Ten Cities Honored For RS Fiber Cooperative Project

The League of Minnesota Cities has honored ten communities in the south central part of the state for their role in assisting to launch the RS Fiber Cooperative.

At its annual state conference on June 16th, the League awarded its “City of Excellence Award” in the 5,000 to 19,999-population category to the cities of Brownton, Buffalo Lake, Fairfax, Gaylord, Gibbon, Green Isle, Lafayette, New Auburn, Stewart, and Winthrop.

 In a news release, League officials said: 

“These 10 cities, along with 17 townships, worked collaboratively for five years to provide South Central Minnesota residents with access to high speed, affordable, and reliable “gigabit internet service. The cities created a joint governance structure that aligned local taxpayer interests across entities, and initiated a public/private financing structure that enables residents to obtain internet broadband services at minimal risk.

The cities developed grassroots support for the project by hosting more than 150 meetings and by personally contacting hundreds of residents, local businesses, and government officials. Over the next five years, thousands of households and rural farm sites and hundreds of businesses and community organizations will be able to receive high-speed internet service access that greatly exceeds previous services provided by national telecommunications firms.

Communities need reliable broadband access to attract and retain new businesses and residents. The success of the “RS Fiber Cooperative Project” confirms the value of small communities working together with private interests to make a positive difference in lives of constituents.” 

Mark Erickson, former Winthrop city manager who was instrumental in developing RS Fiber, told us he was excited about the award.

"It was a cool award to get; an important recognition for our little towns," said Erickson, currently Winthrop economic development director. "I'm just proud of the mayor and councils in the ten communities for having the vision and patience to make the RS Fiber project happen. When communities take steps to insure better futures for their residents, good things can happen."

Officials for the RS Fiber Cooperative, named after Renville and Sibley Counties, expect the fiber-optic network to be completed by the end of 2016 for residents and businesses in the ten cities; build out to the 17 townships should be completed by 2021. Estimated cost for the total project is $45 million. 

We expect this won’t be the only accolade for the RS Fiber project, which is gaining national attention for having formed a new telecommunications cooperative. This spring, we released an in-depth report on the RS Fiber Cooperative that notes some of the highlights of the project and why it's so special. You can download the report at RS Fiber: Fertile Fields for New Rural Internet Cooperatives.

Check out our other ongoing coverage of the project.

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