Rogers County approves 26 Cox utility permits as Cox, contractor outline countywide fiber build

Rogers County commissioners on Monday approved a batch of utility permits for Cox Communications and a separate permit for Oklahoma Natural Gas after a presentation from Cox representatives and their contractor outlining an expedited fiber construction schedule.

The presentation came during a discussion and presentation with Ashley Daugherty, land use agent for Cox Communications, and Bobby McNabb of Code Red Underground. Daugherty said the funded phase will expand fiber “throughout various portions of Rogers County” including Talala, Claremore and Collinsville; she said the projects are intended to serve rural, underserved and unserved households under grant rules.

“I'm sorry about the short notice for how quickly we were moving on this,” Daugherty told commissioners, adding Cox’s aim “to make internet more serviceable for everybody in the Rogers County community.”

Code Red’s Bobby McNabb described the construction plan and timeline. “There are about 600 miles in Rogers County and 96, 97 percent of it is aerial construction,” he said, and told the commission that the company is targeting completion of this phase by August 2026.

McNabb said much of the aerial work will be on existing telephone poles and that the contractor and Cox are coordinating with pole owners to meet height and clearance standards. He said most of the permit applications correspond to service segments averaging 120,000 to 160,000 feet and that the push for permits is driven by a tight construction schedule.

Commissioners discussed permitting logistics and whether Cox could provide pre- and post-construction video to streamline county inspection work. Daugherty and Code Red offered to work with county staff to share KML/Google Earth mapping and video evidence to reduce inspector travel and expedite the permitting and inspection process.

Commissioners approved utility permit item number 2, for Oklahoma Natural Gas, and then approved a collective motion to grant Cox Communications permits listed in the agenda. County staff had described the Cox permits as part of “another phase of the Broadband Extension in Rogers County,” and noted most of the Cox permits fall in District 2.

The county and Cox officials said the funded work is targeted at rural addresses that the grant defines as underserved or unserved; Daugherty said the grant funding does not cover municipal areas and that the program’s scope focused on rural sections of the county.

Commissioners asked Cox to provide an estimate of the number of households that this phase will serve; Daugherty said she would provide a rough estimate by the end of the day. Commissioners and Cox officials also noted ongoing coordination with town officials for work within small municipalities’ road rights-of-way.

The discussion preceded a series of other agenda items; commissioners applauded Cox and Code Red for prior projects and generally described the county’s earlier ARPA seed funding as having helped attract provider grants.

Votes at the meeting recorded approval of the Oklahoma Natural Gas permit and the Cox permit package; the minutes show unanimous aye votes on those items.

Commissioners indicated they will continue to work with Cox and the contractor to streamline the permit intake and inspection process as the build proceeds.