San Antonio Councilmember Proposes Utility and Fiber Project Transparency Plan

In a move to enhance communication and transparency for San Antonio residents, Councilmember Marina Alderete Gavito brought forth a Council Consideration Request (CCR) proposing a Utility and Fiber Projects Accountability Plan, as detailed in a news release on the official City of San Antonio's website. Leadership in the Texan city has been receptive to calls for improved coordination across multiple service providers and the necessity for consistent updates on infrastructure work affecting daily life.

The plan Councilmember Alderete Gavito is championing calls for an alliance between the municipality and entities like CPS Energy, SAWS, and fiber companies, ensuring, as she states, "Our neighbors deserve to know when and why work is being done on their streets, and when service interruptions may occur," emphasizing the need for a system that brings these distinct actors onto the same page prior to the onset of any project, as mentioned by the City of San Antonio. It is her belief that this is simply about good governance, with fewer surprises and a more robust system for resident notifications and information standards, which would include a dedicated contact number, detailed timelines, and the potential impacts of the work.

A key aspect of the proposal includes a comprehensive outreach strategy involving robocalls, social media, and print materials to keep the community apprised of upcoming construction work, and establishing guidelines for the communication that must be met by utility and fiber companies, which will involve providing specific details such as work hours and any variances for activities outside of the norm along with what residents might expect in terms of traffic or service interruptions.

In addition, Alderete Gavito's proposal stipulates ongoing real-time updates between the city's council offices, utility providers, and fiber companies to ensure timely dissemination of project and outage information to residents, on top of developing accountability measures to hold these companies responsible for any failure to communicate effectively with the residents, and the City or City Council offices, and furthermore, the plan calls for the establishment of coordination agreements to collectively expedite infrastructure work in an effort to minimize disruption for the community.