The Cayuga County Legislature adopted Resolution sixty-eight (68) on February 15th, 1994, creating the Cayuga County Community Wide Telecommunications Consortium. The resolution called for the assembly of a community-wide group (representing several membership sub-groups), as indicated below, and charged it with the responsibility of presenting a written report no later than the August session. Specific attention to the development of a work plan, an organizational framework, implementation recommendations, budget requirements, and potential revenue sources was requested. The County Planning Department was directed to assist the efforts of the Consortium. The 1994 work grew out of the determination of a few visionaries who held countless early morning discussions in 1992 and 93 on how to get telecommunications on the community agenda.

The report was submitted, as directed, in August of 1994, culminating a series of public fact-finding sessions and consensus gathering exercises. Seven key telecommunications issues were identified by the Consortium which, when considered in total, created a valuable focus for its work. The 1994 report also developed prioritized recommendations for the Consortium work. Among them was included Recommendation 7.a, a specific recommendation to develop a community net.

Throughout 1994 and 1995 the Consortium work was guided by the priorities reflected in the initial fact finding report. The work was enriched by the combined and truly diverse perspectives of the membership. Strong working relationships were developed between the County Planning Department, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County and the Local Government Program at Cornell University. Financial support from the Rural Business Enterprise Program in 1996 allowed the focus of additional staff resources on economic development aspects of the Consortium work and on the creation of CayugaNet. The initial membership sub-groups are in fact reflected in the directory of CayugaNet.

The CayugaNet web site was maintained by personnel in the Cayuga County Planning Department through the end of the grant and then until January of 2001. On January 1, 2001 CayugaNet was transferred to the newly established Cayuga County Department of Information Technology which now oversees and maintains all County web sites.