South Elgin asking residents to speak up if they have complaints about MetroNet

Two South Elgin trustees are encouraging residents to attend Monday's board meeting if they have any current or past complaints about MetroNet, which has been installing a high-speed fiber optic network in the village.

Residents have been posting complaints about MetroNet on Facebook, including workers urinating in their yards, leaving yards in poor condition and disrupting access to existing cable or internet service. Trustees Lisa Guess and Mike Kolodziej said they are asking people to show up at the board meeting because they want to get a clear sense of the magnitude of the issues.

“There have been complaints on Facebook for a while,” Kolodziej said. “We are going to look at whether MetroNet has done quality work.”

“We can't just take it as, ‘OK, this is what they (residents) said on Facebook' and stop their work,” Guess said. “We need them to come in and actually speak, or call in or something.”

MetroNet spokesman Keith Leonhardt said the company takes complaints seriously but needs to verify them with residents in order to investigate whether its crews or subcontractors might be responsible. One Facebook user posted Wednesday about a worker urinating in his front yard, but no such complaints have been filed in the last few days in South Elgin, Leonhardt said.

The company normally would reach out to residents on social media, he said, but the complaints were posted in a private Facebook group.

“We would be glad to address any specifics ... We pride ourselves in being very responsive.”

South Elgin granted the Indiana-based company access to right of way easements to install the fiber optic network in the fall. Residents were notified in December that work would begin soon.

Village Administrator Steve Super said he has asked company representatives to attend the meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at village hall, 10 N. Water St., and provide their perspective.

“To be honest, I do not have a clear picture about how many complaints there were and how many complaints were repeated on social media many times,” he said.

At least two MetroNet representatives will be at the meeting, Leonhardt said.

Super said the village has received a few complaints in recent months, the majority from residents who were not aware the work was planned. Some complaints were about workers leaving job sites “in disrepair, with litter” and one resident complained that an employee urinated in the backyard, he said. MetroNet was informed and the employee, who worked for a subcontractor, was fired, he said.

The village has contacted MetroNet about the formal complaints it received, and the company seems to have worked to resolve those issues, Super said. “We take all complaints seriously,” he said. Residents also can contact MetroNet on their own, he added.

Other towns where MetroNet is building a fiber optic network include Batavia, Geneva, North Aurora, St. Charles and Sugar Grove.

Guess said one complaint came from the village clerk, whose backyard was dug into even though there is no easement there. “They had to stop them and they had to repair where they were digging,” she said.