Despite an emotional 20-minute appeal, the owner of a Douglas County gigabit internet service left Monday’s Eudora City Commission meeting without approval of a permit that would allow him to start installing fiber in the community.

RG Fiber owner Mike Bosch said he desperately wanted to start installing fiber in Eudora but couldn’t because city staff kept changing the permit’s requirements. City commissioners and staff refused to engage in a back-and-forth on that contention, but instead agreed to schedule a separate forum to present the city’s side of the issue.

Bosch spoke after five Eudora residents addressed commissioners about the need to upgrade internet service in Eudora.

The city and RG Fiber entered into a license agreement in 2015, which allows the Baldwin City-based company the free use of city right-of-way to build a fiber network in Eudora in return for the company connecting Eudora City Hall and the Eudora Public Safety Building with gigabit fiber. Eudora City Manager Barack Matite said Monday the agreement required RG Fiber to pay liquidated damages for missing a deadline to complete that required obligation. Those damage now total $2,500, he said.

In his appeal to commissioners, Bosch presented a four-page timeline of his two-month attempt to secure a permit needed to install the fiber and connect the required city buildings. The timeline documented what Bosch said were RG Fiber’s attempts to comply with continued city staff shifts on such things as map scale, location of buried fiber from utility poles, measurement and other requirements.

“I frankly don’t care what the rules are, just tell me what they are,” he said.

Bosch said a permit was approved on May 9, but that notification also came with notice that a permit would not be issued until RG Fiber paid the $2,500 owed in liquidated damages.

“RG Fiber asserts that we have met our legal obligation in the contract,” Bosch said. “Despite this, RG Fiber offered a ‘meet-in-the-middle’ goodwill payment to settle the matter. City’s legal counsel advised RG Fiber’s legal counsel that city staff chose to end the conversation with no resolution.”

With the decision to explain the city’s side of the issue at an as-yet unscheduled forum, the only reply from city staff was Matite’s insistence that nothing was required of RG Fiber that wasn’t asked of other utilities.

As things stand, a permit could not be issued to RG Fiber to install the required fiber until the $2,500 was paid or commissioners amended the license agreement to forgive all or part of that amount, Matite said.

Mayor Tim Reazin said he was willing to consider such an amendment, but not before the city explained its side of the issue at the special forum. No other commissioner responded to Bosch’s request, other than to thank the Eudora residents who attended the meeting to speak on the need to improve internet service in the city.

In other business, the City Commission:

• Approved by 3-2 vote an ordinance making recycling a part of all residential trash service with Honey Creek Disposal Service Inc. starting in January 2018. The measure also increased the monthly residential trash rate from $14.50 to $18.50 per month. Commissioners Ruth Hughs and Jolene Born voted against the measure because they objected to its making recycling mandatory. Hughs said she hoped there would be further efforts to help those on limited income with its added costs.

• Approved adoption of a resolution establishing policies for the creation of benefit districts, which allow developers to use city financing with its lower interest rates to make infrastructure improvements. The measure will sunset in three years unless renewed after review. Benefit districts allow developers to make assessment on lots in a subdivision that will provide revenue to help retire bonds. To protect the city, the ordinance allows the City Commission to require a cash deposit of 20 percent of the cost of the improvements and/or a letter of credit or surety bond equaling 35 percent of the cost of the improvements, or worth three years of assessments in the benefit district.