Yesterday I requested the most current copy of the Dig Once Policy the City of Bellingham was working on. Why they refuse to model their policy after other successful cities is still a mystery. What I found was disturbing. Not only did they blow off virtually all of the input they received from the community, but the public works office has reserved the right for their director, currently Erick Johnston who wrote this inappropriate document, to make whatever decisions he personally wants to in relation to fiber-optic leasing, installation, and everything else. Totally bypassing the democratic process including the mayor, the council and the public. Here is the full document. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w_Ri2swyBFYyVON0ETzbLuV8J6NvrE0L/view?usp=sharing
Probably the most disturbing part was when we found that the document Erick Johnston created intentionally does NOT guarantee leases for licensed CO-OPs and Non-Profits that want to specifically provide good low-income connections, even for assistive services. It does guarantee leasing to the anti-net neutral, anti-first amendment big telecoms that overcharge us and refuse to meet our needs. Here is an excerpt from my conversation with City Attorney James Erb today. 
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Thanks, in the document it says."Other The second conduits shall be reserved for possible future leasing by private broadband service providers, licensed internet service providers, private business, government agencies, the City of Bellingham or similar entities. If the City determines that leasing of this second conduit is feasible and in the best interest of the public, the Department shall advertise for proposals from all interested parties following standard City procurement practices."

Does this include co-ops, non-profits and the option of the city being a provider?

Thanks,
Jon

Hi Jon,Yes.  According to Eric Johnston, the draft policy would make the additional conduit installed under Dig Once available to "all interested parties" including, for example, co-ops and non-profits if the City determined that leasing it was feasible and in the best interests of the public. 

Best regards, 

James Erb

Senior Assistant City Attorney

Public Records Officer

City of Bellingham
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Notice the catch, "if the City determined that leasing it was feasible and in the best interests of the public." So as you see Erick has allowed his position to approve who will or won't have access to this publicly-owned resource using any reason to accept or deny leasing as he personally sees fit. Does Comcast have a problem with a public expansion, no problem Comcast, Erick's got your back. He can just make sure that no conduit gets installed in an area you have a virtual monopoly in, and so on and so forth. 
This is all very bizarre since this COB document is nothing like what other successful cities, like Mount Vernon, are doing. They have Open Access networks or are the providers themselves. The document also sets thresholds so high that the conduit will probably never be installed. I can go on, what's obvious is that it's a document in name only designed to protect the big telecoms and provide them with corporate welfare against the interest of the citizens. It is the city aiding the big telecoms in anti-competitive behavior when they should be promoting real competition using adequate connections at low cost. 
When I brought these concerns up to mayoral candidate April Barker her response was that, "she has to be able to work with staff." Apparently no matter how they behave. She also went on to say that after establishing a small tech committee of only 5 to 8 people she believed that Comcast and Verizon, specifically, deserved seats on the committee. Giving them anywhere from 25% to 40% representation to sabotage work in the public interest and protect their own. April also completely supports staff like Erick Johnston and former public works director Ted Carlson who try to undermine any effort that benefits the public to protect the big telecoms. 
So tell your council members and mayor to cut the crap and that want a real Dig Once Policy, like the one the community provided to the City of Bellingham based on proven cities like Santa Monica, Mount Vernon, Anacortes, San Francisco. The policy they are putting forward is a policy in name only and designed to give corporate welfare to the big telecoms. That is NOT the point of having the public infrastructure and we are way behind the rest of the developed world and almost a thousand other cities in the US at this point. Especially in providing connections good enough for assistive services, telemedicine, telecommuting, and much more.  
April Barker has always been afraid to confront the staff even when they act directly against the public interest. With 7 days to go, I thought you might like to know. 
Also, while we're having this insane argument with our high-level public servants, over inexpensive critical infrastructure, Arlington and Spokane are moving forward with public fiber. So we can add them to the list of cities that are going to economically and socially crush Bellingham in the near future because of our cowardly leadership.