KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — Open Infra Fiber Internet company was discussed during the January 2nd Kaufman County Commissioners Court meeting. The company has been working in Kaufman County installing fiber internet infrastructure.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — Open Infra Fiber Internet company was discussed during the January 2nd Kaufman County Commissioners Court meeting. The company has been working in Kaufman County installing fiber internet infrastructure.
Nanci Essary, the General Manager for Rose Hill Special Utility District between Kaufman and Terrell, spoke to the commissioners to express concerns about the impact of Open Infra in the area. During her comments, she appealed to the Court for help to hold the company accountable for its work in the SUD.
She stated that Open Infra has yet to be forthcoming on when they were planning to do infrastructure work and only give notice on the day they plan to work, not advance notice, which has caused a backlog for her office.
She said that as of Tuesday, she had 35 locates on her desk. The company comes out, and then in 48 hours, they begin digging.
“I have 35 locates on my desk that I have to do that they put in last week,” said Essary. “That’s an overwhelming amount of work for anybody…we don’t hire just to have locates done. They put them in, and then 48 hours later because Texas 811 says they can, they start digging with little care for anything else in the ground.”
Monique Hunter, Kaufman County’s Development Services Director, says all fiber permits come through her office. She met with Dennis, Open Infra’s project manager, and has had complaints since.
“We have had complaints, [such as] they are not burying [the lines] to 36 like they are supposed to, or they aren’t taking proper care as they are supposed to before they go digging,” said Hunter.
“We called a very large meeting with the head of Open Infra, and they assured us they would take more caution and care.”
Still, Essary stated there is infrastructure in the ground that she doesn’t know the exact location of, and she’d like to see Open Infra exercise more concern when digging. She stated that the company is damaging roads and water pipes, posing a public health risk if water becomes contaminated.
“It needs proper care, either by us and them or definitely by them,” said Essary. “They're the ones responsible for making sure they don’t hit anybody. That’s why it’s called damage prevention.”
Her appeal to the Court is for a plan that holds the company accountable and requires them to exercise care when completing infrastructure work.
Monique Hunter proposed that she and her team develop a process moving forward.
“That process would hopefully be followed, or else we’d have to look at their permit and hold off on some of those permits,” said Hunter.
Hunter stated that the County does have ten business days to review the permit application, and she wants to develop some guidelines that the applicant will have to understand and follow, including listing out their process.
“You should know [the details] 30 days before you hit a road. You should have planned it,” said Hunter. “We’re going to see if we can come up with one process we’re willing to follow before putting those permits back on the agenda.”
Regarding the damage done by the company, County Judge Jakie Allen asked Open Infra who had paid for the damage and if there were any outstanding invoices.
Nanci Essary said that the company had paid one invoice, but there is another two-week-old invoice for damage done by the company on County Road 304, and the company hasn’t attempted to pay.
“I was under the impression at the meeting [last week] that we were all paid up,” said Steven Fowler, head of construction and operations at Open Infra.
“No, that one was a month old, and we were paid right before that meeting,” said Essary. “I said at the meeting that an outstanding bill needed to be paid.”
Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Moore was in the meeting, thought it went well, and expressed that, by law, utility work can’t simply be stopped.
“By law, we cannot stop utilities, but we can make sure they are doing it right,” said Commissioner Moore. “We’re having to work with what state law says we can do.”
Counsel advised the Court that, at a certain point, you can’t have one utility damaging another utility without possible legal action occurring. It was emphasized that it’s crucial to ensure that lines are buried correctly and that water lines aren’t hit.
Steven Fowler with Open Infra stated what had been discussed in the meeting the week before, including a daily email with a list of streets they’d be working on, that a supervisor would be on-site, an escalation pattern from within Open Infra, and depth pictures where they are burying lines.
Also discussed was the need for a map from Rose Hill SUD so that Open Infra could know where overlap would occur.
Commissioner Moore requested that the permits previously passed on be put on next week's agenda, and then in two weeks to discuss future permits after a plan has been put in place. The company's existing permits were not stopped, and the company can continue working.
County Judge Jakie Allen said that he’d encourage them to exercise caution as to where to place the lines.
“It makes it difficult to maintain a road when you’re hitting stuff that shouldn’t be there,” said County Judge Jakie Allen. “Then, it makes our citizens really mad.”
Fowler stated that Open Infra is privately funded and his company isn’t like “big companies.”
“We do like to do things right,” said Fowler. “We look forward to making this process work.”
In conclusion, Commissioner Moore hopes all can cooperate to improve Kaufman County and utilities for its citizens.