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Logan County Board
Logan County broadband project approved
[January 08, 2026]
On Monday, January 5th, the Logan
County Board met for a special regular session. This session, which
lasted for less than half an hour, was held in the second-floor
courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse. Eleven of the twelve board
members were present, with Kathy Schmidt being the only member
absent. Present were Chairman JR Glenn, Vice Chairman Dale Nelson,
Lance Conahan, Michael DeRoss, Hannah Fitzpatrick, Bob Sanders, Gil
Turner, Jim Wessbecher, Keenan Leesman, Kevin Knauer, and Joseph
Kuhlman.
The broadband project, which has been in the works to get approved
for several years now, is a project aimed at providing high speed
internet access to all parts of Logan County. Eighty miles of fiber
is going to be run by the company WANRack, with Logan County getting
12 strands of that fiber for their own use.
In addition to providing high speed internet to residents, it would
also be something that could attract businesses to the county. Any
business could purchase parts of the fiber and rent them, paying
WANRack for the use of that strand or strands. Since Logan County is
helping with the cost of the project, they would receive a portion
of the revenue generated by this project.
Several years back, Leesman went to
the state to apply for a grant to assist in the cost of the project.
WANRack wanted the county to commit more money than they were able
to. After over a year of applying and waiting on approval, the state
agreed to commit several millions of dollars, helping cover the part
that Logan County would not be able to afford.
This led to another issue, the board had to allocate $2 million to
expand the Logan County Safety Complex, something that was required
under the new Illinois SAFE-T Act. The $2 million was taken from the
broadband project and dedicated to the expansion. This left
broadband without a funding source after the state had agreed to
help fund it. The board was also not sure if there was a time limit
on when the project had to be started before the state’s offer
expired.
After several conversations with the state, Leesman discovered that
the board still had enough time to get the project funded and
started before the state would pull their grant due to inaction, but
a funding source had to be found. After much discussion, it was
ultimately decided that the county could not give $2 million up
front, but they could do smaller monthly payments. This was not
something WANRack wanted. This, combined with the fact that the
county did not have the full amount up front, caused WANRack to walk
away from the deal, leaving Broadband dead once again.
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Leesman went back
to the state, informing them that they no longer had a
commercial partner to help build the project. The state went to
WANRack on Logan County’s behalf and got them to come back to
the negotiating table, as well as agree to monthly payments from
the county in the amount of $14,500 over ten years.
In December of 2025 the details were
finally being worked out. To read on the specifics of this
agreement, as well as why the board did not vote to approve
broadband, click
here.
In this month’s meeting, Leesman stated that all of the concerns
that the board members brought up at December’s meeting had been
addressed, and that WANRack’s legal team was working on it. He
stated that the agreement was not yet ready, so the board could
either approve it with some contingencies or push off the approval
until they had the contract in hand. He also clarified that the
revenue share agreement would be for the life of the project, not
just the ten years the county was paying. After those ten years,
however, the county could renegotiate to potentially get a higher
percentage of the profits from Broadband.
It was stated that, for the first ten years, the county would not
receive any revenue share until the percentage of their earnings was
higher than their $14,500 per month contribution. Leesman also
informed that board that, should any county business get a customer
to purchase fiber lines on the project, the county would get fifteen
percent of the revenue generated from that customer rather than the
agreed upon ten percent. The “hub” of the project would be the
courthouse, with Leesman referring to it as the “center of the
spoke.”
The board eventually decided to take a vote with some contingencies.
Those contingencies were that the wording met what the county and
WANRack agreed to change, and that State’s Attorney Brad Hauge
approved it. The motion was made by Conahan, seconded by Leesman and
was unanimously approved 11-0.
[Matt Boutcher]
[Text received from file]
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