Commission approves franchise agreement with Comcast

BERNALILLO — Sandoval County Commissioners approved a motion at its regular meeting July 23 that authorized the county manager to approve the franchise agreement between the county and Comcast.

According to the motion's cover page, the county is entering the franchise agreement with Comcast for the construction, operation and maintenance of the cable system.

County Manager Wayne Johnson stated it would be a revenue-sharing mechanism that accounts for 3% of the county's revenue.

"This would allow them to access our right-of-way for provision of internet services. I think it probably mostly affects the Placitas area," he said.

As Placitas is a main area overseen by Commissioner Katherine Bruch, she was particularly interested in the item.

"I wasn't sure I was happy to see this on the agenda, but I am now because I'd like us to, perhaps it will help with, extending availability throughout the area because we do have some little gaps, and I know I've kind of been in a tug-of-war over several properties where accessibility should not be an issue because the previous property before it was subdivided, had service to it, and then they just decided they could only serve what was existing. I'm, like, 'Well, wait a minute, all you did was draw a line on a on a plat,' and it should not have changed the availability of that service for that particular site," she said.

She also addressed Comcast, stating she hopes they work toward supporting the rural communities.

Commissioner Jordan Juarez asked if there are any plans for the Rio Rancho Estates area. Johnson said he weren't any current talks about that.

"It doesn't mean that they won't do anything in the Rio Rancho Estates area, but a lot of this is driven by population with regard to the provisioning of internet services in general. That is something we could look at as part of broadband work that we're doing. However, I don't know where we'd go from there," Johnson said.

He added that the project has to "pay for itself." The agreement is for four years.