Sibley and Renville Counties have been looking at a community-led fiber effort for years. In January, the Joint Powers in Sibley County held a public meeting to talk about progress towards getting broadband in their area. Their hope was to build the backbone this year and start bringing it to residents next year. The estimate cost is $50 million; they are looking for revenue bonding for $70 million.

According to MPR’s Ground Level, the project has been postponed…

So far, there have been four votes. Three communities–Buffalo Lake, Winthrop and Renville County–have voted yes. The city of Arlington has voted no. Sibley County commissioners were supposed to vote yesterday, but instead opted to postpone a decision. Sibley County is the entity that would bring farms into the customer base. A no vote wouldn’t kill the project, said Mark Erickson, Winthrop city administrator and project champion, but it would make it more city-based.

“Sibley postponed and wanted more commitment cards and buy-in from the townships,” said Erickson, who interrupted a meeting with local township representatives this morning to talk with me. “I think we have a way forward.” The project’s success hinges on having enough customers to make the bond payments, but it’s hard to know how many customers the network will have before it’s built.