Rally Networks of New Florence received a grant that will help deliver broadband service to the residents of the Golden Eagle Lake area, located outside High Hill.

The announcement was made during a five-minute event on April 13 outside the Rally Networks office on North Main Street. Several Rally employees and the Montgomery County Commission were in attendance.

The total cost of the project is $1,428,448. Marcus Bott, vice president of operations of Rally Networks, said the company is excited to work with the state and Montgomery County on the project.

“On this project, there were only about 130 houses, but they are houses that are very hard to get to,” Bott said. “We’re pretty excited for the state to be able to provide a lot of the funding to be able to make this project happen and to be able to get out to those houses.”

Jeff Sutterer, a broadband grant specialist for Rally Networks, said the project will have over 100 connections and will target mostly on the less dense areas.

“Our office never made a fiber connection,” Sutterer said. “We never built out a network. So we rely on partners like New Florence to really help us out there. We really appreciate the county commission stepping up to the plate and getting this area served.”

Sutterer said the Montgomery County Commission – which includes 1st District Commissioner Dave Teeter, 2nd District Commissioner Doug Lensing and Presiding Commissioner Ryan Poston – invested $10,000 in the project.

“I would like to thank Dave Teeter, Ryan Poston and Doug Lensing for their financial support,” Sutterer said. “That additional financial contribution really helped push the application over the edge along with the local support they all went out and were able to generate there. They really put together a robust application and made it that much easier for us to sign off on it.”

Poston said he is thrilled that the county commissioners are helping out Rally Networks with the project.

“I want to thank you all for the opportunity for us to give you all some money and thanks to the state for providing it,” Poston said. “I just wish we could do more. Broadband is the big word right now. It seems like there are obstacles all of the time in everything we do.”

Rally Networks changed their name from Missouricom in October 2022. Besides Missouri, Rally Networks also serves rural communities in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

“We’re not a new company,” Bott said. “We have a lot of people with a lot of experience who know what it takes. By the end of the day, we’re going to get it done to get people hooked up. We have a great team to support that product once it is out there.”