Colorado Broadband Head Resigns
The Maine Public Utilities Commission chair is also stepping down
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2026 – Colorado broadband director Brandy Reitter stepped down Monday.
Reitter had led the office since 2021. In a LinkedIn post announcing her resignation, she said she joined the office out of a desire to help implement rural broadband expansion programs.
“I left a career that I enjoyed to take on a rare opportunity to positively impact those left behind and assist the state and the nation in directing over $1B in funding in unserved communities,” she said. “This wasn't a task that I initially knew how to do in a department that wasn't well known, or set up yet to manage the programs.”
Reitter didn’t say why she left or what her next job might be. Prior to running the Colorado broadband office, she had served as the top administrator in multiple towns across Colorado, most recently Eagle, Colo.
“As for what's next, I am going to focus on moving back to Denver this fall and hope to ski when it snows next month!” Reitter said.
The Colorado broadband office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Reitter.
Allison Terry, a strategy officer in the governor’s office that worked on broadband issues, will be interim director, a broadband office spokesperson told the Colorado Sun.
Also according to the Sun, Reitter’s resignation came abruptly and surprised many in the state.
In her post, Reitter said she was proud of administering Colorado’s slice of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, as well as expanding middle mile infrastructure and modernizing the state’s broadband mapping and data collection.
Implementing BEAD meant holding three bidding rounds, since Colorado had already made tentative awards when the Trump administration overhauled the program last year.
Under the Biden administration, the state had been planning to deploy fiber to 70 percent of its eligible locations. Under the new rules, aimed at slashing deployment costs, Colorado’s currently approved plan is about half fiber and half satellite from Amazon and SpaceX.
The state is spending about half of its $826 million BEAD allocation on deployment. Under a new policy, it could spend some remaining funds on locations missed by mapping errors and other program defaults. Guidance on non-deployment uses is forthcoming from the Commerce Department.
The Sun noted Colorado’s Office of Information Technology, which houses the broadband office, has been dealing with layoffs and lawmaker scrutiny over low morale. The head of the department disputed that earlier this month, according to the Sun.
At a conference in April, Reitter said she wanted her office to be an advocate for Colorado ISPs before federal regulators.
“I learn a lot from my ISPs and communities. I feel like I’ve kind of taken on this duty to make sure their voices are part of the conversation,” she said. “Because I’m in a lot of rooms where they’re not, you know?”
Maine PUC
The chair of the Maine Public Utilities Commission is also stepping down.
Phil Bartlett will leave the post Oct. 9, according to the office of Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D). Patrick Scully, the most senior PUC commissioner, will serve as acting chair until a replacement is nominated and confirmed.
Bartlett had led the agency since 2019. He’s leaving for “a new opportunity in the private sector," Mills said.
The Maine PUC doesn’t have much regulatory authority over broadband service, but it does preempt federal rules and set pole attachment rules in the state. In a release, Mill’s office touted Maine’s rapid response team for pole attachment disputes as a model for a similar federal system adopted in 2023.
