Resident urges county help after fire severs Kinetic cables, leaving parts of Chambers County without service

Julia Leay Barber, a lifelong resident and community advocate from the Hanumber area, told the Chambers County Commissioner Court on April 14 that a March 28 fire on Wilson and Spikes Road burned through Kinetic communications cables and left some unincorporated residents without landline or internet service for days.

"We discovered that the fire ... had burned through all of the cables of Kinetic," Barber said, urging the court to consider how the county could help residents who lack easy online access to outage reporting. She said she personally had no service until April 6 and that her 85‑year‑old aunt did not regain service until April 10.

Barber said many households in unincorporated areas rely on others to navigate internet-based outage reports and that some residents have no alternative means to report or track repairs. "Some of them do not have access to that. So unless somebody steps in to help them, sometimes they could be without it for a very long period of time," she said.

Barber also praised her precinct commissioner by name, saying he answers calls when she reaches out, and added, "I know you don't have control of Kinetic but they did not do very much in terms of reporting it," urging clearer communication and support for vulnerable residents.

The number of residents affected by the outage was not specified in the comment. The excerpted transcript does not record a response from the court or any formal motion or vote related to the complaint.

The public comment came during the meeting's citizens' comments period; no formal county action on the matter was recorded in the provided transcript excerpt.