The Iowa Lieutenant Governor was in Jefferson Wednesday as part of a statewide program.

The Empower Rural Iowa Connect Task Force held its regular meeting at History Boy Theatre Company, where the 22 members of the task force from across the state heard about special developments with broadband and how they are using the Rural Innovation Grants. One of the panelists was Jefferson Telecom General Manager Jamie Daubendiek who spoke about providing fiber internet to every home in its service area. 

“So that really was an impetus in a lot of projects that happened in the past 5-10 years. The big one was the Pillar/Accenture project. And that never would’ve happened if we didn’t have broadband and specifically fiber connection. That project would not have happened, our new (high) school, our new career academy, all these different dimino effects that have happened because we made the private investment many years ago and made that decision.”    

Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg echoes Daubendiek’s comments and says one important aspect that sets Jefferson apart from other communities is the extent of those in leadership roles.

“There’s been a group of leaders here, both in formal leadership positions and informal leadership positions, who have set a vision for this community and have worked together to execute on it. And just the ability to recruit folks back to this community, who maybe grew up here and moved on, and took an opportunity somewhere else, but are willing to come back. Meeting that expectation of connectivity is such an important aspect to that.”

Following the meeting, the group took tours of the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower, the Centennial building, which received a Main Street Iowa Challenge Grant and Gravitate Co-Working, which was the recipient of a Rural Innovation Grant, and The Forge.