During the Aug. 6 Daphne City Council meeting, Mayor Dane Haygood took time to address citizen concerns about a potential lawsuit between the city and telecommunications company AT&T following the removal of some of the company’s utility markers recently undertaken by the city.
Haygood said the city was simply trying to enforce the sign ordinance it had passed back in 2017.
“We passed an ordinance back in March 2017 which limited the height of telecommunications markers,” Haygood said. “We had Public Works and right of way permitting working with those businesses to bring those into compliance, but we were largely ignored for a year.”
Haygood said a letter was sent to the utilities in March 2018 to come into compliance by a specific date or allowing the companies to submit a plan to come into compliance.
“We continued to be ignored,” Haygood said. “In June of this year, code enforcement began removing those markers.”
Following those removals, Haygood said AT&t indicated to the city they wanted additional time to submit a compliance plan, but that didn’t happen.
“They greeted that hospitality and opportunity of cooperation with a lawsuit alleging we didn’t have the right to remove markers in the rights of way we manage,” Haygood said.
Haygood said there had been further communication with AT&T on the matter.
“We did receive some interesting communication late today asking if we would be willing to stay the temporary restraining order if they could continue to work to come into compliance during that time,” Haygood said. “This is ironic because that’s what we asked for in the first place.”
Haygood said the city’s continued priority is to continue Daphne’s aesthetic beauty.
“We have worked to implement projects that beautify Daphne, and my office’s standpoint is that we can not allow Daphne to be eroded with the expansion of their networks,” Haygood said. “We may be facing litigation, but we’ve only done so with the best interest of our community so it is preserved for the benefit of our citizens.”
