The Kentucky Office of Broadband Development’s Better Internet Listening Tour will be in Maysville on Monday, March 20.
The Office of Broadband Development and the Education and Labor Cabinet released a statement saying they want to hear directly from Kentuckians across the commonwealth about their high-speed internet priorities.
In the statement, officials said the information gathered on this tour will be a critical part of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment and the Digital Equity Act planning processes.
These conversations are meant to bring together local leaders, community partners and advocates, business and industry, education, healthcare, agriculture and local residents to provide input on priorities for the state plan and share what is happening in the region, officials said.
Kentucky officials involved in the shaping of a state broadband plan scheduled a 14-stop listening tour to receive input from people across the state, according to a statement from Governor Andy Beshear last year.
The six-week tour began on Feb. 14, in Hopkinsville as part of the Better Internet Initiative. The events have been led by the state’s Office of Broadband Development.
This tour will help officials identify where more work needs to be done in creating a broadband plan that ensures investments are made where they’re critically needed, Beshear said.
“The intent is to develop a digital equity plan that will “bridge the gap” in internet access that “has existed for far too long,” he said.
Maysville City Manager Matt Wallingford shared a positive view of the tour coming to Maysville and the benefits broadband will bring to the community.
“Maysville is honored to be hosting a session for the state of Kentucky Broadband Listening Tour. Governor Beshear mentioned this morning during a call with city managers, mayors, and county judge-executives that he anticipates close to, and possibly over, $1 billion in extra funding being allocated for broadband deployment in the state of Kentucky over the next few years. Maysville and Mason County are working closely to help provide reliable gigabyte speed broadband internet at an affordable cost to all of our citizens,” Wallingford said.
Mason County Judge-Executive Owen McNeill said he is also highly anticipating the tour and positive outcome for Mason County.
“We’re elated to host the Kentucky Better Internet listening tour in Maysville and Mason County. Locally we’re convinced high-speed future-proof broadband is as essential today as clean water and electric utilities were decades ago. These listening sessions will provide the invaluable data needed to ensure Kentucky receives an equitable share of federal broadband grant funding in the future,” McNeill said.
Other stops made on the tour include Mayfield, Owensboro, Elizabethtown, Jeffersontown, Bowling Green, Russell Springs, Hazard, London, Prestonsburg and Morehead.
The event in Maysville will be held at the Cox Building from 1-3 p.m., before the tour moves on to Lexington. The tour will conclude in Florence on March 23.
