A city in Kansas renamed itself Google. Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., is considering Rancho Googlemonga. The mayor of Duluth jumped into an icy Lake Superior to get the company's attention. In Colorado, a crowd gathered to form a human sign: "We Love Google."

But there are folks south of the Minnesota River convinced that they have the bottom-line ingredients needed to actually win a nerdy competition that could draw 10,000 applicants.

Google is on a fast-track mission to find some part of the country in which to install a fiber-optic network that experts are calling the 21st-century equivalent of an 18th-century river, a 19th-century railway or a 20th-century freeway.

It would raise the speed of data transmission to as much as 100 times faster than most people have ever seen. And that could raise the stakes for everything from movies streamed into a home to remote consultations with the best doctors at Harvard University, who could see your tests results in real time.

"In the long run," said Scott County Administrator Gary Shelton, "this could do tremendous things for us in economic development, in making this county an attractive place for businesses to move to -- especially the businesses of the 21st century."

In Dakota County, Dakota Future, a public-private alliance, has launched a website -- dakotafuturefiber.com -- devoted exclusively to its dream of attracting the $300 million windfall. Burnsville, launching its own application, is pointing to its own city's fiber ring, completed last year, as the foundation Google would love to see in place already.

Late last week, civic leaders in Scott County gathered to put their unanimous imprint on a countywide application. Prior Lake's new mayor, Mike Myser, a former corporate executive, urged a full-speed-ahead approach.

"This sounds like an outstanding thing for the county," he said. "What can we do to help Google make more money? We need to challenge ourselves over and over again" to take it to the max.

Perry Mulcrone of the county's information technology staff said county leaders believe Scott has several important advantages:

• A 108-mile regional fiber ring already connecting key users.

• An upscale population -- cities such as Prior Lake and Savage and townships such as Credit River are teeming with affluent households -- that is not well served by broadband now.

• A sizable population, well more than 100,000 people, close to a tech-savvy metro area.

• A suburban-to-rural flavor, meaning lots of grass and dirt rather than streets and sidewalks to dig into, making it a lot cheaper to bring the new services to people.

• A cluster of government officials well acquainted with fiber installation.

• A culture of collaboration among government units, including an organization called S.C.A.L.E. that for years has created efficiencies.

"Google is looking for a groundswell," Mulcrone said. "They're looking for dirt-ready communities where people are ready, governments are ready, to get to work with them. They want to do this as fast as possible," as a pilot for other areas.

Applications are due March 26, and Google hopes to choose one or more places by the end of the year.

One possible obstacle, as Rep. Mike Beard, R-Shakopee, noted, is existing broadband and even cable TV providers -- data movement at such high speeds would rock their worlds. Indeed, part of the appeal for the home or business user would be a neutral pathway that Internet providers would then use to compete for customer loyalty.

"Why is Google really doing this?" Shelton asked mayors and other leaders. "To make money -- advance their own cause. Why would we do it? It's a competitive advantage for our residents.

"We need to reduce regulatory roadblocks so we don't make it too difficult to do this. Local governments can control permits, fees, regulations. This is a great way to take advantage of an investment we've already made."

David Peterson • 952-882-9023