County postpones franchise hearing

By John Henderer,The Chronicle,The Chronicle, 9/15/98

Lewis County commissioners Monday continued a hearing until Sept. 28 on whether to grant a franchise to Pacific Fiber Link, which hopes to use county right of way to lay a fiber-optic cable.

Pacific Fiber first asked for the right to use just several miles of county right of way near Toledo near a trouble spot.

The company recently asked for a county wide franchise because "it turns out there were other areas" where the company could not negotiate property easements, said Dave Randall, company rights of way manager.

Commissioners balked at the request Monday, saying they need more time to review the proposal.

Several citizens and Commissioner Glenn Aldrich expressed concerns over liability and cleanup of the construction area.

Pacific Fiber had not submitted required excise tax affidavits until Friday to the treasurer's office. The office had not had time to review the documents by Monday morning.

In other business, the commission:

• Set public workshop dates for a proposed county stormwater ordinance regulating some commercial and residential construction. Workshops are scheduled for 4 p.m. Sept. 29 and 6 p.m. Oct. 13 in the lunchroom of the county Courthouse Annex, Chehalis. A hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Nov. 9 before the county commission.
• Appointed three members to the newly created Lewis County Water Conservancy Board, which will help administer uncontested water rights transfers. The board will include Ed Moerke and Ken Witham, both of whom are Chehalis-area well drillers, and Mike McDermitt of Winlock.
• Approved a supplemental agreement to the county's $1.1 million contract with Pacific International Engineering to use a watershed approach toward the Chehalis River Basin flood damage reduction project.
• Approved another $12,000 for PIE to lobby federal agency officials and elected officials in Washington, D.C., for more money to study potential flood control solutions. This brings to $19,500 the total lobbying funds.

John Henderer covers county government and environmental issues for The Chronicle. He can be reached by E-mail at jhenderer@chronline.com or by calling 807-8239.
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