Tracy City Council members heard from Tony Nelson of Woodstock Communications during its regular city council meeting Monday. Nelson presented the council with Woodstock Communications’ plans to bring fiber optics to the homes of Tracy over the next two years.
In 2015, Woodstock Communications started Woodstock Wave Wireless at Lake Shetek. Since 2017, they have completed FTTH (Fiber To The Home) projects in Westbrook, Balaton, Tyler, Pipestone, Chandler, Lynd, Edgerton, Slayton, Lake Sarah and Hatfield, as well as rural customers in Lyon County. Based in Ruthton, Woodstock Communications INVESTMENT
continued on page 3 has plans to expand its network into Tracy starting in the spring of 2027. According to Nelson, the design has been going on for the past few months. Woodstock Communications already has a complete ring running through Tracy and has a transport fiber running to downtown, which was done this spring.
They currently have a lot of the southwest side of Tracy in which they would be adding a 10’ x 16’ building to house electronics. They have also negotiated a rental agreement for office space on 3rd St. Nelson expects while the headquarters are in Ruthton, the Tracy office would be staffed for three to five years.
The scope of the work includes bids being send out in November. Woodstock Communications only allows approved contractors to bid. The project would be completed in two phases. Phase 1 would start in spring of 2027 with the south side of Tracy near the school, as well as the east side of Center Street. Phase 2 would be completed in 2028 and would include west of Center St. and north of the previous project. This would be done in two sections beginning in spring 2028.
The goal of Woodstock Communications would be to dig fiber to each house, whether the homeowner has their service of not. There is not a fee to have the fiber brought to the house. The fiber is 100% underground with trenching and boring. Nelson explained that all main lines are bored in and vibrate plows are used to bring the fiber to the house.
The total investment of the project would be approximately $4 million, which would be paid by Woodstock Communications. Once installed, residents in town would have the option to retain their services, including internet, phone, cell, and video. The FTTH network would be capable of symmetrical speeds of up to 10 gigabytes.
No action was taken on the presentation, but council members in attendance showed support for the project.
“I think it sounds tremendous,” council member Seth Schmidt said. “It would be a fantastic improvement for the people of Tracy.”
In other council news …
• The board approved resolution 2026-80-Task Order #11 for Bollig Engineering to create a design for improvements to the basketball court at Sebastian Park so grant applications can be submitted. The order was for $5,000, but most grants have to have a design before they will be considered. ROYO has spearheaded the project at the park and will be working with the City on grants and opportunities.
• The board approved resolution 2026-81-DWRF PFA loan, resolution 2026-82-DWRF grant agreement, resolution 2026-83CWRF PFA loan and resolution 2026-84-CWRF grant agreement.
