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Drain commissioner flags cash-bond permitting as barrier to rural broadband
Summary
Lapeer County's Drain Commissioner presented the 2025 annual report and warned the county's cash-bond requirement for drain permits has discouraged broadband providers from rural projects; the board received the report and discussed moving toward surety bonds to facilitate infrastructure investments.
Lapeer County's Drain Commissioner presented the county's 2025 annual report and urged the commission to consider changes to permitting financial guarantees that may be hindering broadband expansion in rural areas.
During the presentation, the Drain Commissioner described routine drain maintenance work, beaver-dam removals and the need to inventory drains countywide. Commissioners and staff discussed permitting conditions: the county historically required cash bonds for some work in drains rather than surety bonds. One commissioner and staff said that requirement deterred providers such as Frontier from bidding on federal and rural broadband grants because those companies do not post cash bonds.
"They weren't gonna put up millions of dollars every time," a commissioner said of providers' reluctance to post cash bonds for multiple projects; another commissioner said Frontier's business model is not built to post cash bonds and that the county's cash-bond requirement has kept parts of Lapeer County off the map for fiber deployment.
The board moved to receive the Drain Commissioner annual report for 2025 and approved the motion by voice vote. Commissioners discussed exploring alternatives, including surety bonds, and asked staff to consult on whether permitting language or bonding options could be adjusted without endangering drain protections.
No formal change to the bonding requirement was made at the meeting; the topic remained in the discussion phase pending staff follow-up.
