Success Stories

Reinbeck, Iowa

Lincoln Savings Bank home office is in Reinbeck with many branches throughout the area. They have installed their data equipment in a building in Cedar Falls. Moving data from Cedar Falls to Reinbeck is too slow. They would like to have a fiber route or they would move about 20 jobs to Cedar Falls. RTU was already looking into running fiber to Cedar Falls with savings coming in other areas. When LSB indicated their need, we were ready to move and are planning to run fiber this fall or early winter. This should save the 20 jobs that they were considering moving.

Spencer, Iowa

The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics operates a Child Outreach Clinic at Spencer Hospital. Several years ago, UIHC picked Spencer’s outreach clinic as one of the first in the state to receive access to doctors in Iowa City through a videoconferencing system. This capability was made possible because Spencer Hospital had access to a fast, reliable, and affordable broadband connection through Spencer Municipal Utilities. Since its inception, dozens of at-risk children in northwest Iowa have benefited from medical expertise of UI physicians hundreds of miles away through this valuable technology.

Hawarden, Iowa

In times of increasing budget shortfalls, Hawarden leaders have been able to manage tough budget decisions without property tax increases through the use of telecommunications revenue. In fiscal year 2004-05, Hawarden residents could have seen their library closed one extra day a week, their swimming pool with reduced hours, the senior transportation bus with a limited schedule along with a property tax increase in order to maintain the services that survived the previous year’s round of budget cuts. Through the use of telecommunications revenue, those damaging service cuts and tax increases were avoided.