Cowlitz County schedules public hearing on Ziply Fiber franchise and approves road bids, consent items
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Summary
Cowlitz County commissioners approved the consent agenda, set a March 10 public hearing to consider a nonexclusive Ziply Fiber franchise to install fiber in county rights-of-way, and reviewed multiple road bids and bridge projects; residents raised safety concerns about Highway 411 and a log jam near Allen Street Bridge.
Cowlitz County commissioners on Tuesday voted to add and then schedule a public hearing on a proposed nonexclusive franchise for Ziply Fiber to install fiber in county rights-of-way.
The board approved a motion to call the hearing for March 10 at 9:30 a.m., after Susan Eugenis, the county engineer, told commissioners the franchise process and public hearing requirement are outlined in RCW 36.55. "This would grant them the right to install fiber within the right of way," Eugenis said, and she said any franchisee would be required to comply with the county's utility accommodation policy.
The hearing was one of several formal items approved or noted during a brief meeting in which the board also passed its consent agenda. Consent items included calls for bids for about 13,000 tons of aggregate used in the county's chip-seal program and a bid period for road-servicing materials covering May 1, 2026, through April 30, 2027. The board also noted a March 9, 2026, call for bids for the Tower Road Bridge at Rock Creek, citing an engineer's estimate of roughly $2,850,000. Staff said most of that project funding is expected from federal sources and a portion from ARPA dollars.
Other items on the consent agenda: a reimbursement of $97,750 through a Washington Association of Counties grant for an energy audit in the Hall of Justice; a vendor award to Ironclad Company for disposable polypropylene gutter brooms at $41,931.88; and a set of reappointments and appointments to advisory boards (terms and recipients listed in the county correspondence).
During the public-comment section, a resident described worsening conditions on Highway 411 after heavy rain and urged immediate engineering attention. "I have a low riding car, a Camry, and it's, you know, about off road. I have to go down to 5 miles an hour to go through that," the resident said, warning the slope could threaten a nearby house if it keeps failing. Commissioners and staff acknowledged the concern; county engineering staff said they would contact the local maintenance yard and pass along the resident's report.
Commissioners also discussed a log jam piling against an east piling on the Allen Street Bridge and whether the city of Kelso or the state would clear it. Eugenis said the Allen Street Bridge is owned and maintained by the city of Kelso and that the county inspects it under an interlocal agreement; debris inside Silver Lake, she added, would be the state's responsibility, while the county is responsible for the fish grate.
The meeting included follow-up from commissioners on a question about an Olympia bill and an advisory-board vote tied to timber-buffer policy. Commissioners expressed frustration that a board member for that advisory group had abstained, leaving what some described as an apparent absence of representation for local timber owners on a matter with monetary implications.
The board conducted routine votes—amending the agenda, approving February minutes, and passing the consent agenda—by voice vote, then adjourned. The county will hold the scheduled hearing March 10 at 9:30 a.m. to take public comment on the Ziply Fiber franchise.
