.jpg)
At its meeting last week, Lexington City Council held a public hearing on a proposed franchise agreement with Brightspeed, a telecommunications company, to operate within the city’s rights-of-way.
Brightspeed is the successor company of Century Link and Sprint, so it already has equipment and wires in the rights-of-way. The franchise agreement will allow it to work to make upgrades to the equipment, something the company has already requested permits to do. The franchise agreement is non-exclusive, meaning City Council could issue other franchises for the rights-of-way if it felt they were in the best interest of the city. As part of the process, the city advertised for other franchises, but no offers were received.
In response to a question from Council member Leslie Straughan, City Attorney Jeremy Carroll informed Council that any installation of new equipment by Brightspeed, such as poles or wires, would be subject to a permitting process and would be subject to review by Patrick Madigan, the city’s director of public works.
Chris Dillon, a representative of Brightspeed who attended the meeting virtually, said that the intent was not to install any new poles within the city.
Council member Nicholas Betts requested that one section of the proposed agreement, dealing with vegetation management around the equipment, be amended to include a requirement that Brightspeed notify the city if it intends to trim any trees near its equipment. Dillon said that that was usually done by the electric companies, but that he had no objections to the amendment “as long as it doesn’t slow the process down.”
Betts moved to approve the franchise agreement with that amendment, and Council member David Sigler provided the second. The motion carried in a unanimous 6-0 vote.
No one from the public spoke during the public hearing on the franchise agreement.
