Walz: Melrose broadband expansion grant will help business, quality of life

MELROSE — Farm Systems might move away from Melrose if it wasn't for forthcoming improvements to broadband there, said Farm Systems Associated Vice President Ken Schneider to Gov. Tim Walz on Monday. 

Walz came to the Melrose office of internet provider Arvig to highlight the state's broadband development grant program.

Arvig won a nearly $400,000 grant for the Melrose area project. It will upgrade service at the Melrose industrial park near Interstate Highway 94 and 400-plus locations in the Rice Lake and Brown Lake areas.

The state awarded $23 million in grants to 30 different broadband projects this year. The Legislature approved most of that in the 2019 session. 

"That's real money," said Steve Grove, commissioner of Minnesota's Department of Employment and Economic Development. Other states have followed Minnesota's example.

Officials touted the Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program Monday as an important driver of economic development — important for businesses, farms and telecommuters.

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Improving broadband provides some of the best returns on quality of life and economic development, Walz said. 

Farm Systems provides equipment for dairies, including robots, said Eric Maynard, senior sales and marketing manager with the company. 

The business has 60 robots going in this year, Maynard said. And the company does much of its troubleshooting remotely via broadband.

Chuck Barth, co-owner of Warrior Boats, told the governor Monday that the company held off on expansion because of a lack of broadband. Right now Warrior Boats has to contract out for its social media work. 

"This will help us manage our website, our Facebook page, our ads," Barth said about the planned improvements to broadband in Melrose.

Arvig's infrastructure will exceed the state's speed goals for broadband with 1 gigabit per second for downloads and uploads.

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Overall, the Melrose area project will cost about $1.1 million, according to state documents. The local contribution is about $730,000.

The city of Melrose put up about $225,000 to drill under I-94 for a conduit, Grove said.

Grant recipients have two years to work on these broadband projects, but Arvig may have improvements to the industrial park by the fall.

Walz toured Arvig's central office where fans whirled to keep cool the equipment needed to provide customers with internet, television and phone lines.

Walz spoke over the fans. 

"The market does wonderful things, but there's also that final mile," Walz said. "When you look at the map (of broadband coverage) there are some voids."

Nora Hertel is the government watchdog reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-255-8746 or nhertel@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @nghertel.

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