Nashville’s town manager is moving on to a new challenge.
Scott Rudd has been hired as Indiana’s director of broadband opportunities. He will help other communities expand their access to broadband internet, just as he’s been doing in Brown County.
Rudd’s hiring was announced at the Indiana State Fair today by Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch.
The director of broadband opportunities is responsible for overseeing, managing and expanding the Broadband Ready Community program. Nashville was the first Broadband Ready Community in Indiana and Brown County was the first Broadband Ready county. The program encourages communities to support broadband deployment and adoption by streamlining approval processes and other details.
Rudd will be the main point of contact on broadband matters for the state.
He’ll work closely with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to collaborate with communities and identify the best ways to attract reliable, affordable, high-speed internet to rural Indiana. He’ll also work with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to help farmers and farm businesses make sure they are keeping up with the advancing technology that will keep the agriculture industry thriving, Crouch’s office said in a press release.
In addition, Rudd will work with OCRA on its Broadband Readiness Plan in the Community Development Block Grant Planning Grants program. At the state fair press conference, OCRA Director Jodi Golden announced that several $50,000 planning grants will be available for communities to develop broadband plans.
Rudd, a Brown County native, worked as the Brown County planning director until 2008, then as associate director of Waycross Camp and Conference Center. He was hired as Nashville’s town manager/economic development director on April 1, 2014. No one had been town manager since 2004, and the town had never had an economic development director before Rudd.
As town manager/economic development director, one of Rudd’s recent projects was to start the Brown County Broadband Task Force to investigate the hurdles to expanding internet access here and find solutions. Within the past year, Brown County has received investment and interest from at least four broadband internet providers in extending their service, including both rural electric companies that serve residents. Crouch’s office estimated that investment in Brown County at more than $20 million.
“I look forward to seeing Scott take the progress he has made in Brown County, and transitioning that work to the entire state of Indiana,” Crouch said. “Broadband plays a vital role in our economic growth, and I am excited to see what he can do to help take our rural communities to the next level.”
Rudd starts his new job on Monday. The town manager job is expected to be discussed at tonight’s town council meeting.
