KNOX — The town of Knox is interested in hearing directly from its residents about their experiences with broadband service in the town, or lack thereof, at an open-to-the-public focus-group meeting on Monday, June 5, at 7 p.m.

The town’s broadband committee will listen to residents share their concerns, which committee members hope will allow them to fine tune their understanding of where in the town broadband is still inaccessible, and collect enough anecdotal information to capture the attention of public officials and anyone else who has the ability to deliver critical funding. 

“If you want to get funding for your locality like we do, you have to get attention…,” Supervisor Russ Pokorny, who is on the broadband committee, told The Enterprise this week. “So this is going to help us with that, and also give us a closer connection to the people that really need it.”

The committee estimates that roughly 20 percent of the town’s households are without a wired internet connection, but getting precise figures has been difficult, Pokorny said. The town’s current estimate is derived from a survey it developed, where 130 households responded that they did not have internet access. 

“So we thought 200 [households] is a reasonable estimate based on that,” Pokorny said.

With help from Spectrum, the town is hoping to develop an accurate, local map of service availability, since it seems that’s a crucial component to get funding, Pokorny said, and would correct misconceptions that may come from viewing the state’s Public Service Commission Broadband Map, which sometimes shows service as available where it isn’t. 

“We’re trying to get the public service commission to acknowledge where there really isn’t connectivity,” he said. 

Representatives from the digital equity not-for-profit CanCode will also be at the meeting to help anyone who may be interested in completing New York State’s new ConnectALL survey. The survey is meant to map out the need for broadband as the state figures out where to deliver connectivity funding as it pushes to close the internet gap. 

“There is money for this,” Pokorny said, referring to the explosion of funding that has occurred since the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how necessary internet access is in daily life, even when there’s no emergency order that requires people to handle their affairs remotely. 

Spectrum estimated the cost of connecting the remaining 20 percent of households at around $300,000, Pokorny said, though the committee thinks it might be doable for $100,000 or less. 

Either way, Pokorny said, the question comes down to how much the town can contribute to whatever the total is. 

“The answer is, not much,” he said, “because we’ve got some projects here that we’re really committed to — for instance, rebuilding the transfer station.”

In addition to the regular expenses of running a town, Pokorny said, “To say, ‘Well, can you come up with $50- or $100,000 for the internet,’ the answer is really no, and that we need this state and federal funding, which is out there. We just have to get the attention so they do fund us, which I think they can do.”

Westerlo was recently awarded nearly $1.7 million in federal funding thanks to the efforts of its broadband committee. 

The meeting in Knox is meant primarily for those who have struggled to get an adequate internet connection, Pokorny said, but is open to anyone with relevant stories to share, such as those who have overcome their connectivity problems.

“Any kind of support and attention we can get on the subject is good,” he said.