Cabot AR

4 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 10 Connect2First initially estimated it would take up to eight years to construct a high- speed fiber network passing 103,000 locations across central and southeast Arkansas. A $21.8 million project funded by municipal bonds will pass another 4,200 locations. By adopting Render’s network construction management technology, Connect2First expects to complete both projects in just four years, saving taxpayer money, connecting vital services and improving the communities’ quality of life. By adopting a technology-led approach to deployment, Connect2First has eliminated the paperwork and administrative overhead involved with delivering an infrastructure project of this scale. Project leaders are not only delivering the fiber network ahead of schedule but are optimizing the labor workforce to ensure expensive resources are hyper-productive.  Render’s real-time data and end-to-end project visibility provide office teams with the answers they need as fast as teams are completing work in the field. The quality of the network and speed of the connection experience for Cabot’s residents is enabled by the quality of the data captured during the build. With data-driven deployment, Connect2First has been able to provision customers in less than ten days from service availability and will seamlessly operate and maintain a high-quality communications network for years to come. For more information, visit: www.connect2first.net CABOT, ARKANSAS a small town. Cabot is the largest city in Lonoke County, Arkansas, with a population of some 28,000, it is ranked as the state’s 19th largest city. With a trade area of over 150k people, Cabot is the fastest growing region in Arkansas, and many cite Cabot as one of the best places to live in Arkansas Cabot’s residents, most of whom are homeowners, enjoy that desirable suburban vibe and the local public schools have a high rating. Cabot is also home to many military veterans (Little Rock Air Force Base is nearby), and it is a Purple Heart community, according to Mayor Ken Kincade. “It’s ALL here” says Kincade, citing an upcoming marketing campaign for the community that is part of the City of Cabot’s year-long community engagement rebranding. We recently caught up with the Mayor, now in the first year of his second four- year term, and with City of Cabot Economic Development Director Alicia Payseno. They outlined Cabot’s culture, spirit, past, present, and future as they told us more about what makes their community such a great place to live, work, and play. “We have a very interesting background regarding our history, and how that has molded the city you see today ,” says Payseno, citing Cabot’s founding in 1873 and its incorporation 18 years later. Like countless American cities, Cabot is situated along a railway (the Union Pacific Railroad nowadays), and it was this vital rail link, says Payseno, that made the community’s economic prosperity a given and a slam-dunk success. She adds that this railroad naturally helped create Cabot’s downtown mercantile district: an historic place, full of vibrancy and commerce and a real hub of much bustling activity. Yet Cabot has had its share of setbacks. Payseno revealed that in 1976, a fatal