Harrington broadband gets noticed in Olympia

(Davenport, WA, Jan. 30, 2018) – Harrington’s Mayor and members of the Harrington Public Development Authority recently participated in a presentation to the State Senate Committee for Economic Development and International Trade in Olympia. Senator Maralyn Chase of Edmonds, the committee chair, had come across a 2016 press release that publicized Harrington’s downtown broadband project. The senator invited the stakeholders to share their story with the committee via the Internet from The Post & Office, a coffee shop in Harrington that is connected to the broadband network.

Senator Chase found the project to be unique in its simplicity – the Authority purchased the equipment and the NoaNet fiber contractor donated the installation. The result was an extension of high speed broadband fiber and Wi-Fi capable of delivering up to a gigabyte of bandwidth throughout the downtown core at a cost to the Authority of under $10,000. High speed broadband, according to the senator, is the key to businesses from the west side of the state being able to move to small towns to the east.

After Economic Development Council director Margie Hall provided a brief summation of the 2012 NoaNet build-out and its significance to the Authority’s project, Josh Steward, its president at the time; Heather Slack, its current president and also owner of The Post & Office; and Harrington’s Mayor Dillon Haas, a telecommuter, all presented information on the project and the positive effect it has had on the community.