understand, I hated not being able to follow through with it, but we have to do what’s best for Ozark County.”

Cunningham said that while WRVEC is thankful for the $200,000, she worries that the commission going back on its commitment will give the county a “black eye” and could jeopardize future grants.

“The local contributions and commitments helped us score higher on the grants, and we were fortunate enough to get these grants,” Cunningham said. “From the beginning, we were counting on local support for this project.

The overall cost of the total project is estimated at about $260 million, WRVEC officials have said, and the build timeframe is about five years with high speed internet starting to reach the first customers in 2024.

“The other thing that made this a little easier for us to decide is [WRVEC] is getting more grant money for this project than what was originally thought,” Newton said. “Plus there are a couple counties that aren’t giving anything to this and they’re supposed to get the fiber optic internet the same as we are.”

Prior to Ozark County’s decision to reduce its contribution amount, WRVEC officials said $9.3 million was committed to the project as local contributions from Taney, Stone and Ozark counties. Douglas and Christian counties did not contribute to the project.

Additionally, WRVEC applied for seven grants through the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The Cooperative received funding for all seven applications. The total awarded for WRVEC’s broadband project was $47.3 million. In fact, WRVEC was the largest recipient of the ARPA grants in the state of Missouri. The cooperative is also pursuing other grant funding options as well.

“They’ve been awarded significantly more grant money for this project than what we thought originally,” Wise said.

Cunningham said Douglas County notified WRVEC at the onset that they were not able at the time to commit any funding. “So they didn’t overpromise and underperform,” Cunningham said. She said WRVEC is still working with Christian County on possibly contributing to the local funding.

“The goal was to try and secure $85-100 million in grants for this project,” Cunningham said. “We are still pursuing and will continue to search for grants and any available funding options.”

Early reservations

There were some reservations by commissioners in contributing the money to WRVEC from the start.

Eastern District Commissioner Gary Collins said he was reluctant to vote to give the original $1 million to the cooperative. “I don’t like the idea of giving that much money to them for this, because they’re the ones who will be getting paid by the people who sign up for it,” Collins said in a March 2022 meeting when commissioners voted to earmark the money. 

“Well, I was kinda hesitant too,” said Western District Commissioner Layne Nance. “But when we first started receiving the ARPA money we didn’t know what all it could be used for and we knew we could use it for internet. Since then we’ve found out that it can be used for other things.”

Cunningham said Ozark County’s decision to cut back the funding wouldn’t stop the overall project. “We’ve made a commitment to provide fiber-optic internet to all of our customers and we intend to do it,” Cunningham said. She did say the hiccup may affect the rollout. “I’m not saying it will, but when there are major changes like that there’s a potential,” Cunningham said.

County building, other needs

Newton said the $800,000 the county was going to give to WRVEC will now go toward other projects, particularly major maintenance and repairs at county-owned buildings such as the jail, courthouse and recycling center.

“There are a lot of repairs that need to be made to the jail,” Nance said. “And the recycling center needs some serious attention.”

County commissioners toured and inspected county buildings last week, and Wise said the jail will need a new roof and several other repairs. The courthouse needs work, more specifically the handicap ramp is crumbling and the elevator will need to be updated.

“The recycling center is in bad shape,” Wise said, especially the older building … it’s going to need a lot of work. I didn’t realize it was that bad.”

Commissioners voted Monday to advertise for bids for a new roof at the jail, and to open bids on April 10.

Nance said other projects at the jail include some windows, other improvements, maintenance and new lighting is needed. He said the old recycling center building is leaking and will probably need a new roof as well.

Nance said other county buildings also needed some minor repairs and updates.

“It may be that we have to upgrade our elevator at some point and that’s not going to be cheap,” Nance said.

Commissioners have been informed that the elevator is obsolete and that, even though it currently functions fine, if something was to break on it they cannot get parts for it anymore. “If even a button goes out on it, then it will shut the elevator down,” Wise said.

The county is looking at removing the crumbling handicap ramp on the west side of the courthouse, since it isn’t ADA compliant anyway. If commissioners remove the ramp, then improvements to the basement entrance would be needed and additional handicap parking added on the southeast corner of the square.

“Plus, let’s be real here, we don’t know what’s going to happen with the law enforcement tax thing,” Wise said.

Ozark County voters approved a half-cent law enforcement tax last year, but the measure was deemed illegal by the Missouri Department of Finance & Administration because the tax would put the county over the threshold it can receive for law enforcement tax funding.

State senators and representatives are working on a solution with filed legislation that’s currently making its way through committees, but there’s no guarantee it will become law.

The sheriff’s department has had to count on supplemental funding from the county’s general revenue fund for several years, and last year Sheriff Cass Martin had to lay off several employees and change the way the department responds to calls to keep the department in the black.