A day-long tour and schedule of events by senior executives of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) in Oneida County on September 24 “exceeded all expectations and was an unqualified success”, according to Northwoods Broadband Development Coalition (NWBDC) Founder Don Sidlowski. The day began with a 9-11 am meeting of the LinkWISCONSIN Region 2 Team, which was held at the UW-Extension (UWEX) Conference Room located at the Rhinelander/Oneida County Airport terminal building lower level. The some thirty attendees received in-depth briefings and updates by the PSC’s State Broadband Coordinator Dr. Tithi Chattopadhyay and staff members Pete Jahn and Kathy Bakke. This was followed by a report from Professor Andy Lewis of the UWEX Center for Community Technology Solutions (CCTS) on the results of the Region 2 portion of a statewide listening session on broadband conducted over the winter of 2012. The morning session concluded with an update on progress in Region 2 and a review of the region’s broadband investment plan conducted by Sidlowski, who also served as host for the day’s events. PSC Chairman Phil Montgomery arrived in town at Noon in time for a working business lunch at the Rhinelander Pub, after which Chairman Montgomery and Dr. Chattopadhyay were escorted by Sidlowski to the WXPR studios in Downtown Rhinelander for the 1 pm taping of a 30-minute minute “mini-forum” on broadband, in which Sidlowski served as on-air moderator. From there the trio headed up to Three Lakes for a one-hour forum which was held from 2-3 pm in the auditorium of the Three Lakes Center for the Arts. There the three person panel consisting of Montgomery, Chattopadhyay, and Lewis responded to an hour’s worth of questions put to the panel by Sidlowski on the general theme of broadband expansion and adoption as a means of economic development, job creation, growth and retention in the Northwoods. A question and answer session followed the conclusion of the formal portion of the forum, after which members of the media were present to interview the PSC personnel.

NWBDC Founder Don Sidlowski was one of a small handful of regional leaders invited to serve as a facilitator at the Small Town Downtown Forum conducted in Luck, WI (Polk County) on Friday, September 19. Sidlowski facilitated the roundtable on economic development, placing special emphasis on small towns using broadband expansion and adoption as a means of job creation, growth and retention. “Having a robust broadband infrastructure in your community in no way guarantees success in economic development”, said Sidlowski “but without it you don’t stand a chance of recruiting and retention, not when employers and workers can simply choose the nearby community that has invested itself in getting the job done”. Small towns have unique issues and needs that are often very different from those of larger communities. These forums are intended to bring together those serving and working in and with communities of populations fewer than 1500 to learn from each other through case studies, roundtables and discussion groups. The forums are financially underwritten by the USDA Rural Development Department (USDA-RD), Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), the University of Wisconsin Extension (UWEX) and the Wisconsin Rural Partners (WRP) among others such as NWBDC who support the effort by offering pro bono professional consulting assistance.