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Item No: 4 Meeting Date: May 4, 2015 Type of Business: Work Session City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, City Administrator Item Title/Subject: Review Request Submitted by CenturyLink to be Exempted from Section 911.05 of the Mounds View Municipal Code Introduction: On March 23, 2015, Staff advised the Council of a situation that had recently occurred between the City and CenturyLink. The Company had begun working on a utility project without obtaining the requisite City permit and in conflict with the City Code, which requires undergrounding of new or replaced facilities. The Council expressed a desire to have CenturyLink attend a future meeting to discuss the situation. Discussion: On March 19, 2015, Interim Public Works Director Don Peterson and I met with representatives from CenturyLink to discuss a fiber-to-the home project that was initiated without a City permit and installed contrary to the City Code which requires undergrounding of new or replaced facilities. After residents had alerted us of the work, the City shut the project down which prompted the meeting with CenturyLink. The company acknowledges they made a mistake in initiating the project without a permit and apologized for the oversight and any problems it caused. They do want to discuss whether the City would be willing to "exempt" them from the requirement to underground the wires, indicating that the materials have been ordered ($500,000 worth of fiber and associated equipment) and the materials cannot be easily repurposed. The materials would make “gigabit Internet” available to the neighborhoods in which the fiber is installed. (According to CenturyLink’s information, Gigabit service is 100 times faster than today’s basic broadband speeds.) The City Code states: 911.05. UNDERGROUNDING OF PERMANENT REPLACEMENT, RELOCATED OR RECONSTRUCTED FACILITIES. A permanent replacement, relocation or reconstruction of a Facility of more than three hundred (300) feet must be located, and maintained underground, with due regard for seasonal working conditions. For purposes of this Section, reconstruction means any substantial repair of or any improvement to existing Facilities. Undergrounding is required whether a replacement, relocation or reconstruction is initiated by the right-of-way user owning or operating the Facilities, or by the City in connection with (1) the present or future use by the city or other local government unit of the right-of-way for a public project, (2) the public health or safety, or (3) the safety and convenience of travel over the right-of-way. The City Council in its discretion may deviate from the requirements of this Section in situations where undergrounding is not technically or economically feasible.