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WELLSBURG -- The Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission wants to hear from anyone in Brooke and Hancock counties who would benefit from faster internet service.
BHJ staff members Mark Henne and Adrienne Ward, Tuesday, told the Brooke County Commission residents and business owners are invited to complete a survey aimed at demonstrating the need for broadband internet access.
Ward said the 10-minute survey can be found online at www.bhjmpc.org/brooke-and-hancock-broadband-survey/ and the Facebook page bearing the commission’s full name. For those without internet access, paper copies have been placed at local libraries, where they may be returned when completed.
Henne added, with the cooperation of Brooke and Hancock county school officials, copies of the survey will be sent home with students after Christmas break and are to be returned to the schools from where they came.
Commission President Tim Ennis asked if they had contacted Bethany College.
Henne said they have contacted representatives of local institutions of higher learning, hospitals and, with the help of local chambers of commerce, business owners.
He said in mid-January, they will be meeting with many of them at the Brooke County Courthouse, John D. Rockefeller Career Center and BHJ’s office in Steubenville.
The two said they are doing their best to reach anyone who could benefit from high-speed internet service.
Ward said BHJ hopes to receive more than 400 responses and has heard from about 80 since the survey was posted last week.
“Some say they can’t work from home (without the internet), some say their kids can’t do their homework, some say they can’t grow their home-based business. Some say, please bring us out of the dark ages,” she said.
Also Tuesday, the commission approved the first draw-down, in the amount of $28,701, from a $125,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded for the two counties by BHJ.
The funds will be used to hire Magellan Advisors, a Cleveland consulting firm, to determine the feasibility of making broadband internet service available to unserved areas of Brooke and Hancock counties.
Henne said while some might discount the endeavor as “just another study,” such efforts recently netted a $3.5 million grant for broadband access in Tyler County.
“We are taking this very seriously. This is a high priority for this area. You have told me so,” he told the commissioners.
In other business, the commission agreed to close the county courthouse at noon on New Year’s Eve, noting it already was slated to be closed on New Year’s Day as a state holiday.
(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)