Kneehill County will head a regional broadband exploration as part of the Kneehill Regional Partnership (KRP) and will contribute $2,000 towards the expected costs following approval at the regular Tuesday, April 26 council meeting.
Discussions about conducting the broadband study have been ongoing between Kneehill County and KRP since November 2021 and the project was approved by the partnership in March 2022.
“Connectivity in Kneehill County is lacking, and an investigation of the current state of broadband is required to determine where gaps in service are so we can identify long-term solutions to improve connectivity,” Economic Development officer Jacqueline Buchanan shared during the meeting.
Ms. Buchanan further explained the Alberta Broadband Strategy offers funding for shovel ready broadband projects, but not to conduct broadband studies or develop strategies.
While funding is not available for these studies and strategies, the information gathered is integral to bringing a project to shovel readiness.
The Regional Broadband Study will be broken down into three phases, and the first phase will capture the needs and desired outcomes of the five KRP member municipalities-the towns of Three Hills and Trochu, villages of Acme, Carbon, and Linden, and Kneehill County. This information will help set the direction for the actual broadband study, which will be carried out in Phase Two.
It is expected Phase Two will be complete by the end of 2022, though there is no current timeline for when Phase Three will begin.
In March, Kneehill County approved removing some $35,000 from its 2022 Operating budget for a broadband study, but acknowledged this funding could be brought back for council consideration if the project was approved by KRP to move forward.
This is much higher than the $10,000 budget for Phase One as it was determined the information captured during this portion of the project will be necessary to move forward with the actual study; both the Phase One and full broadband study were initially budgeted together.
Council approved a maximum budget of $2,000 for the KRP Regional Broadband Study Phase One with a vote of five in favour and two opposed. This funding will be taken from the Corporate Initiatives budget due to its previous removal from the Operating budget.

A Drumheller Woman pursuing her music career has received a big boost by winning a prestigious songwriting contest.
Danae Kimpinski won first place in the singer/ songwriter category of the Great American Song Contest. This is an international competition that attracts scores of singers and songwriters. Kimpinski’s entry is a song entitled “Mother Dear.”
“I am very excited to see what door it opens up,” Kimpinski tells the Mail.
She graduated from St. Anthony’s in 2017 and from there went on to complete a songwriting program at Prairie College in Three Hills.
“We made a CD as a final project of the program, and I entered my song into contests, and this one came back and said I was first place out of 1,900 applicants, which is crazy,” said Kimpinski.
She won a monetary prize as well as memberships in songwriting communities and networking websites.
Kimpinski says she has been writing since a very young age.
“I would write songs to like study for school or process little kid things. But I really started to take it seriously when I was 16, I thought ‘this could be something I could pursue,”’ she said. “We were always connected to music, we would perform with the Wheatland Band, they would push us along to sing our own stuff and mentor.”
She also spent time living in the art community of Rosebud where she was able to let her creative juices flow, writing a play with original music.
“And we would play at the Farmer’s Market and do things like that,” she said.
She also spent six months in Germany working as an Au Pair and was able to perform for the family’s church.
With this win, she hopes to capitalize on the exposure and the contacts she has made while she continues to pursue her music.
“I am actually recording another song in May in High River,” she said. “I really want to take the opportunity to tell people, ‘I’m not just an average songwriter, I can win awards!’” she laughs.
Her music is available on many streaming platforms, including Apple Music, Pandora, and Spotify.
She is uploading more music to YouTube for fans to watch. She also performed at the Rosebud Country Inn on Mother’s Day with her sister Jenna.
For more information, check out www.danaekimpinski.com.