Cookeville Looking Into Free Downtown Wi-Fi

Cookeville officials are looking into bringing free Wi-Fi to the downtown area in the near future.

Economic Development Coordinator Melinda Keifer said the city recently submitted a “pre-application” for an Appalachian Regional Commission grant to help fund the project.

“Ultimately, we could probably have things installed fairly quickly,” Keifer said. “If the installation was all we had to worry about, that would be great. I think that will be the easiest part. The other part is really trying to get together all that you need to do to implement a federal grant.”

Keifer said the free Wi-Fi service would benefit patrons who visit the downtown area and its businesses.

“Downtown is such a vibrant area, we have so many events downtown,” Keifer said. “We really want people to be able to come down, have a cup of coffee, work on their project from school, access coupons, different things like that when they’re in the downtown area. So really it’s just a service to keep people [and] their technology up and running while they’re visiting downtown.”

A second application would need to be submitted by Oct. 8 if the city passes the initial application process.

Keifer said the match grant covers up to $75,000 in project costs with the match being based on a county’s economic status. Based on the grant’s guidelines, the city would be responsible for a 50-50 match.

Monterey’s Board of Aldermen and Mayor voted Sept. 10 to apply for an ARC grant for Wi-Fi in their downtown area as well.