Island County approves Comcast cable renewal and new Ziply Fiber franchise after residents raise landline outage concerns

The Island County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 25 approved a 10-year renewal of Comcast's countywide cable franchise and granted a new telecommunications franchise to Ziply Fiber Northwest covering portions of Whidbey and Camano islands, after residents raised public-safety concerns about landline service during power outages.

The Comcast renewal (PW2023-0273) retains the company's countywide distribution and moves the agreement into the county's new 10-year template with an embedded extension option. "There is no change to their overall distribution system at this point in time," said Ed C. Wester, Island County engineer, during the public hearing. The Comcast cable franchise includes the county's standard 5% cable-revenue provision. The board voted to approve the franchise on a voice vote.

The board also approved a new Ziply Fiber franchise (PW2023-0141) limited to telecommunications/broadband services rather than cable. County staff and commissioners emphasized that federal and state rules treat broadband and cable differently; "47 U.S.C." was cited as the body of federal law that distinguishes regulatory authority for certain services. The Ziply franchise does not cover the entire island. County staff said the coverage boundary follows a line near Classic Road separating portions of Whidbey Island and Camano Island; some incumbent local-exchange carrier (ILEC) territories remain distinct.

Public comment focused on outages of landline and voice-over-Internet services. Aaron Hildebrand, a resident, said, "Ziply fiber landlines services go out even after a blink of a power outage," and described a recent three-day outage in which his household lacked phone service while caring for his 96-year-old father. Hildebrand said a technician told him some legacy switching equipment was failing, and that Ziply had ordered about 20 pieces of replacement equipment "but apparently, there's no schedule for this." He also recounted that in 2018 backup batteries at the Silver Lake Fire Department were near depletion and were later replaced.

Commissioner Janet St. Clair and county staff recommended several avenues for residents to seek remedy and for the county to help facilitate responses: contact the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) — the state regulator — and use company government-liaison officers to escalate outage and safety reports. St. Clair said county staff, including Broadband Coordinator Cody, can assist constituents and share contact information. "If you have concerns about your service, please contact us, and we can either connect you to the regulatory agency that oversees this, or we will connect you to the government liaison officer," St. Clair said.

County staff said Ziply has submitted more than 120 permit applications to work across county roads and right-of-way in the franchise area, and staff expects to process those permits ahead of a planned construction window this summer. Public works staff explained that some work will be pole-mounted — which is generally faster to approve — while underground installation will require more careful review of dig locations and impacts to county roads.

Commissioners and staff also noted the commercial history behind the providers: Ziply recently acquired assets from Frontier, an incumbent that held local-exchange facilities for decades, and that landline service has in some places been treated as a declining business line even as broadband investments continue. Commissioners said the franchise approvals do not relieve companies of obligations to maintain emergency service continuity and encouraged residents with persistent outages to report them so county staff can assist.

The board added two executive sessions to the day's agenda (listed under state code citations given during the meeting) and approved the consent agenda earlier in the session. County staff said no additional announcements are planned from the executive sessions.

Votes at a glance: - Motion to approve Comcast cable franchise PW2023-0273: approved on voice vote (recorded as "Aye" by the board during the meeting). - Motion to approve Ziply Fiber Northwest franchise PW2023-0141: approved on voice vote (recorded as "Aye" by the board during the meeting).

The board encouraged residents who experience outages affecting medical-alert devices or other emergency communications to contact the county's broadband coordinator, the UTC, and their service provider's government-liaison officer so the county can help escalate safety issues.