Steelville Telephone Exchange (STE) General Manager Kevin Ancell and Marketing Director Kent Sherrow visited the commission meeting Monday morning.
STE, founded in 1952, is about more than just telephones—they are in the high-speed Internet business via fiber-optic cables with a minimum of 100 Mbps (megabytes-per-second). They run fiber-optic cable underground the same way they’ve run telephone lines for decades.
“That’s the lowest we’ll go,” said Sherrow.
“We want people to have good service,” Ancell chimed in.
According to Ancell, in Crawford County where the business is headquartered they have already run enough fiber-optic cable to service 687 sq. miles of Crawford County. That’s approximately 92% of the county.
STE is working on getting fiber-optic cable in the northeastern corner of Dent County where they already provides telephone service, according to Ancell.
Dent County Commissioner Darrell Skiles asked when service would be available in that area. “It’ll be next year some time, we’re putting the duct in the ground where there’s no forest service (U.S. Forest Service),” replied Ancell. Once permits are approved they will be able to do the rest. Also, once they have that approval they will need approval from the State Historical Preservation Society due to protected Civil War Battle ground in the area and the Trail of Tears Association, because it runs through the area as well.
They’ve been working on expanding throughout the Ozarks and possibly to other parts of Dent County to serve areas that are not served by other internet providers. They have presence in Phelps, Washington, Douglas and Wright counties as well.
“We’re expanding in Wright County now, we’ve got an 18-mile project now for 329 homes we’re doing there and we’ve been having meetings with their commissioners as well—we’ve had two meetings with them about their ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds,” said Ancell.
“So, you are looking for ARPA funds—to see if they’ll be available?” said Skiles.
“If you’re interested, we’d love to talk to you about it,” said Ancell. “We’re not sure what your plans are, but we were hoping we could ask you,” he said.
“We haven’t decided yet,” said Skiles. “We have a meeting with the MRPC and the Missouri Association of Counties on Wednesday,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out the things we can use it for and things we can’t use for, but more importantly the things we can’t use it for,” said Skiles.
According to Ancell, STE will be running about 200 miles of fiber-optic cable next spring—a small amount of which will be in Dent County. “We don’t have a lot of Dent County; however, we are actively putting it in Dent County in those areas that are not forest service.
This summer STE filled the 19-mile gap between Steelville and Cuba and they just started opening it to customers. That’s in Centurylink territory. We’re entirely surrounded by Centurylink.
“If anything, COVID has taught us, it’s that broadband is critical. The school districts have to have it, the kids need it, and people working from their homes need it,” said Ancell.
Ancell said that he believes that fiber-optic cable run underground is the best option given Ozark terrain. Ancell said that he is not convinced that wireless broadband service providers can cover the rural areas in the Ozarks given the topography.
“You know the terrain around here, it’s up and down and lots of trees,” Ancell said to Skiles.
“We know what it takes to put internet in,” he said. Ancell said that they were stunned at how many companies have won some of these bids that then have had to back out. “If you won and backed out, it was a seven figure penalty. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) came out about three weeks ago and offered to let these people out with a minimal fine in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Also at the commission meeting:
• Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams reported the CART tax. This September is slightly up from last year at $61,826.39 compared to $61,381.55 in the same month last year; year-to-date numbers are up by 10.2% compared to last year with $540,418.83 YTD 2021 compared to $490,418.75 YTD 2020.
• District One Commissioner Wes Mobray reported that he has crews grading 5690, hauling material to 5690 and 5600 and finishing up the bridge work on 4210.
• District Two Commissioner Gary Larson was absent—supervisor Travis Turner reported in his absence. He has crews grading on 2245, cutting brush on 3050, hauling rock to 2245 as well as patching chip and seal a few different places.
• Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles reported that he will be attending the Ozark Solid Waste Management District executive meeting this week. “Hopefully, we will be distributing some grants,” said Skiles. Skiles also stated that he will be attending an
• Mobray and Skiles will be attending a meeting with the Missouri Regional Planning Commission and the Missouri Association of Counties attorney on retainer Travis Elliott regarding how American Rescue Plan Act funds can be distributed.
• The commission also voted 2-0 (Larson absent) to accept the $ 1.99 propane bid from Ferrellgas for the winter.
The Dent County Commission meets Mondays at 9 a.m. at the Dent County Courthouse.
