Residents, aldermen press city over fiber installations and lawn restoration; city staff outline enforcement steps

Residents and several aldermen pressed City Hall on July 7 about incomplete restoration of yards and rights‑of‑way following private and commercial fiber optic installations. Alderman Bonnie said she has received “a high or growing” number of complaints, forwarded dozens of resident sites to staff, and read a constituent message describing "unsightly patches filled with gravel" where grass will not regrow.

Director of Public Works Scott Sanders described the scale and some technical causes: "I think we're about 50% done. I've got numbers say that just the sheer scale of it is surprising. 3,200,000 feet, more than 3,200,000 feet of conduit and fiber has been put in the ground so far..." He and Administrator Tad Cagnoni said the work is being performed by multiple providers under separate legal arrangements — the city has a development agreement with SciFi for full‑city coverage and other companies also install fiber and may 'cherry‑pick' service areas.

Sanders and Cagnoni identified two primary restoration problems: (1) insufficient or inappropriate temporary backfill and seeding after potholing (vac‑truck potholes used to locate other utilities), and (2) long gaps between stages of installation that leave trenches or potholes open for months before final restoration. Sanders said only 4 of roughly 60 permits have been formally closed by the city, and that the city is revising enforcement and inspection processes to require clearer completion milestones rather than waiting until the end of a multi‑stage project to demand restoration.

Administrator Tad Cagnoni described enforcement options under discussion: slowing future permit issuance until restoration improves, requiring more rigorous interim restoration and materials, better defining the restoration window so restoration must follow specific stages (for example, upon installation of handholes), and clarifying permit enforcement including bonds. "We have [performance bonds] required as part of the work within the right‑of‑way permit," Cagnoni said; he added the city had not drawn on bonds to date but said staff is evaluating options.

Council members pressed for quicker remedies. Alderman Beach asked whether the city must issue permits and whether the city could require performance bonds; Cagnoni replied some permits are required by Illinois statute for companies operating in the state, and SciFi’s development agreement differs from out‑of‑area firms that are not bound by the same contract terms. Sanders said the city will work to better track periodic completions and hold contractors to material and seeding standards.

The council did not adopt immediate new ordinance language at the meeting but directed staff to pursue administrative and permitting changes to reduce open restorations and to report back about enforcement options. Residents with outstanding restoration issues were encouraged to provide addresses to their aldermen and to the Public Works department for follow‑up.