Stearns County would like to invite Service Provider partners to provide proposals for a Public-Private Partnership for a Broadband Initiative located in Paynesville Township, Stearns County.  Stearns County has a gap in fiber to the premise (FTP) service in Paynesville Township. The areas in need of FTP service are denoted as underserved (less than 100/20 Mbps) and unserved (less than 25/3 Mbps) by the State of Minnesota DEED Broadband Maps.  Stearns County is willing to provide a portion of the capital needed to build out a minimum of 500 Mbps of services to its homes and businesses with a targeted timeline for completion between now and the end of 2026.

Timing and Proposal Deadline

If interested, please send a notice of interest by March 22, 2024, to Michael Williams, PhD, County Administrator at michael.williams@stearnscountymn.gov.  If you express interest, further correspondence will occur before the proposal due date.  If the desire is to apply for Minnesota DEED Border-to-Border grants then the Pre-Application Outreach to Existing Wireline Providers will need to be sent by you by March 29, 2024.  An electronic file of your proposal should be submitted no later than April 5, 2024.  A decision by the County Board is anticipated on April 16, 2024.