Commissioner John Kefalas
- On Larimer County
Larimer Broadband’s tagline is “Everywhere is Somewhere,” and to me this means that all corners of the County matter and that we are all in this together. Broadband/connectivity in underserved and unserved areas of the county fits in well with our County priorities such as the updated Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2019 as a framework for decision making, that seeks to address the need for connecting people and communities.
- On Next Century Cities
Larimer County has a vital role as a local and regional convener and facilitator that is committed to collaborating and cooperating with other public and private sector entities to solve this infrastructure problem. So let’s roll up our sleeves and work together to get this important job done.
- What Larimer County is working on
Larimer County’s 2019-2023 Strategic Plan represents three overarching stretch goals with specific and measurable objectives, and Goal #1 states; “Larimer County works collaboratively to ensure adequate public infrastructure is available to support the needs of our growing community.” Embedded in this goal is Objective #3 that addresses the need to develop a comprehensive rural infrastructure strategy, including broadband services. Larimer County is charged with learning, understanding the details, and supporting the efforts of our County staff to advance this goal and objective. In line with the County’s Strategic Goal #2, “access to economic opportunities and a vibrant quality of life – working together to remove barriers,” Larimer County’s involvement with the broadband initiative completely aligns with the objective of community health, well-being and resilience. Broadband access is critical to achieving this objective; the County’s vision for connectivity in underserved/unserved areas of Larimer County is to connect the dots. Connectivity is important because it is a matter of social and economic equity and is an effective tool to help with the revitalization of rural communities. Connectivity helps with economic development, sustaining the livelihood of farmers, ranchers and other hard-working individuals in remote communities: It is key in addressing transportation and affordable housing issues by making telecommuting and online education possible. Connectivity helps with community health, well-being and resilience by allowing for telehealth and better communication options to bring folks together, especially older adults who may be isolated, and other populations who have unmet needs. Connectivity helps with fostering a county and region where, indeed, Everywhere is Somewhere.
