Contract awarded for Othello fiber project

OTHELLO — Delays slowed the project down, but a section of Adams County south of Othello will be getting access to fiber this summer. Adams County Engineer Scott Yaeger said the work could start as early as next month. 

“Othello (fiber to home) project has 120 working days to completion, which would be approximately February through July as long as there are no weather-related delays,” Yaeger wrote in answer to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. “There is work that can be completed during the winter.” 

Adams County Commissioners awarded a $6.8 million contract to North Sky Communications on Jan. 6. The expanded fiber installation will provide access south and southwest of the Othello city limits, an area around the Othello Golf Club along West Bench Road and surrounding subdivisions. The county project will install the fiber, but providing internet services to residences and businesses will be the work of private companies.  

The county was required to pay a portion of the project cost.  

Adams County received the grant in 2022. Some areas originally in the county project boundaries got fiber access from private providers in the meantime. 

The Othello part of the project encountered multiple delays, starting with design modifications. Adams County Commissioner Dan Blankenship said the designers didn’t take obstacles like irrigation canals into account in the original design, which led to inaccurate cost estimates.  

There was an apparent low bidder when the project reached the bidding stage, but the applicant committed some errors, Blankenship said. He subsequently notified county officials that the company couldn’t fulfill the contract at the submitted price, Blankenship said, but the bidding rules required the contract to be awarded to him anyway. The county was required to wait until the original contractor turned down the project before it could award the project to the next-lowest bidder, he said.