JOHNSTON — Officials with the Trumbull County Planning Commission and Eastgate Regional Council of Governments are working with county officials to get broadband access those who don’t have it, especially in the northern part of the county.

Johnston Township trustees hosted an informational meeting Thursday attended by more than 50 people — officials and residents — from its neighboring townships and villages in northern Trumbull County, including Kinsman, Greene and Farmington.

State officials were invited, but were not able to attend.

Johnston trustee Dominic Marchese said many residents do not have access to the internet at their home and he hopes American Rescue Plan funds can be used to make this possible.

“Our residents pay taxes and we want to see what we can do to help them get broadband access,” Marchese said.

Nick Coggins, assistant director of the Trumbull County Planning Commission, said grant funds were obtained to have a feasibility study done on where service is spotty or completely lacking. He said the study was completed in 2021.

Discussions have taken place on the Lake to River Regional Backbone Fiber Expansion, which is a 100-mile fiberline running along state Route 11 with potential connections off the major thoroughfares to businesses and residential areas.

Coggins said a goal is to reach the 10 most northern Trumbull County townships with broadband access. He said a request for proposals has been sought from companies willing to extend the internet access.

Mark Ragozine, economic development project manager at Eastgate, said grant funding has been sought for an engineering analysis of having a fiberline along Route 11 and have lateral connections and feeder lines to underserved areas. The analysis will let them know the best place to put the line.

He said officials are waiting to hear if Trumbull County was approved for a $17 million slice of a $78 million state grant application with the Ohio Middle Mile Consortium. Ragozine said officials will receive word this spring on the funding. He expects the project to take two to three years.

He said Trumbull County has an estimated 37,000 people who lack minimum broadband access.

“This will be a huge project for the region. We have a lot of work to do,” he said.

Kinsman trustee Greg Leonhard said northern parts of Kinsman have literally no broadband access. He asked Ragozine to see maps from Eastgate showing where broadband service is the lowest.

“We can look and see if we are in agreement with what you have. The northern part of Kinsman has nothing,” Leonhard said.

Officials said the project is being taken very seriously to make it a reality.

GASLINES

A lengthy discussion was held on the broadband issue because representatives of local gas companies were unable to attend Thursday’s meeting to answer questions on natural gas line extensions.

Marchese said there are many residents in different townships who want natural gas service in their homes and want to see if lines can be extended.

“I have received many calls from residents wanting natural gas. They tell me of the struggles they have faced getting natural gas on their roads,” he said.

Darryl Black of Mecca said many residents in the western part of the township struggle to get natural gas.

Tanya Gabriele of Fowler said the rural residents get treated differently than city residents when it comes to natural gas.

“It us frustrating what we have to go through,” she said.

Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith said companies have been contacted about having extensions from their existing infrastructure to get natural gas to underserved areas.