Local News

Listening Session

Residents sound off on internet service

ELKINS -- Randolph and Barbour County residents were given an opportunity Wednesday afternoon to speak their minds about local internet service and how it could be improved.

Region VII Planning & Development Council hosted a listening session at the Phil Gainer Community Center, which was attended by about 20 local residents.

Carrie Wallace, project coordinator for Region VII, led the meeting, which was attended by Elkins City Council members Mike Hinchman, Second Ward, and Dave Parker, Fifth Ward, as well as by Robbie Morris, the Randolph County Development Authority's executive director.

"This is an informal process," Wallace said, before asking the residents a series of questions which they were able to answer with a show of hands.

She asked the residents what they used the internet for, how they obtained internet service, and what kind of devices they used to connect with the internet. Residents began offering verbal comments when she asked about the quality of local internet service.

"I have inadequate internet service. I'd be thrilled to death to pay for good service. I don't understand why this is taking so long," a man who lives a mile outside Elkins said.

He mentioned local counties and towns receiving CARES Act funding during the COVID-19 pandemic that could have been used for broadband projects.

"Elkins and Randolph County have not allocated any of their CARES funds to broadband," Morris said when asked about the situation by a fellow audience member. "The CARES money would have come out in 2020."

A Belington City Council member and former mayor voiced his displeasure with the companies offering local internet service.

"Even in Barbour County, millions and millions of dollars were appropriated to those programs," Dana Booth said. "And I thought, and I think most other people thought, that these monies were brought back into these rural areas in order to either upgrade or provide fiber-optic service, internet service, cable service, and to improve. Because this pandemic exposed these providers, because we found out the majority of the consumers here are paying for service that they don't get.

"All the people are wanting is bang for their buck," Booth said. "I mean, it's our money, but then they create these fees, or taxes, upon the consumers every time you turn around. But then they can't answer our questions, where is the money from these fees going?

"After they've been provided tax dollars to upgrade our internet. I mean, why provide the money if it's not going to be used for what it was intended?"

The purpose of Wednesday's meeting was to gather input from residents concerning a sub-grant award that the Planning & Development Council has received from the West Virginia Office of Broadband. Feedback from the listening sessions will be shared with state officials and used to outline their plan for future broadband deployment across the state, a Region VII press release stated.