Yesterday, the Arkansas State Broadband Office (ARConnect) sent an email to Hempstead County residents who attended the February 17 meeting at First National Bank of Tom Bean in which Glen Howie, Director of ARConnect, asked for a county-wide committee to be formed to represent the county’s will regarding high speed broadband internet.

The email came from Project Manager Laurie Ringler, who also attended the February 17 meeting. It sets a deadline of end of day Friday March 17 for the sending in of a complete committee contact sheet. Also included as attachments to the email is an 18-page toolkit which includes a section on organizing the county committee and a template for the contact sheet.

Notably, the toolkit places no limit on the number of committee members, though the contact sheet has room for 20 names.  It does ask that committee members represent the following stakeholders in the county, while also saying members can represent other stakeholders deemed important by the committee:

• Local elected officials (also including state representatives and senators)

• Congressional staff

• Local government administration (county and/or municipality)

• Local government GIS employees

• Economic development professionals

• Planning commission staff

• Public safety officers

• Education professionals (K-12 and post-secondary)

• Librarians

• Healthcare professionals

• Social and civic organizations

• Agriculture representatives

• Financial institutions

• Utilities

• Chambers of Commerce

• Communities of faith

• Nonprofits

• Philanthropies

• Passionate residents

• Any other stakeholder

Hempstead County Justice of the Peace and head of the Quorum Court’s Budget Committee Ed Darling said those willing to serve on the committee should contact the Hope-Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation at 1-870-777-8485 or Darling himself at 1-870-703-5896. “The goal is to make sure everyone in Hempstead County has an internet connection,” he said.