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Press Release: Cybersecurity Grant/State of Kentucky Office of Homeland Security
Scott County, Kentucky – Scott County Government was recently awarded $446,900 by the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security. This grant will be used to further protect and strengthen Scott County Government’s computer network and provide cost efficiencies through a centralized management system. This system will allow for enhanced security, scalability, simplified management, connectivity between locations, improved data protection, improved disaster recovery, and staff security training. Scott County is pleased to receive this grant award to improve computer and network security for our staff and citizens of Scott County. County Judge Executive Joe Pat Covington and the Fiscal Court have made it a priority to pursue grant funding to offset costs of needed projects and be good stewards of general fund dollars. This grant along with the recent awards from other grants that include the NTIA $ 3.1 M for Broadband deployment, KPDI $ 2.0 M total for local and regional economic development, Assistance to Firefighters Grant for equipment $180,000 and TAP for the Legacy Trail extension $3.9 M Grants amount to app. 9.2 M dollars in awards to Scott County.
Magistrate David Livingston shares, “Working with public entities in my career, I see on a regular basis the danger of being hacked or held by ransomware. This Cyber Security grant is another example of how Scott County Government staff, Judge Covington and the Fiscal Court search for federal or state funds to cover costs of important projects to protect taxpayers. This allows our locally collected tax dollars to continue working on quality of life issues and keep some of the lowest county tax rates in Kentucky.”
Magistrate Chad Wallace said, “Being awarded the cybersecurity grant is phenomenal! This funding would allow the Scott County government to be able to protect sensitive information, operate our systems with the highest levels of security, and further affirm the citizens’ trust with their government.”
Judge Executive Joe Pat Covington states, “I am proud of the Fiscal Courts efforts to be proactive in pursuing this grant to do all we can to protect our vital network infrastructure from cyber attack and hacking. This award will allow us to use general fund dollars in other areas of need for the county. I appreciate the work of Chip Clark and Michele Ray and all of our staff that make our grant applications competitive.”
COUNTY BROADBAND PROJECT UPDATE 1/17/2024
Despite the winter weather, we’ve been able to continue to make substantial progress on our broadband expansion project now that the majority of all pole permits have been approved. This map shows the areas Spectrum has activated to date and the areas they are targeting for January and February of this year. I’m happy to announce that more than 3,000 homes now have access to high-speed broadband, in Dec. alone we had 808 homes receive access with many more to come before the winter is over.
Obviously, weather and other factors could impact this schedule, but Spectrum is doing all they can to activate these areas quickly. I can share that over the recent cold snap contractors have continued to work and move the project forward and we appreciate their efforts. There’s only one area remaining in need of pole permits, and we are working closely with our utility partners to get those approved as quickly as possible.
We appreciate your patience while we worked with our partners on this major infrastructure project, and we look forward to finishing the broadband deployment and having one of the most connected counties in the country.
2024 MLK Jr. Day Celebration With Georgetown College
Broadband Project Update | December 1, 2023
Activations for our expansion project are continuing to roll in, and we’ve activated another 730 addresses in November. We have now activated 2,358 addresses to date in the project. I’m hopeful a mild winter will allow us to continue at or above our current pace of activations. We continue to work with Kentucky Utilities and other pole owners on finalizing the last attachment applications and this process is nearing completion.
The upgrade of our existing network is just about complete, meaning that within the next couple months, all customers (existing or new activations through the expansion project) will have access to symmetrical gigabit speeds that means one gig upload or one gig download speed. We already have plans in place to increase this to 2 Gig and long-term plans to scale up to 10 Gig and beyond. Scott County is one of the first in the nation to experience this speed increase.
Addresses that are in activated areas will receive notification from Spectrum in the US mail that will share details on how to request service.
Operation Hope: Angel Program Brochure
Charter Spectrum Broadband Project Update
Spectrum has shared the most up to date map of progress on our county wide broadband project. This map highlights the current (and near future) areas of construction in the county and will be updated to show progress as construction moves throughout the County. The county has been divided into 33 sections for construction purposes. Spectrum has 5 aerial teams and 3 ground teams working in the county. As each section is completed, residents will receive notification that they are eligible for accessing service. Spectrum will be building more than 400 miles of fiber throughout the year to connect unserved households to high-speed, reliable broadband service.
Scott County residents can go to the following link to confirm their address is officially part of the project: https://www.spectrum.com/expansion
