An optical fiber cable to be installed from St. Ignace to Ironwood received the support of Mackinac County commissioners, who drafted and sent a letter detailing the county's need to help Peninsula Fiber Network (PFN) meet a grant requirement for the project. The Munising-based company is applying for a federal grant to install the cable along US-2 next year. The cable would provide broadband Internet access to unserved and under served areas along the southern edge of the Upper Peninsula, including the western portion of Mackinac County.

The cable is crucial to residents and businesses in the county, commissioners said during a special meeting Thursday, March 4, established to consider two broadband projects and approve a job description and set the wage of the new county position of animal shelter helper.

The broadband services proposed by PFN will also expand and Internet access for emergency crews.

Commissioners also supported a simultaneous fiber network project that would use the PFN cable to deliver broadband directly to homes by providers such as Lighthouse.net. The company is assisting Chippewa County in applying for a grant for the project. Two letters detailing the county's need for the funding that came from Michael Kasper of the county's Emergency Management office and from Bryce Tracy, 9-1-1 coordinator, were approved by the commission.

“For the past decade,” wrote Mr. Tracy, who also attended Thursday's meeting, “we have successfully utilized the current available Internet services in our communities across Mackinac County to the best of our ability. However, there are many gaps in available service... The best available option for connecting the network to the rural communities of Mackinac County has been with legacy T1-type circuits. This decades-old technology is unreliable and is incapable of delivering the performance and needed service demands at a reasonable cost.”

County residents have contacted Commission Chair Dawn Nelson in support of both projects, she said.

If the Chippewa County grant application is approved, a threecounty consortium would be established among Chippewa, Mackinac, and Luce counties. The project would cost each county roughly $16 million. It is expected that selling use of the line to companies eventually would repay the loans.

The counties and companies will learn in the fall if the projects are to be funded.

Using the county's wage and classification program, commissioners agreed to set the wage of an animal shelter helper at $12.72 per hour. Commissioners had advertised for two part-time positions and interviewed Donna DesJardins and Vickie Patson, who already work at the shelter, for the posts. Now, however, they are rethinking the jobs, saying they need more information and want to talk to shelter manager Ginger Valentine.

Commissioners want to see if one full-time shelter worker would handle the workload now that animal control officer Lorie Thompson has become a full-time county employee and is helping at the shelter daily.

If they decide to hire one fulltime helper, the position will have to be advertised again.

Ms. DesJardins is the sister of shelter manager Mrs. Valentine. Seeking to avoid concerns with the county's nepotism clause, last month commissioners sought legal advice about the issue. Smaller communities can make exceptions, said Mrs. Nelson, and initial concerns over nepotism are no longer a concern for the commission.

Commissioners next meet Thursday, March 11, at 6 p.m. in the county courthouse annex building in St. Ignace.