MOUNT VERNON — Thirty-two civic and government leaders met Monday at the Memorial Theater to assess Knox County’s current broadband status and brainstorm about the future. The meeting was part of a series of conferences being initiated in all of Ohio’s 88 counties as part of Gov. Ted Strickland’s Connect Ohio broadband initiative. Broadband is a type of technology which allows vast amounts of data to be transferred electronically via fiber-optic cable, as opposed to the traditional wire telephone lines used for dial-up Internet access.
The general consensus Monday was that the county isn’t at a bad starting point, averaging a ranking of three on a scale of zero-to-five, with five representing universal broadband access. The leaders were divided into groups representing agriculture, business and industry, community-based organizations, municipal government, county government, health care, education, libraries and tourism/parks. In terms of broadband readiness, the groups rated themselves anywhere from two, for agriculture, to five, for libraries.
Rob Clendening of the Knox Soil & Water Conservation district said that agriculture lags behind due to being spread over the rural countryside, whereas broadband is being installed from the cities outward.
“There’s a lot of technology, it’s just not connected,” Clendening said, pointing out how many farmers are using satellite-fed GPS technology to operate equipment in their fields, as well as using satellite connections to get live updates on commodity prices. In most cases, though, this information is not immediately connectable to the farmer’s home office, nor do most farmers have a way to quickly receive data from any Internet sources, particularly if they only have a dial-up Internet connection.
“You try to download a five or six page PDF pesticide label on dial-up, it’s a killer,” Clendening said.
He added that currently, any maps the KSWCD makes up for farmers have to be picked up in person unless the farmer has broadband, like KSWCD does.
Matthew Kurtz of the Department of Job & Family Services noted that most county government offices have the technology in place, but not all of them are using it. One area that DJFS has been using extensively is VOIP, or voice over Internet protocol. This allows users to place telephone calls over the Internet, essentially using the whole Internet as one’s phone system. He also noted that some parts of county government are starting to make use of video conferencing as well as digital imaging and digital filing of paperwork.
“Every office has its own priority and need,” Kurtz said.
Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis said that local explorations of establishing citywide broadband connectivity have demonstrated that large industries are generally not interested, as most have already put in their own high-speed connections, while unconnected smaller businesses show much more interest. Mavis said the city’s vision is to be able to download information onto laptop computers in the field, implement use of VOIP, and create digital controls of stoplights and building heating systems in the future.
The library has been leading the pack in terms of connectivity. According to director John Chidester, the main branch of the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County is connected to OPLIN (Ohio Public Library Information Network) by a T-1 line, with regular broadband as a backup and for wi-fi (wireless connection) capabilities for patrons with laptop computers. The other library branches run on regular broadband. The library’s card catalog is online, and receives heavy use.
“We’ve been able to do all this even though our funding’s been cut since 2001,” said library information technology specialist Chad Nickles.
Sally Sperry of the Mount Vernon School system said that all of their buildings have fiber optic cable, making it possible for them to use VOIP and have homework information posted on line, but she wasn’t sure just how widely these capabilities are being used at this point. Among action points, she said administrator education was crucial, because there are situations where administrators are unfamiliar with how to use the technology at hand.
Dennis Murray, health commissioner, said his organization has and extensively uses its T-1 and VOIP capabilities, but that connections and communications with other departments could be better.
“We have to be electronically compatible,” Murray said.
He added a plea directly to the county commissioners for vouchers and purchase orders, which are currently sent back and forth by courier twice a week, to be handled digitally.
On the tourism, parks and recreation front, Pat Crow of the Knox County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau pointed out that related technologies were part of the picture, too. He cited a story Knox County Park District director Kim Marshall shared about a county visitor seeing the name of a park and looking it up on his hand-held I-Phone or Blackberry. Finding information that interested him, the man stopped to visit the park.
“I think it’s crucial that we expand broadband,” Crow said, adding that lack of it hurts both tourism and the housing market in Knox County if access is unavailable to prospective travelers and buyers.
The commission is expected to next meet in January.
Dave Davidson, northeast Ohio field director for Connect Ohio, said he was very encouraged by the turnout of local leaders, which he described as one of the highest turnouts among smaller, rural counties.
