Beaver County broadband project ranks high on grades from Communications Workers of America

Beaver County's broadband improvements are receiving national praise as a new report details how the project was a successful use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) published a "Broadband Report Card" last week, giving rankings to 14 different projects that had received funding through ARPA's State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). In their rankings, Beaver County's broadband project, which was contracted with Verizon, received the second-highest grade.

“At CWA Local 13000 in Pennsylvania, we know what it means to build broadband the right way, and that starts with a highly qualified local workforce. Thanks to Beaver County’s close collaboration with Verizon, and their joint effort to prioritize union workers, we’ve been able to ensure that the federal dollars from ARPA are going towards a high-quality buildout,” said Jim Gardler, president of the local branch of the labor union. “While the size of the IIJA’s broadband buildout is unprecedented, the deployment process is not. As states begin receiving BEAD funding, we hope policymakers are taking note of our project and paying attention to what real accountability and integrity looks like, and how this has translated into positives for us in Beaver County.”

Each project was graded on a 20-point scale, which measured various elements of the local government's transparency, equity and dedication to labor on each federally funded project. These guidelines were based on the Treasury Department's guidance for producing an effective broadband project.

Beaver County ranked as the second-best project on the report, with a similar project in Kenton County, Kentucky, taking the crown. Beaver County's only negative marks were in transparency, with criticism for public participation in the project.

"In the Public Participation subcategory, the project received a one out of three," CWA officials wrote in their study. "The contract was available publicly, but only one meeting publicly discussed the project. This makes it more challenging for community members to understand the project's purpose or provide their input and suggests that public officials have little ongoing oversight of the work."

As other communities begin their broadband projects, the report suggests Kenton County and Beaver County are examples of how to successfully conduct this type of infrastructure work. In the same report, major criticisms were given for projects underway in Newton County, Georgia, and Putnam County, West Virginia.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Beaver County broadband project ranks high on grades from Communications Workers of America