Council approves Centricom digging permit; Comcast/Fibertell to overbuild fiber with underground bores

Carrie Whiting, a Fibertell engineering representative, told the Mona City Council the company has submitted permit packets for Comcast’s proposal to overbuild fiber and "they're proposing to build the entire town," with a mix of aerial and underground work depending on power-line configuration. Whiting said crews are currently in Rocky Ridge and that sections where power is underground will be bored rather than trenched. She said the company has submitted portions of the packet to Rocky Mountain Power and expects to begin some underground sections within one to two weeks if permits are received.

Council approved a digging permit described during discussion as permit number 2 for Centricom (motion and vote recorded during the meeting). A Centricom representative said the company had applied for a permit covering a stretch roughly between 980 South and Third South and apologized for a miscommunication after crews began work in at least one area before full council review. The representative said Centricom will provide maps of the sections to staff and council.

Multiple council members and residents pressed for closer coordination to avoid damaging underground irrigation and other utilities. A resident reported that Comcast crews had previously struck an irrigation water line and asked staff to coordinate with Gordon Young to obtain mapping so contractors do not cut buried irrigation. Whiting said the company would work with the irrigation contact and with town staff to refresh blue-stake markings and sequence work near other utility crews.

Council members asked for printed maps showing the specific segments included in the permits; Centricom staff said they had given a map earlier and would provide more copies. Staff and the presenter discussed working with Centricom, Comcast, the gas department and contractors to sequence work so crews follow one another where practical. Tyler, described by staff as the construction foreman, was identified as the on-site manager who will run the job when permits are in hand.

The council did not adopt new substantive conditions in the meeting transcript, but members emphasized that where a pole authorizes aerial attachment the company will use poles and where pole access is denied crews would bore underground between poles. Council members also requested clearer plans for any service requested by individual residents (names were discussed with Whitings staff regarding a homeowner request).