SCHOHARIE COUNTY — Officials might request an extension on the Dec. 31, 2026 completion date of a $33.6 million Schoharie County Broadband project aimed at giving every county resident the ability to connect to the Internet.
At the Friday, March 20 county Board of Supervisors meeting, Peter Rasmusson of FARR Technologies — which is overseeing and acting as construction manager for the project — said that Empire State Development, which is providing $30 million in funding for the project, might ask the U.S. Treasury for an extension on the normal end-of-this-year deadline for projects like this one that are using some American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
County Supervisors' Vice-Chairman Donald Airey said that if an extension is requested, the ask should be for a full year extension allowing for completion by the end of 2027 rather than asking for just two or three months.
"A year extension is what we would need," he said.
Construction on the project started in October of last year, and so far 25 to 30 miles of the 300 miles of fiberoptic cable are in place, about 9 percent, Rasmusson said. He reiterated a point made at an earlier meeting that the main problem now is getting permits to string cable on poles owned by National Grid, Verizon and other companies.
Rasmusson said the project as of now is slated to be 40 percent buried (underground) fiberoptic cable and 60 percent on poles, but that could shift more toward underground moving forward.
"The biggest risk right now is permits and poles," he said. Rasmusson and Deb Husby of FARR explained that the process is to first install conduit and then "blow" the fiberoptic cable through the conduit. Installing the conduit takes a lot longer, they added.
There was also mention at the meeting of having to replace 510 poles at considerable cost. It was unclear from the discussion at the March 20 meeting why the county has to replace poles owned by other companies rather than just pay to place cable on existing poles. County Economic Development Coordinator John Crescimanno said in a brief discussion outside the meeting that he and others involved with the project would seek clarity on that.
Some county Supervisors expressed concern at the seemingly slow pace of the project. Husby said there are two crews apiece ready to start placing cable both underground and on poles as soon as the weather allows, and that projects like this often have an ebb and flow to their pace depending on various factors.
"This is how every project goes," she said. "This project is being very normal."
The $30 million grant from the ConnectAll Program of Empire State Development is a reimbursable one, with the county fronting money and then being reimbursed at four different milestones during the course of the project. Thus far, the county has received one reimbursement of about $1.3 million and should get another of about $6.5 million in the next few weeks or months.
Rasmusson said three electronic "huts" that are part of the project's infrastructure in Sharon Springs, Esperance and Richmondville "are all installed and powered up and just waiting for grass and fencing."
Airey complimented Rasmusson, Husby and FARR in general for their hard work on the project and keeping on top of things, though he continued to express anxiety about various aspects of the project.
"I'm still scared as Hell, but feel a lot better than if we were doing this on our own," Airey said. "FARR is really keeping the county's best interests at heart."
