The City of Adair is working to advance the quality of life for its residents and businesses by building a fiber optic network.

Residents helped jumpstart this project in March of 2017 with a unanimous vote of approval on a referendum to establish a municipal telecommunications utility. Adair was then the sole municipality awarded a State of Iowa broadband grant this year of $138,900 that will offset about 15% of the cost of this project. Oak Hill Consulting has been hired to design the fiber network and prepare bidding documents. The City is also in talks with Casey Mutual Telephone for the company to lease internet, cable television, and telephone services.

Adair City Attorney Clint Fichter explains why the City desires its own network, “Broadband has become an essential service just like water and sewer. So I think that if you look back 50 years ago, the small communities that weren’t able to develop good utilities are really struggling now. And Adair’s trying to put itself in a position where this next generation of utility technology is in place in the community to help it remain viable.”

The City hopes to accept construction bids later this summer for work to begin on the network later this year. As part of their consulting with Casey Mutual Telephone, they are asking residents who support the new network to take the fiber pledge, a link to which is included here.