LACONIA — The city’s ongoing negotiation with cable provider Breezeline will stretch on into September, as a proposed one-year extension of the existing contract was tabled at Monday night’s City Council meeting.
The contract extension was on the agenda for councilors to consider approving, until City Manager Kirk Beattie said he had further information from the city’s legal counsel to discuss in a nonpublic session. The state’s right-to-know law allows for legal advice to be discussed in private.
Beattie, in a follow-up interview, said city councilors “are still looking for more information to take into consideration.”
Negotiations surrounding the contract, which is between a group of local communities and the corporation doing business as Breezeline, is hung up on a clause in the agreement that promises prompt response for customer service calls. Instead of being able to reach a live service representative within minutes of placing a call, as the contract requires, local customers have reported waiting on hold for hours.
A one-year extension has been proposed, as opposed to the standard five-year agreement, so the two sides could resolve the customer service issue. The current agreement expires at the end of the calendar year.
In other recent City Hall news, council gave green lights to several expenditure proposals on Monday night. They will all be granted public hearings at future meetings so citizens can express their views on the matters. Those proposals include: Spending $25,000 in ARPA funding to buy five e-bikes for the police department; establishing a reserve account to replace the Laconia High School turf field; using FEMA funds to replace outdated rescue equipment for the fire department; and issuing a bond to pay for the replacement of Fire Engine 2, which is 32 years old. The bond would be for 20 years, and the total expenditure would be $935,000, including $294,000 in interest.
City council meets at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of every month.
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