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COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL
Columbus city council members heard the frustrations of the Columbus-Utility Department after it was revealed that gas lines had repeatedly been struck by a company in town conducting work at the city council meeting held April 28.
Rise Broadband, the company in name, had begun working on a project approved by the city to install fiber optic cables throughout town, providing a high-speed bandwidth network across commercial and residential areas in the city.
Since the beginning of the project, which has seen approximately 20 to 25% of the city area already covered, the company according to the Columbus-Utility Department has damaged five gas lines, two water lines and one sewer line.
The damage not only requires immediate repair but can also inhibit activity as lines must be turned off to ensure safety once being hit, meaning residents could lose water, power or sewage at a moment’s notice.
One of the damaged gas lines according to a department representative was unaccounted for, with no record of the struck gas line’s existence prior to the damage done.
The line went to a lot that had been vacant for “quite some time,” but due to the city’s lack of knowledge of its existence and the ensuing damage, the incident had to be reported, and a $2,500 fine was handed to them by the Texas Railroad Commission.
As a result of the recurrent damages done to the various utility lines, the department has been on the tail of Rise Broadband, fining the company every time a line is struck and charging them with labor and repair costs as a deterrent to avoid negligence and encourage the company to work “slowly and more carefully.”
If damage continues to be done to the lines across the city, more severe action could be taken against Rise Broadband, including the reality of a moratorium suspending all work.
Those extreme conditions will potentially only come about if the company doesn’t operate more carefully, with their work being temporarily halted for a week recently due to two utility lines being hit on the same day.
The next Columbus city council meeting will be held on Monday, May 12, 5:30 p.m. in the city council chambers.
