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Carlisle council adopts emergency resolution backing Ohio Municipal League challenge to AT&T tariff filing
Summary
The City of Carlisle approved Resolution 1-25 to join the Ohio Municipal League (OML) in objecting to an AT&T filing at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio that would, if approved, require municipalities to pay to move telecom infrastructure for city projects.
The Carlisle City Council on Jan. 14 adopted Resolution 1-25, declaring an emergency and formally supporting the Ohio Municipal Leaguein opposing an AT&T tariff application filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
The resolution asks state regulators to allow public hearings before approving AT&Tchanges that would make municipalities financially responsible for relocating the companyinfrastructure required by local public projects. City officials said AT&T filed the request on Dec. 18, leaving municipalities little time to respond.
Council members discussed the practical effect of the filing. City staff said the resolution itself does not obligate the city to pay or to join litigation; it is intended to register an objection and to request that the issue be considered in public hearings. Council members raised the possibility that, if the matter proceeds to litigation, the Ohio Municipal League could later ask member municipalities for a financial contribution to a legal challenge.
An attendee at the meeting offered a comment that was recorded in the transcript: "AT and T is a multibillion dollar conglomerate, and I know they can afford to move their own wires." That remark was not formally attributed in the record. Council members and staff repeatedly stressed the short timeline between the Dec. 18 filing and the state deadline for responses, which was the reason given for suspending the normal three-readings rule and declaring the matter an emergency.
Council voted to suspend the rules requiring three readings for the resolution and then voted to adopt Resolution 1-25. The resolution directs the city to join OML in seeking review and public hearings at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and preserves the city's option to participate in further collective actions through OML.
The councilapproved the resolution by roll call; the meeting record lists the roll call as affirmative. The resolution will be transmitted to the Ohio Municipal League and placed in the municipal record.
Council members and staff said they will monitor the matter as it moves through the Public Utilities Commission and will report back if additional municipal action or financial commitments are requested.
