After spending several months discussing ways to use technology to better serve Owen County, the Community Leadership team is ready to begin putting their ideas into action.
The team, brought together through ConnectKentucky, met in November to select three central areas to focus on to get Owen County connected.
Last week, the group had a follow-up meeting to review the progress of each of the three main projects.
“We decided what we want to do, now it’s a matter of action and getting the right people involved in the programs,” said Sage Cutler, manager for the central Kentucky region of ConnectKentucky.
Over the next two months the groups are being encouraged to find steps that can be taken to accomplish their goals and begin striving to make those goals a reality.
The next meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. on March 13 at the library.
Training and Awareness
The main focus of the Training and Awareness group is to create a cooperative effort between the schools, library and local businesses to improve technology in Owen County, while educating those residents and businesses unfamiliar with the Internet.
“We’ve had a lot of interest in learning basic e-mail, by people coming into the library,” said Becky Doolin, a library employee and one of the group’s project leaders.
The library, which currently has six public access computers, was recently awarded a grant that will allow them to purchase 12 laptop computers, better software, and still have money left over to hire an instructor.
The library’s hope is to work with Naomi Cornette, chief information officer for the Owen County School District and director of the Student Technology Leadership Program.
Superintendent Mark Cleveland, the group’s other project leader, brought up the idea of night classes at the school, or possibly using school sites for technology training.
Web sites for Local Businesses
The main focus of the Web sites for Local Businesses group is to encourage Owen County businesses to start Web sites to improve and expand business, or to continue finding ways to improve existing Web sites.
“Getting one is the easy part,” Cutler said of Web sites. “Maintaining it is the hard part.”
Tom Williams of Kentucky American Water is the project leader, although he said it would help if someone locally steps in to provide input.
“I’m only in Owen County once every two weeks,” he said. “We need someone that knows these businesses and is closer to the county.”
Having a local project leader would enable the Community Leadership team to interact on a more regular basis with local businesses to get Web sites started and keep them up to date.
Cleveland said he would ask members of the Chamber of Commerce if anyone is interested in becoming a project leader.
Public Private Partnerships
The main focus of the Public Private Partnership group is to get the city and county government working with private business broadband providers to find creative solutions and funding options that would enable the entire county to receive broadband.
County Judge/Executive Billy O’Banion and Mayor David “Milkweed” Wotier are the project leaders.
Neither one attended the meeting or sent representatives.

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