Owen County Fiscal Court members voted to table any action on a plan to provide wireless broadband access to Owen County residents with taxpayer money.
The decision to put the plan on hold came at the court’s Jan. 9 meeting; it will likely come back up at the next Fiscal Court meeting, Feb. 13.
Magistrates agreed to wait to make a decision, pending the outcome of a merger between AT&T and BellSouth.
Judge-Executive Billy O’Banion said the court wants to know what the merger would mean for broadband service in the county before moving forward.
“There’s still some questions that need to be answered,” he said.
Michael Balmoris, a spokesman for AT&T-BellSouth, said the company plans to offer broadband access to all of its customers, including those in Kentucky.
In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission outlining a plan for the merger, the company states that 85 percent of its customers will be offered service through wire-line capabilities, while 15 percent will be offered service through technologies “including but not limited to satellite and Wi-Max fixed wireless.”
Balmoris said the company has yet to set any specific timeframes other than to offer broadband to all of its customers by the end of the year.
David Weller, AT&T-BellSouth’s regional manager for Central Kentucky said it’s uncertain what the plan would mean for specific communities.
“It’s way too early to tell,” he said last week. “Our merger is only a few days old.”
But he said he does not want to see the county hold off making a decision solely because of what the merger may mean for the area.
“As soon as we know we’ll let the community know,” he said.
O’Banion said at the Jan. 9 meeting that the price tag for a wireless broadband project has shrunk considerably since it was first looked at three years ago.
Then, he said, it would have cost around $2 million.
“As we grew and had more meetings … Connect Kentucky brought an assessment back to me that put it down originally somewhere in the $125,000 to $130,000 price range,” he said.
Chip Spann, a wireless consultant for non-profit Connect Kentucky, said at the Jan. 9 meeting that the county has several possible provider options in addition to AT&T-BellSouth, including Blue One, a Kentucky-based DSL provider, and Liberty Communications, which provides cable and Internet to Gallatin County, among others.
Connect Kentucky’s assessment shows 80-85 percent of the county would be covered under a public wireless plan, with the Monterey area being covered by DSL through a DSL grant received last year.
If Fiscal Court members decide to pursue a wireless broadband plan, the next step would be to begin testing spots in the county.
Ben Caldwell, a representative with Blue One told court members, “the goal in this area would be to cover the county as much as possible.”
O’Banion said additional infrastructure may be added down the road to expand the service into the 15-percent area that may not be initially covered because of poor signal reception.
“We don’t look at this as everything being built up front,” he said. “You look into building things as they come along.”
If approved by the court, testing could start as soon as February and take between four and six months to complete, O’Banion said.
Spann said two testing sites would be set up, one running from the park toward Hesler, and another running from Owenton toward Perry Park.
Although wireless broadband appears to be more affordable for the area than it was several years ago, the present-day uncertainty of what will happen with the merger of the nation’s largest communications company has left the county waiting a little bit longer.
“With us tabling the matter for 30 days, it sets us back another month,” O’Banion said.
Other Fiscal Court news
Magistrates voted to approve salaries for county sheriff’s deputies and county clerk’s deputies. They also approved a 2007 budget for the sheriff’s department.
Fiscal Court heard from several county-based groups focused on future growth in the area.
Kim Stromeier later said the Owen 20/20 project has pushed back plans for a public meeting to discuss its task force recommendations until sometime in February. The group had initially hoped to give the presentations this month.
Magistrates voted to donate $1,500 to the Owen County Vision Plan to help cover costs of a University of Kentucky architectural landscaping survey being performed on the area.
That study is expected to be completed in late April.

News-Herald reporter Laura Hagan contributed to this story.

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