All Douglas County offices will be closed on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in observance of New Year’s Day and reopen at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 2, for normal business.
The American Rescue Plan Act allows a variety of expenditures to support broadband access for Douglas County citizens, including but not limited to:
Douglas County’s Broadband initiative sought to identify the scope of unserved and underserved areas in the County and make funding available to extend service through either middle mile or last mile investments in partnership with providers. The County’s County Broadband Master Plan, developed by H.R. Green, initially identified 15,000 to 18,000 residences in Douglas County that are unserved or underserved by existing broadband services.
Douglas County sought partnerships with providers in conjunction with the State of Colorado Broadband Office’s Capital Projects Fund grant program. Through the grant cycle, broadband service was extended into unserved and underserved areas with little demand for the County’s proposed supplement funding. When the Colorado Broadband Office submitted its application for Federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds, it committed to ensure universal high-speed broadband coverage to all Colorado households by 2027 with Federal BEAD funds. Based on these outcomes, Douglas County redirected its planned broadband investments into other initiatives as described in this Recovery Plan.
Broadband Study – The study will improve our collective understanding of current connectivity and any connectivity issues our citizens and businesses may have and help determine the next steps to take to keep the County as a top destination to work, live and play. The initial phase of the study includes gathering input from county residents, businesses, and key stakeholders which will be compared against industry data. The study and analysis were completed in March 2022 by HR Green, a national broadband consulting firm that has worked extensively throughout Colorado.
