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Council updates right-of-way permit fees to recoup costs from large fiber construction
Summary
Staff said the town’s $10-per-permit locate fee is insufficient for large fiber-bore projects and proposed a linear-foot fee to capture inspection and locating labor; council approved moving the updated fee structure forward after discussing a recent project that is costing the town an estimated $20,000 in locator salary time.
Public works staff told the council that a major fiber-bore project up north is already consuming large amounts of town locator time under the existing $10-per-permit fee.
"We anticipate spending $20,000 in salary to locate these builds for a $10 fee that they're currently paying," the public works director said, describing a multi-day locator commitment to walk and mark every utility in long stretches of bore. The proposed update moves the town from a flat-permit model to a linear-foot-based fee to better match inspector and locator workload and to create inspection fees for follow-up checks.
Council approved the change and asked staff to integrate the fee schedule into permit systems and to ensure bonds and inspections are in place for large contractors; staff said the town had already required a $250,000 bond for the current fiber contractor to protect public infrastructure.
