Paulding Putnam Welcomes State and Regional Leaders to Celebrate Historic Indiana Broadband Investment, Will Receive $13.1 million in BEAD funding
Paulding Putnam welcomed state, regional, and community leaders to its headquarters on July 27 to celebrate the cooperative’s recently received Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program contract — announcing $13.1 million in federal funding to deploy fiber-to-the-home broadband to thousands of unserved and underserved locations across northeast Indiana.
Joining Paulding Putnam leadership for the celebration were Indiana Broadband Office Chief Broadband Officer Megan Minor and Communications Director Devan Penn; Indiana Electric Cooperatives CEO John Cassady; Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership’s Davis Macke; City of New Haven Mayor Steve McMichael; and Greater Fort Wayne CEO John Urbahns. Representing the cooperative were CEO Randy Price, COO Nick Eltzroth, and CFO Renee Hull, along with board trustees Tim Derck, Joe Kohnen, and John Saxton.
“This milestone marks meaningful progress in bringing BEAD investments to communities across Indiana,” said Megan Minor, chief broadband officer for the Indiana Broadband Office. “Paulding Putnam has shown it is prepared to deliver reliable broadband while maintaining a strong commitment to the communities they serve. Their work reflects the goals of the BEAD program and helps move Indiana closer to universal connectivity.”
Price traced the milestone back to the cooperative’s founding nearly 90 years ago, when rural communities banded together to bring electricity to areas investor-owned utilities had passed over.
“High-speed internet isn’t a luxury anymore,” Price told attendees. “It’s as essential to daily life as the electricity we’ve delivered since 1935.”
He noted that Paulding Putnam is among the first cooperatives in Indiana to receive a BEAD contract, and is one of the highest non-national recipients.
Eltzroth walked guests through the scope of the build: 1,464 eligible locations across Allen, Adams, DeKalb, and Noble counties, with more than 8,900 network passings identified in Indiana and over 18,600 combined across the cooperative’s Ohio and Indiana buildout. Pending unexpected delays, construction is expected to begin in spring 2027, with most Indiana locations connected by spring 2029. Construction is already underway in Ohio, delivering residential speeds up to 1 gig to member-consumers.
He also highlighted that the same fiber backbone will strengthen Paulding Putnam’s electric grid, giving crews faster, more reliable communication with substations and field equipment for all 14,000 electric members — whether or not they subscribe to internet service.
Hull closed the formal remarks by detailing the project’s financing: $13,174,476 in federal BEAD funding matched by $10,350,060 in cooperative investment. She tied the commitment to one of the cooperative’s seven guiding principles, Concern for Community, noting that as a not-for-profit, member-owned utility, every dollar invested goes back into the communities and members Paulding Putnam serves.
Community and regional leaders echoed that message throughout the event. New Haven Mayor Steve McMichael recalled that between 2014 and 2019, one of the most common questions asked by new residents moving to the city was simply whether internet was available.
“It shouldn’t be the haves versus the have-nots,” McMichael said. “This is critical work for our rural and suburban communities.”
Greater Fort Wayne CEO John Urbahns framed the investment in economic development terms.
“The why of it is people and capital,” Urbahns said. “Broadband is a need, not a want,” he added, noting that Allen County is currently the fastest-growing metro area in the country.
Paulding Putnam board trustees brought the conversation back to members. Trustee John Saxton shared that he personally knows college students who choose not to visit home because of unreliable internet access. Trustee Joe Kohnen said the most common question co-op staff fielded at Member Appreciation Day at the Fort Wayne Zoo this past weekend was, “When will internet be available at my house?” “Our members have had to put up with some pretty rotten internet over the years,” Kohnen said, “and that’s why they’re so excited.”
Representatives from the Indiana Broadband Office and Indiana Electric Cooperatives also lent their support at the event, reinforcing the state’s commitment to closing Indiana’s rural digital divide alongside electric cooperatives.
Following the program, Eltzroth led guests on a tour of Paulding Putnam’s 5,000-square-foot headquarters expansion project, showcasing space built to support the cooperative’s growth — including new cubicle workspace, an upgraded dispatch center, a stand-up work area for technicians and linemen, and an interactive training room for ongoing staff development.
