Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
DAVENPORT — Lincoln County has signed franchise agreements for fiber-optic broadband access through several grants with seven of the eight county municipalities, but one municipality agreement remains outstanding: The county seat.
And that’s because the city, spurred by concerns identified by attorney David Bingaman, has identified language in the proposed agreement that some key stakeholders worry could give the county access to city-owned property without giving the city the ability to negotiate any changes or updates to fiber-optic construction.
The county, meanwhile, has said that such concerns are explained in the contract agreement and accused the city attorney of intentionally dragging on the process while saying he did the same in Wilbur, where an agreement was eventually signed after some debate between the town and county.
“He’s playing the game as he had in Wilbur,” Commissioner Scott Hutsell said at a Sept. 18 meeting in speaking to city councilman Jonathan Chapman, who has voiced his approval of the agreement as written.
Bingaman Zoomed into council’s Wednesday, Sept. 27 to offer his key concerns with the proposed agreement.
“(The agreement) includes both right-of-way property and city-owned property,” Bingaman said. “It really should not include city-owned property, and if it does, it should be very clear that it’s including certain property and that way council can agree or say, ‘no, this is not acceptable.”
Chapman disagreed with Bingaman.
“We are not required to agree to anything. It says we cannot unreasonably decline,” Chapman said. “I think that there was very little that needed to be done to the original document…we ought to get this thing wrapped up quickly so we can get fiber-optic to Davenport as soon as possible.”
Mayor Brad Sweet, however, said he agrees with Bingaman’s concerns.
“We want to protect our parks, ball fields, our cemetery, things that don’t have utilities running through them,” Sweet said. “The way that I read the contract is they have free rein to all city property.”
City clerk Dave Leath said he is concerned with possible issues that could arise from third-party contracting.
“One thing that’s kind of hidden in the whole agreement is that the county will be hiring contractors,” Leath said. “We’ve had lots of instances where contractors…come in, start digging, hit things (and) never take responsibility for it.”
Chapman said the county will still have to go through a permitting process for builds. Bingaman countered that such a process won’t be a second opportunity for the city to oppose any changes not previously agreed to.
“The permitting process is not going to be a second bite at the apple for Davenport,” Bingaman said. “It’s whether they are meeting the regulations for where they need to go.”
City administrator Steve Goemmel said 90% of the broadband build is overhead, while the remaining 10% is open-cut or underground.
Goemmel also said the county hasn’t provided an Exhibit A of where exactly fiber will be constructed.
“I would say get the Exhibit A and find out what else on our redlined document they agreed to,” Sweet said.
Council agreed, tabling a motion for approval of the franchise agreement with the county.
The county, meanwhile, said Sept. 18 that communication has been lacking from the city.
“We haven’t heard anything directly from the city,” Hutsell said. “All the rest (of the municipalities) have signed.”
“It’d be a shame to miss out on (that) because of legal (holdups),” Commissioner Rob Coffman added.
A follow-up committee meeting wasn’t scheduled Wednesday night, as Sweet said “we’ll set it when we get the information.”
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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