Wednesday, January 24, 2001

DOT dispute snags cable upgrades

By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@TheCitizenNews.com

Fayette County residents may not get access to new and improved cable television service for some time yet.

A dispute with the Georgia Department of Transportation continues to hold AT&T Broadband's upgrade here in limbo.

On the bright side, the company has improved its response to the local county government's concerns. During a recent meeting with county officials, representatives of AT&T Broadband addressed several long-standing problems the county has had with the upgrade process, according to County Administrator Chris Cofty.

Cofty said the meeting was cordial.

"They had addressed the issues we had made them aware of in our last meeting," Cofty said, adding that all of the problems have been cleared up except one street that the company must still patch. Previously, the company had frequently done construction work in county rights of way without getting the proper permits, Cofty said, sometimes resulting in damage to county roads and other utilities.

A revised agreement for addressing future concerns is expected soon, he said, adding that company officials expressed hope that their dispute with the state DOT may be resolved by the end of the month.

"I was fairly encouraged," he said.

But Michael Grover, an attorney heading up the company's negotiations with DOT, said this week he can't be certain when the dispute will be over with.

"I would like for it to be resolved as quickly as possible," he said, "but I can't predict when the two parties will reach a meeting of the minds."

DOT is withholding permits on state rights of way in Fayette pending resolution of its claim that the cable company should pay additional fees because its new fiber optic cable allows for telephone service as well as cable service.

Those additional fees could mount into the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars over time, according to Grover.

All of the construction work in Fayette that doesn't involve DOT right of way has been completed, he said, but in order to connect the new cable, DOT permits must be obtained.

"The shame of this is that clearly the work we're doing in Fayette County is related to our cable plant and our effort to bring enhanced service to Fayette County customers, not telecommunications activity," he said. "But they are withholding permits in order to extract our agreement regarding telecommunications in other parts of the state."

For now, Fayette customers will have to be content with fewer channels and less reliable service than the upgrade would supply.