Aurora's City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday evening on a resolution that would end the city's agreement with OnLight Aurora, the nonprofit that has run Aurora's fiber-optic network since 2012, and hand the city authority to negotiate directly with its roughly 19 remaining customers. The vote comes after the network reportedly came within three weeks of shutting down entirely last summer, before city fiber network manager Austin FitzCorbett began volunteering to help stabilize it.
FitzCorbett, a former software engineering manager whom Aurora later hired as its fiber network manager, said doing nothing last year would have let the network fail outright, cutting off service to schools and businesses that depend on it. The city-owned network stretches more than 60 miles underground and serves government facilities, institutions, nonprofits and businesses, according to GovTech. OnLight was created specifically to manage that city-connected network under a 20-year agreement signed in 2012 and revised in 2015, with the original arrangement meant to make the service self-sustaining through subscriber fees and by sharing excess capacity with schools, hospitals and libraries.
That self-sustaining model broke down. Aurora Mayor John Laesch said OnLight was nearly out of money, behind on bills and carrying around $1 million in debt, a figure he laid out in a presentation covered by the Chicago Tribune. A separate report from WTTW News detailed the organization's finances in stark terms, describing OnLight as nearly $1 million in the red while operating at a $27,000 monthly deficit with roughly $20,000 in monthly debt-service payments. As of October 2024, the group had just $55,000 in cash on hand against more than $200,000 in unpaid bills.
Debt, Legal Fees and a Disputed Spending Record
Laesch has tied part of OnLight's financial collapse to three failed attempts to extend city fiber internet service directly into residents' homes, one of which alone generated more than $110,000 in legal fees. He has also said OnLight incurred unregulated debit card expenses for marketing purposes dating back to 2018. WTTW's reporting put a number on related spending, finding roughly $337,000 in charges between 2018 and 2025 covering ATM withdrawals, entertainment, travel, events and networking, sponsorships and political contributions. Former OnLight leaders have disputed Laesch's characterization of that spending and accused him of overreaching as mayor to target people connected to former Mayor Richard Irvin's administration.
FitzCorbett said the network's equipment itself has become a liability, comparing it to a 1970s car whose parts and servicing are no longer available. He said the organization's customer base and revenue have both been sliding: OnLight had nearly 35 customers at its 2020 peak but is down to about 19 today, while customer revenue fell by nearly $73,000 between 2025 and 2026, according to company data he provided. OnLight also stopped returning a revenue share to Aurora six years ago, he said. The Tribune reported that while the disputed spending was occurring, the organization lost 12 customers and gained only one.
A Network Still Worth Saving, Officials Say
Despite the financial mess, officials argue the fiber itself still has value. FitzCorbett said OnLight would be cash-flow positive if not for roughly $1,000 in monthly debt-service payments, and that its monthly losses have already shrunk from about $27,000 to around $5,000 by January 2026 — progress GovTech also noted in its own reporting on the network's finances. By early October, OnLight's remaining debt stood at around half a million dollars, FitzCorbett said, with most of the group's monthly expenses over the past year going toward servicing that debt.
The network's resilience was tested this summer when a fiber line cut temporarily knocked out Aurora's phone system, website and internet, but FitzCorbett said the network's architecture helped the city recover faster than it otherwise would have. He noted that roughly half of the network's capacity currently sits unused. Legal counsel Yordana Wysocki told officials that Aurora effectively serves as OnLight's guarantor and could be on the hook for its remaining debt if the nonprofit stops making payments — a risk Laesch has also flagged publicly.
What the Resolution Would Actually Do
If approved, the resolution would give Aurora 180 days to negotiate new contracts with OnLight's existing customers and would transfer OnLight-owned equipment to the city after that window closes. Wysocki said any new customer contracts would still need city council approval and estimated Aurora could spend around $100,000 in legal fees over the next year negotiating those agreements. FitzCorbett said the city would temporarily take over network service itself while searching for established internet service provider partners, and could seek authority to deal directly with customers and take over existing data center and ISP agreements.
Some OnLight customers have told officials they are frustrated with current service quality and have expressed interest in working with the city directly instead, while others are satisfied with the service but simply lack other market options, FitzCorbett said. He warned that several unhappy customers could leave within six months if the city doesn't commit to improving service. FitzCorbett said Aurora could later apply to become an E-Rate service provider if the council passes the resolution, and officials are looking to build on strategies used by Kane County government, St. Charles, Urbana-Champaign, Highland and Lincoln, Nebraska.
Kane County offers a nearby example of a public fiber network that has expanded steadily: its own publicly owned network has grown to roughly 47 miles connecting county facilities across five cities with 10 Gbps capacity, built with a $1.5 million county contribution, according to Community Networks. That county network also physically connects to OnLight Aurora's system. Aurora has its own ambitions for expansion closer to home, with plans to extend fiber to 17 homes in Habitat Green Freedom, a planned smart neighborhood on the city's west side, by 2028.
FitzCorbett said his goal is to make the network financially self-sustaining again rather than dependent on loans and city funding, restoring what he described as its original purpose of providing affordable high-speed internet to public institutions. He pointed to equipment modernization, stronger customer relationships and asset management, new partnerships, and more transparent spending controls as ways to grow revenue going forward. The council already advanced $80,000 to OnLight in January, a move the city previously approved as either a loan or a grant depending on the outcome of strategic planning, and the city separately signed a three-year, $2,168,127 managed-services contract with ScientelSolutions to support the broader network infrastructure, according to CitizenPortal. Tuesday's vote is described as the first of several measures officials plan to pursue as they try to revamp the fiber network's finances and operations.
