Fiber Myopic

Columbia County officials, especially new Administrator Scott Johnson, must have seen their lives flash before their eyes last Monday when word got out that State Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers introduced Senate Bill 313, the Broadband Investment Equity Act. Though Rogers says it’s a good old-fashioned Republican kind of bill aimed at keeping government from competing with the private sector, there are plenty of Republicans in Columbia County who would disagree. Call them realists, opportunists or Republicans in name only, but Columbia County officials are perfectly fine with whatever advantages the broadband network they’re building might give them. In fact, they’re counting on them. Not only did they beat out a lot of other communities for $13.5 million in federal grant money to lay down a cutting edge fiber infrastructure, but they’ve also invested millions in local money and have earmarked millions more. A few days before the announcement, Johnson, who as deputy administrator made the broadband initiative a top priority that was quickly adopted by the rest of the county’s power structure, was talking about how the infrastructure could help Columbia County attract the kind of tech-forward businesses they wanted to see relocate there. Businesses were leaving places that didn’t have that kind of infrastructure and moving to places that did, he said. A few days later, the Government Center was in crisis mode, desperately trying to digest the bill, communicate with the delegation and figure out what it might all mean. Will the requirements of the federal grant conflict with whatever might come out of Atlanta? Or might they suffer the fate of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which got caught mid-project when a similar law passed and was not exempted. Columbia County’s project has several months to go before completion. Critics of the bill complain that it’s just an example of politicians bowing to the lobbying efforts of the big-spending cable providers, and while Columbia County has said all along that it wants to work with the cable providers, they’re definitely nervous at the prospect of losing the big advantage they were banking on, not to mention the money they’ve already invested.You Might Also Like: