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Residents and Commissioners Press Blackfoot Communications Over Road Damage, Cleanup
Summary
Granite County officials and residents raised repeated complaints about Blackfoot Communications’ fiber-installation work, saying contractors left roads damaged and weeds and gravel displaced. County staff said they will document damage, seek cleanup and consider legal remedies if the company doesn’t pay agreed costs.
Granite County commissioners and residents spent a portion of Tuesday’s meeting pressing Blackfoot Communications to clean up damage they said the company’s crews left after installing fiber lines on county roads.
The concern first came to the board’s attention when a written request from a Silver Chief Lane resident asked that Tower Road be regraded after Blackfoot’s subcontractors “put their line on the outer edge of the road and barely poorly cleaned it up,” according to the written correspondence read into the record. Commissioner Paul said multiple residents have called the office about the same contractor behavior.
County staff and commissioners described a pattern of problems: company crews left single-lane conditions on narrow roads, spread gravel irregularly, failed to restore shoulder material and did not follow up with promised cleanup. Paul told the board he had received “a lot of calls” and that people were “freaking out over Blackfoot” because cleanup was not happening quickly enough. Commissioners said they will take photographs of damage and bill the company for road repairs where appropriate.
Treasurer/finance and road staff discussed seeking compensation and noted prior invoices the county has been unable to collect from the contractor’s work on county projects. Commissioners urged staff to escalate the issue with Blackfoot management if local crews do not resolve the cleanup. Commissioner Blanche suggested, if informal efforts fail, pursuing higher-level intervention at corporate headquarters.
County staff said Blackfoot has been asked repeatedly to return and correct work; the state was also reported to have raised concerns about Blackfoot’s spring spraying schedule. Commissioners discussed limited enforcement options when the county is not the direct client of a subcontractor and noted that litigation or formal demand letters may be necessary if cleanup and payment are not forthcoming.
The board directed staff to document damage (photographs and quantity of gravel displaced), notify Blackfoot of required corrective action and to prepare billing for county costs if Blackfoot does not fix the roadwork. No formal motion or vote to pursue litigation was recorded at Tuesday’s meeting.
The issue was raised multiple times in public comment and during department reports; commissioners said they will follow up with outreach to company management and to affected property owners.
