Boardman residents frustrated with messes left by fiber optic cable companies

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9 hours ago

BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) — A group of people from one Boardman neighborhood told township trustees on Monday that more needs to be done to hold companies accountable for cleaning up after installing new fiber optic cables.
Lawyer and Park Harbour neighborhood resident John Shultz addressed the problems he and his neighbors have had with companies installing fiber optic cables in the neighborhood, where a trencher sits parked on a cul-de-sac surrounded by utility line markers and piles of dirt next to curbs.
'There's one driveway that's almost completely gone at the bottom where it addresses the street, or where it merges right into the street. They have knocked out street lights. They have put holes in,' Shultz said.
Boardman Administrator Jason Loree said there's little the township can do when it comes to fiber optic installations, as they're regulated by the Federal Communications Commission.
'They've had some issues in Canfield. They've had some issues in Poland,' Loree said. 'They basically can come in here and work on a right of way, and we really have no way to stop them.'
But the township has hired a lawyer to determine if it can require the installation companies to post a bond before being allowed to do the work.
'To ensure that they come into a neighborhood, they leave it the way they found it, and if they don't, we can pull the bond,' Loree said.
'I do like the bond suggestion. I think that's a necessity,' Shultz said.
Another complaint was that a second crew follows the installation crew to repair the landscaping damage instead of fixing it as they go. Plus, Loree said, residents should be able to know when the crews are coming.
'Now they're supposed to put it back the way they found it. It doesn't always happen,' Loree said. 'And we're also wanting to make sure that when they are coming in your neighborhoods, they should, out of courtesy, be posting door hangers.'
'We would impose upon you to be our spokesperson to say, 'Hey, not only in Park Harbour, but anywhere — off Glenwood Avenue, off Market Street — these neighborhoods don't deserve this type of treatment,'' Shultz said to the trustees.
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