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Council approves 20-year dark-fiber lease with Mahaska Communication Group for city networks
Summary
Ottumwa approved a 20-year lease with Mahaska Communication Group to use strands of dark fiber for government telecommunications across 36 city locations; staff said the agreement reduces outage risk versus fixed wireless and will enable 10-gig service to the airport.
The Ottumwa City Council voted to adopt Resolution 73-2026, authorizing a 20-year lease with Mahaska Communication Group LLC to lease unused, unlit optical fiber strands for city telecommunications, data transport and internal government uses.
IT Manager Wilson told the council he began feasibility work in 2022 and that the lease covers connectivity to roughly 36 locations — including 21 pump stations, 13 offices and two other buildings. Wilson said the arrangement fixes pricing for 20 years and that about two-thirds of the cost will be charged to the water treatment fund for pump station connectivity. He said the leased fiber will replace much of the city’s fixed-wireless interconnection, which is prone to outages from lightning strikes and limited capacity; he proposed lighting up the airport at 10 gigabit (10,000 megabits) instead of the current roughly 80 megabits.
Council members questioned prior connectivity arrangements, outage frequency and how the fiber reduces safety and operational risks at pump stations and other critical infrastructure. Wilson said dark fiber reduces outage risk to primarily only cut-fiber events and removes staff safety exposure from climbing towers for repairs.
The resolution passed on roll call. Staff will proceed with lease execution and project planning for fiber deployment and circuit upgrades.
