Town of Normanna
St. Louis County Minnesota
6472 French River Road
Duluth MN 55804
218-525-1848
The Board of Supervisors meet on the third Wednesday of each month at 6:00 PM, unless posted otherwise, meetings are held at the Normanna Town Hall, 6472 French River Road.
The town board of the Town of Normanna, St. Louis County, Minnesota holds its regularly scheduled board meetings on the third Wednesday of each month at 6:00 PM at the town hall located at 6472 French River Road, Duluth, MN 55804. If a meeting cannot be held as scheduled because it conflicts with a holiday or another day in which a meeting cannot be held, the meeting will be held the following week on the same day of the week, time, and place. The following are the dates on which the regular board meetings are scheduled to occur in 2022 and reflect any changes due to conflicts:
January 18, 2023 changed to January 25 at 7 PM followed by the Board of Audit
February 15, 2023 changed to February 22 followed by the Board of Audit
March 15, 2023 changed to March 29, Reorganization meeting begins at 5:30 PM followed by Board meeting
April 19, 2023
May 17, 2023
June 21, 2023
July 16, 2023
August 16, 2023
September 20, 2023
October 18, 2023
November 15, 2023
December 20, 2023
Broadband/Internet Service
Update: Broadband/Internet Service to Normanna Township—March 5, 2022
State/Federal funding for broadband projects in our area will likely come from three sources in the 2022 to 2026 timeframe:
- the NTIA, which is now the lead Federal agency for broadband funding (https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/resources/grant-programs)
- the FCC RDOF initiative (https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904/factsheet)
- the State Border-to-Border program (https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/broadband/grant-program/)
A grant proposal for Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) service encompassing portions of Canosia, Gnesen, Lakewood, Normanna, and Rice Lake was not awarded by the NTIA Broadband Infrastructure program last Friday. That grant program was extremely competitive; the awards were quite limited in coverage, as expected. The positive news is that our communities have now attracted the attention of at least one reputable broadband provider, a crucial aspect of any broadband funding initiative, and established a relationship with the County that may help in future funding efforts.
The status of the FCC RDOF initiative is unknown currently. The preliminary winner for our area obtained preliminary awards over a significant portion of the country; however, the FCC needs to evaluate the proposals from each preliminary award winner in detail to determine project viability. The FCC is leaving the large awards until the end for approval, and has been reviewing these large projects for over a year without decision.
The State Border-to-Border program plans to offer $35M in 2022; however, the State program has been delayed awaiting release of ARPA funds to the State by the Federal Treasury. Eventually, the State will gain control of significant funding through the NTIA to support State broadband projects. It is unlikely that those funds will have any effect on fiber deployments this year. Bear in mind that the $35M in the State 2022 funding pipeline will do next to nothing to resolve the estimated $1.3B broadband deficiency in Minnesota.
The odds are stacked against the townships for significant fiber deployment in 2022. There are a couple of decent opportunities that Normanna and its partner communities are pursuing, but the funding pipeline is clogged and deployment costs can be expected to increase across the country as funded fiber projects demand supplies and resources.
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