The Aurora City Council was set to vote on ending the city’s contract with the controversial organization that manages its fiber network Tuesday night, but aldermen decided to return the measure to committee, citing unanswered questions and cost concerns.
The measure before the council Tuesday proposed terminating a 2012 agreement between the city and the city-connected organization that manages its 60-mile fiber-optic network, OnLight Aurora.
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Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward, who proposed delaying the measure, said she had unanswered questions about future plans for the fiber-optic network, along with concerns that the city could be on the hook for OnLight’s debt, which now amounts to around half a million dollars, according to city officials.
She cautioned against increasing city costs during a time when officials have said the city is facing an over $9 million projected deficit for 2027.
Smith also said aldermen have not had enough time to review new information they received Tuesday afternoon. The information, she said, aimed to answer a long list of questions posed by Ald. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, about the fiber-optic network.
“We need more than two weeks to make a decision that is so important for our city,” Smith said.
The fiber-optic network provides high-speed internet to around 19 customers, including the city, schools, healthcare providers and data centers, according to the city.
City officials have said OnLight, which manages the network, is losing customers, uses outdated equipment, has had issues providing quality service and is struggling financially, among other reasons officials have cited when advocating for the city to separate from OnLight.
Ending the contract with OnLight would leave the city 180 days to negotiate new contracts with OnLight’s customers before those contracts terminate, according to the proposed resolution.
Those negotiations could cost the city around $100,000 in legal fees over the next 12 months, said Yordana Wysocki, legal counsel for Aurora, at an Oct. 6 City Council Committee of the Whole meeting. The new contracts would have to be approved by the City Council, she said
Equipment owned by OnLight would also become city property, and city staff needs to review, categorize and determine the value of that equipment ahead of the termination date, according to the resolution.
The city could also have to pay OnLight’s half a million dollars in debt if the organization stops making its own debt payments, said Wysocki at the Oct. 6 city meeting.
OnLight’s debt was originally estimated to be around $1 million, which Aurora Mayor John Laesch claimed last summer resulted from failed attempts to bring internet service to residents’ homes and “unregulated debit card expenses for marketing purposes” that took place before he took office.
Those formerly in charge of OnLight have disputed claims made by Laesch about what the organization spent money on, and also said he was overreaching in his power as mayor in order to target those associated with former Mayor Richard Irvin’s administration.
OnLight spent the last year making monthly debt service payments, said Austin FitzCorbett, Aurora’s fiber manager.
The Tuesday resolution was meant to be the first of several measures to come before the City Council as part of a larger effort to revamp the fiber-optic network, said Laesch and FitzCorbett.
FitzCorbett said he aims to get the network to a place where its self-sustaining financially, instead of relying on loans and city funding as OnLight previously did, he said.
The city would temporarily take over the service while looking for established internet service providers to partner with the city and run the service, he said.
Eventually, he said the city would like to expand the network and even bring back former customers. He said half of the network is currently unused, “ready to be maximized.” He hopes updating the equipment can help attract more use in those areas.
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The measure to terminate the city’s agreement with OnLight is set to return to the City Council Infrastructure and Technology Committee for further discussion, which is set to next meet at 4 p.m. Oct. 26 at Aurora City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place.