Last I checked in with RS Fiber, they expected to serve 1,600 homes and businesses by late 2015 and has the potential to reach more than 6,200 customers by 2016. The Belle Plaine Herald has an update…

Council members in Green Isle and nine other cities in Sibley and Renville counties participating in the RS Fiber Optics line remain all in as the sale of bonds to fund the project nears.

Tuesday (Jan. 13), the Green Isle City Council, in it its first meeting of 2015, voted 3-1 in favor of a resolution stating  continued support for the $13.5 million project intended to bring Internet, TV and telephone service via a fiber optic line to residents of participating cities and townships in Renville and Sibley counties.

The cities’ share is just about $8.75 million. Councilor Shawn Harms cast the lone vote against the project. He fears the financial implication of Green Isle being on the hook for its share of the bonds of the project fails.

Backers of the project are first seeking another level of commitment from each of the cities in Sibley and Renville counties participating in the project before moving ahead with the sale of bonds in March. Green Isle’s share of the 20-year bonds would be approximately $495,000. City councils in Winthrop, Gibbon, Fairfax, Lafayette, Gaylord, Stewart, New Auburn and Brownton have all passed similar resolutions to the one Green Isle OK’d at its Jan. 13 meeting.

Green Isle will hold a public hearing on the proposal of issuing bonds before the city council votes on committing to bonds to for its share of the proposal.

Henderson and Arlington are the two Sibley County cities remaining on the sidelines. They may be allowed in should their respective city council request it at a later date, but at a higher cost than the existing cities, said Dave Trebelhorn of Winthrop, a member of the cooperative board of directors of the RS Fiber Project.