Jefferson County Supervisors approve as final Liberty Communication’s rural internet project

FAIRFIELD – The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors voted to accept as final a project from Liberty Communications to provide internet to the county’s rural residents.

For the second meeting in a row, Liberty Communications’ General Manager Andy Meader appeared before the board to discuss his company’s contract with Jefferson County that the company inherited when it purchased Natel Broadband in 2023. Meader said at the Jan. 5 meeting that Liberty Communications had completed all phases of the project by the end of 2025, though the supervisors asked him to come back on Jan. 12 to provide a map showing what parts of the county now had access to wireless internet.

Meader sent the county a service map that was printed out for all supervisors to see. He stressed that his company made every effort to provide internet access to rural residents who wanted it, though it wasn’t possible in every case because of difficult terrain. The supervisors debated whether Liberty had done enough to fulfill the contract it signed with the county in September 2022 for about $775,000, roughly $500,000 of which was for purchasing wireless equipment for towers and fiber optics. Money for the project came from the federal American Rescue Plan.

Ultimately, the supervisors voted 2-0 to accept the project as final, with Supervisors Susie Drish and Lee Dimmitt voting in favor, and Joe Ledger opting to abstain. Ledger said he appreciated Meader’s willingness to come before the board, but was not completely satisfied with the way the company answered his concerns.

“I am concerned about some households not getting the services that they want,” Ledger told The Union. “The way I interpreted the agreement, they were to provide every household with internet. As the saying goes, ‘Time will tell.’”

Though Dimmitt voted in favor of approving the project, he was also skeptical about how many rural residents got missed, because he had heard from some who either couldn’t get internet or who had gotten it before but no longer could. He asked Meader if he could conclusively say that his company could provide internet to 90 percent of rural residents. Meader said that was a tough question to answer because there are times Liberty’s only way to provide internet is to install infrastructure a property owner doesn’t want.

Though Dimmitt was not on the board when the contract was signed, he said the intention of the board at the time was to serve rural residents who didn’t have internet access.

“All I’m asking is, ‘Are they able to access the service for three-quarters of a million dollars?” Dimmitt asked.

In a phone call after the meeting, Meader told The Union that the 90 percent figure was “really close” since he estimated the company could reach about 95 percent of total county residents, but there remained some challenges in rural areas that would require “creative” installations that involved building a 50-foot tower and then knifing in cable from the tower to their house.

At Monday’s meeting, Dennis Lewiston said he’s a rural resident who lives just north of the Van Buren County line and has spotty internet with a different provider. He said he’s tried to get internet from Van Buren County but couldn’t because he lived in Jefferson County.

Dimmitt used Lewiston’s predicament as an example of the sort of person he hoped would be covered by this contract.

“The previous board was hoping to serve the Dennis Lewistons of the world,” he said.

Meader said his company has done its best to serve all the rural residents it can. He said it has installed 20 towers at individual properties costing between $1,500 to $2,000 each, though they can cost up to $2,500. He said there is still money left to build more subsidized towers from this grant program.

Though Dimmitt voted for the motion, he implored Meader to prioritize rural residents such as Lewiston who still lacked access to Liberty’s wireless internet.

In other news, the supervisors heard a request for tax abatement from resident Ekkehart Kahl. Kahl explained that he inherited a home in Abundance Ecovillage north of Fairfield when his parents died in 2024. However, because he is a German citizen and a non-resident alien, he has discovered that he can only spend four or five months in the country. He told the supervisors that he was hoping a property tax abatement would ease his financial burden and allow him to keep the house.

The supervisors sympathized with Kahl’s plight but told him they could not approve his request. Dimmitt said there are people struggling to pay their property taxes who have lived here their whole life. Drish said a number of residents go south for the winter, and the county does not abate their property taxes.

“If we do it for one, we’ve got to do it for everybody,” Drish said.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com