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Politics & Government

Selectmen Give Verizon Fios two more Years

Mansfield Board of Selectmen vote 3-2 to give Verizon two more years on their deadline.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, selectmen voted 3-2 Wednesday to allow Verizon two more years past its , in order to connect the remaining 2000 households in Mansfield to high speed FIOS internet, television, and telephone service.

After connecting households on major streets and all side streets with underground conduit over the past several years, Verizon's construction work had stopped dead, saying the town's stringent bylaws mandating detailed drawings and street opening fees for subdivisions were over and above what the company was willing to offer.

There are 188 streets that have yet to be connected to the bundled fiberoptic cable, Verizon regional director Rick Cologne told the board Wednesday night. The protracted discussion featured pointed comments from each side, and took well over an hour. At the last public hearing between FIOS representatives and the board at the end of September, board members were in no mood to grant Cologne's request for an extension of the 2012 deadline Verizon agreed to two years ago.

Selectmen had voted in September to begin a public notice period and a 21-day public comment period on the extension of the contract. With the ending of the comment period, and no public comments to read, the board was at the end of the line this week, and several members were clear about what they saw as a no-win situation.

Cologne, sitting beside Lou Ross, Mansfield's town counsel on the case, said without the vote, any further work could not proceed.

Ross explained Verizon has been negotiating with the town's DPW head Lee Azinheira, Town Manager Bill Ross, and town counsel for eight months to come to a resolution and move forward. "This is a very straightforward matter," Lou Ross said.

Cologne assured the board the work would be done as soon as possible.

"It is our intention to complete build-out sooner," he said.

But he refused to amend the contract extension to the fall of 2013 as suggested by board member George Dentino, saying he was only authorized to ask for the 2014 date.

Board member Doug Annino, who has pushed back on Verizon steadily in all discussions of the contract change, said, "I strongly disagree you need an extension because we are asking for too much - we are trying to protect the town.

"Inadequate plans are inadequate plans - shame on you," he said. "I don't see a need to grant you an extension for work you didn't take the time and effort to prepare adequately."

Olivier Kozlowski agreed with Annino, saying the compromise attempt of a year's extension should at least be considered. He noted Cologne had implied that if the board refused to agree to 2014, all work in Mansfield would stop.

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"Two thousand households should know you didn't even try," Kozlowski said.

But the Town Manager, Bill Ross, pointed out he had been in negotiation with Cologne for some time, and had come to the conclusion that Mansfield could end up in court should the board dig in its heels on the extension, because the request is based on the roadblock Verizon insisted was caused by the town's more stringent requirements.

"I'm not convinced the law is entirely on our side in this issue," he said. "If we had to fight a legal battle it would be 50/50, and very expensive. Verizon has attorneys on its staff - we don't."

In the end, Kozlowski and Dentino voted against the extension, along with an abridged fee structure, with Annino, Kevin Moran, and Chairman Jess Aptowitz reluctantly in favor.

Verizon will begin its subdivision work with three streets it is now prepared to connect. Cologne declined to name them.


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