There has been a lot of talk about public-private partnerships for the provision of broadband service in Minnesota. Little has come of it. That may be changing 80 miles southwest of St. Paul, in a way that nobody foresaw when the effort began. City and rural interests in the Renville and Sibley county areas are doing everything in their power to bring a fiberoptic broadband connection to every city and farm in a 650 square mile area.
The project took real form two years ago when the RS Fiber Joint Powers Board (JPB) was established with members from 10 cities and the county commissions of Renville and Sibley counties. Those cities included Buffalo Lake, Gaylord, Gibbon, Green Isle, Lafayette, New Auburn, Stewart, and MMUA member cities Brownton, Fairfax and Winthrop.
