The Worthington Globe reports…

Travis Halbur of Lismore Cooperative Telephone Company met with the Nobles County Board of Commissioners Tuesday morning to discuss a new project endeavor with intent to request funding assistance from the county.

Carter Grupp, consulting project manager at Finley Engineering Company, was also present to offer more information on the project, which is intended to bring a fiber line into Rushmore, Ellsworth and other non-grant subscribers throughout the county.

Some specifics on the proposal…

The total cost of the project is estimated at $682,000. Nobles County was asked to provide 20%, or $136,400, as a local commitment toward an application to secure more funding through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Broadband Line Extension Connection program . The program awards grants for the extension of existing broadband infrastructure to unserved locations, which includes Ellsworth, Rushmore, Worthington and Fulda. …

With the line extension grant application due Nov. 25, there isn’t much time to gather funds. Though, the project is not meant to be a large-scale investment.

The proposed project would include about 18.74 miles of mainline cable, serving about 55 passings, which is an umbrella term to define an end user, such as a home, business, school, library or farm. Of those, 53 would be in Nobles County, while two would be in Murray County.

The cost per subscriber comes in at around $12,400, with the cost per mile at $36,000, which is pretty standard according to Grupp.

“We’re looking to leverage existing state funding to not only build last mile fiber, but also feed potentially four communities in Nobles County that don’t have access to fiber,” Grupp said.