City deals with underground cable congestion

McCOOK, Neb. — Sometimes it takes days or weeks to process applications to lay underground cable or fiber optic lines, said a McCook City staff member Monday night.

That’s because, with pre-existing infrastructure and the current number of other lines, it’s getting congested underground so records have to be checked and re-checked, said Kyle Potthoff, City of McCook Public Works director at the regular McCook City Council at its regular meeting.

McCook City Manager Nate Schneider agreed. He described a line request last year on West C that had to re-directed because of the congestion and the time it took for several city staff members to rearrange that. “It’s getting harder and harder for us to keep up with the demand” of companies requesting to lay cable, he said, with a permit or annual fee a way to recoup costs.

Also, there’s value to using city streets and sidewalks, he said. “At the minimum…we need a permitting process in place,” Schneider said.

The council discussed the possibility of establishing permits or an annual fee to install, operate, and maintain fiber cable, coaxial cable, or communication cable on, above, or underneath the surface of City of McCook streets, alleys, sidewalks, or other public ground. Currently, the city requires a bond and insurance for possible damage incurred.

Schneider told the council he checked with other communities who have fees to see how it is collected, such as in Ogallala, North Platte, Holdrege, Hastings and Lexington. All have their own way of doing it, he said, either by an annual fee, such as in North Platte and Lexington, or charging by the linear foot of cable, such as in Ogallala that charges 50 cents per foot, or by gross profit, with Holdrege capturing 5 percent of the company’s annual revenue.

Larger companies, like Great Plains in McCook, sign franchise agreements, paying cities for the franchise, so that’s slightly different, Schneider said.

City attorney Nathanial Mustion said in his conversations with city staff from other communities concerning fees, there haven’t been any negative consequences from companies. “They have not seen anyone not come,” he said.

Better Internet is vital for community residents, said Councilman Jared Muehlenkamp said, although he expressed concerns that the companies would pass the costs of fees onto the consumer. He also asked that the cable lines be identified in the GIS Workshop map.

Schneider said he would bring to the council at a future meeting an ordinance they can adopt or tweak, requiring permits or fees for requests to install underground cable lines.