In December, the Blandin Broadband Community team met with the nine new Blandin Broadband Communities. I was able to attend some of the meetings and wanted to introduce folks to the new communities when I could.

Before the holidays we met with Roxy Traxler at Mille Lacs County. She will be working with a steering committee on a plan to help expand broadband in their area. Mille Lacs has been working on a community-wide economic development plan, which is scheduled to be completed in June. Sounds like the plan has been a huge, participatory endeavor and that the work they’ve done and relationships formed in the process will be a huge asset for the BBC work.

We met with a sampling of potential steering committee members. All were enthusiastic and represented a wide range of stakeholders from schools, to business to local residents.

The goal in Mille Lacs is get the group working towards a shared goal – a goal to be determined through the BBC process. That being said they do recognize that the tax base in Mille Lacs is primarily residential so it would be nice to boost business activity.