This week, Minnesota Public Radio’s Ground Level has profiled seven Minnesota Counties and their broadband situation. It’s a concise look at what each county has done and is doing with broadband in their area. For communities, especially counties, that are looking at broadband, it is a nice range of recipes. Not every approach will suit every occasion – but you just might find a recipe you think is worth trying. Here’s a super Reader’s Digest version of their profiles – you can read Ground Level for greater details:

Lake County – They got big funding from the ARRA stimulus funds. The local area has a big interest in broadband but they are running into troubles. The County received the funding but they will partner with folks to build the network.

Lac qui Parle – LqP is working with Farmers Mutual. Progress has been smooth – but they have run into issues with finance. They also received ARRA funds. They planned for FTTH throughout the county. However the feds are insisting that workers are paid $30/hour when local planners had banked on $20/hour. Contract bids are coming in for the project now.

Todd County – Urged by residents, Todd County recently passed a resolution to make broadband available throughout the county. The interest is there – but there’s no indication of how resolute they are. They are planning a public meeting to gauge interest in creating a plan to move forward.

Redwood County – Mapping from Connect Minnesota indicates that Redwood County has some of the slowest connections in the state, so they are starting to rally to build an interest in improving their ranking and broadband.

Windom – Windom isn’t a county, but they made the list because they received ARRA funds to expand to surrounding areas in their county. Their plans are going smoothly – but they are watching LqP closely as they may run into similar issues.

Cook County – Cook received ARRA funding through Arrowhead Electric to build Last Mile infrastructure. It’s an area where adoption and interest in broadband are high and availability has really been the bottleneck. They are quietly in process.

Sibley – Sibley is gaining steam. They have been having public talks for months. They created a Joint Powers Board. They continue to talk to residents but at this point on plan seems to be to look at the county providing the service, which will require a referendum. So they’re moving forward but at a cautious pace.