(Audubon) The Audubon County Supervisors are saying ‘Enough is enough’ when it comes to approving utility permits for Windstream.
Supervisor’s Chairman Doug Sorensen says there are things going on in the county that aren’t getting finished and yet Windstream continues to submit new utility permit applications. “What we did as supervisors is basically implement a suspension of all utility permits for Windstream until they get done some of the other stuffy that they have said they would do. We have a phone line laying down the shoulder of a road for down a quarter of a mile and some other things. They are just kind of a nuisance. They are in the way for the county and Windstream isn’t getting their work done. Rather than starting on new stuff we just ask them to clean up what they haven’t done yet.”
The latest incident involved a culvert replacement of the Douglas 32 Bridge. A lack of response from Windstream delayed the project 6-8 months. “We had a fiber optic cable that was buried somewhere in that proximity. They never did come locate it. They were going to come re-bore it and that never got done. After a 90 day notice expired, Audubon County went ahead and started construction, ripped out the bridge, and installed the culvert excavating very carefully.”
Sorensen says the excavator operator was able to avoid the fiber optic cable, including digging a portion by hand around it. “This is taking extra time. It is kind of unnecessary. If they had just done what they were supposed to do and remove this from our way.”
In other news, a presentation from Motorola has given the Audubon County Board of Supervisors a clear picture of what it will cost to update the county’s emergency communication equipment. The total cost for a one tower system including 80 handheld radios and 24 mobiles would be $2.935 Million. Sorensen admits these payments could be spread out over 10-20 years.
