City of Neenah, WI

Unprecedented federal and state funding has led to a surge of municipal right-of-way permit requests from private utility companies looking to install community-wide fiber and rural broadband network infrastructure. These utilities can significantly influence your community’s growth and economic development by offering customers competitive rates and faster, more reliable service. However, projects of this magnitude place considerable demand on municipal staff and community resources.   

Through our experience with overseeing several of these network installation projects, we’ve compiled a checklist of duties and best practices to prepare your community and safeguard your existing infrastructure.  

Permit Review 

  • Review existing right-of-way permits 

  • Establish appropriate supplemental permit conditions 

  • Review existing fee structures and adjust as necessary to accommodate project size 

  • Review permit applications and work with private utilities to advocate for your municipality’s interests 

Project Administration 

  • Establish communication methods between municipal staff, private utilities, and contractors 

  • Coordinate construction phasing 

  • Ensure permit compliance 

  • Develop best practices for the duration of the installation process 

Village of Oregon, WI

Construction Inspection 

  • Perform regular spot inspections during construction to ensure that new utilities are installed and mapped correctly 

  • Address and document issues as they arise 

  • Authorize contractor construction changes 

  • Provide progress reports to community staff 

Project tracking & public communication 

Utilizing GIS-based tools can help you manage the many moving parts of a community-wide fiber network installation, allowing you to: 

  • Visualize proposed facility locations 

  • Track installation, restoration, and other construction progress updates 

  • Upload and view images from site inspections 

  • Communicate project updates and timelines with the public 

Village of Little Chute, WI

We Can Help! 

If your community doesn’t have the time or resources to properly manage these projects, R/M can help! We partner with municipalities to manage network expansion projects to protect your interests and minimize disruptions to your staff and community.  

To learn how R/M can help your community manage a new fiber network installation, please reach out to your R/M client manager or Kaley Simonis at 262-547-2733.