For the past two-and-a-half years, the relationship between certain Fishers neighborhoods and the Internet company MetroNet has been a rocky one. Subcontractors for the firm have been accused of utility strikes while digging fiber optic networks. There have been stop orders issued on more than one occasion by the City of Fishers.
At a recent Fishers City Council work session, the city and MetroNet officials talked about how to move forward as MetroNet construction continues in Fishers. Kris Smith, government affairs manager for Metronet, and Mark Hill, market manager for the MetroNet area including Fishers, met with the council and talked about past errors as well as how to move forward.
Fishers Director of Engineering Jason Taylor briefed council members on what has happened so far with MetroNet and the city. Taylor described weekly meetings his staff has recently had with MetroNet and said there are situations when people blame MetroNet when another utility may be at fault. Regular communications with the technology firm have helped, according to Taylor.
“We have an even stronger commitment to safety and restoration today,” MetroNet’s Smith told Fishers city councilors. “We’ve improved our construction communications program tenfold. We have an executive vice president who is running our construction team. We’ve put several layers in place.”
Smith said subcontractor crews will always be clearly marked, outfitted in vests, with identifying signs on trucks, along with arm badges on workers with their names and pictures. If there are language barriers, there will be an English-speaking crew member on site. If that English-speaking person is away or next door, cards will be provided with a customer service phone number residents can call to get questions answered.
MetroNet expects to be finished with construction within what the company calls the Fishers “city build” areas by spring of 2020. “City build” means MetroNet will not be installed in all Fishers neighborhoods.
“We made some mistakes, there’s no question of that,” Smith said. “But it’s how we’re moving forward; we want to improve that.”
MetroNet provides home internet, television and telephone services.