WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — An Atlanta-based fiber optic cable company is suing the city of Warner Robins.
The city hired A2D to install a fiber-optic network, but now they say mayor and council are not following their contract.
According to the lawsuit filed in Houston County Superior Court last week, A2D alleges the city is violating their contract by not giving them access to their own property, the lines they installed beneath the city.
Two years ago, the city of Warner Robins paid A2D $2.5 million to install a fiber-optic network in the city.
The city's plan was to bring high speed internet to all parts of the city, including to their own government buildings, but now the company is suing the city.
A2D claims the city, specifically Mayor Randy Toms, is denying them access to their fiber lines.
The suit alleges that under the contract, the city owns only 12 of the 72 fibers installed and A2D plans to sell the rest to people and businesses.
According to A2D, the city is now claiming they own all of the fibers and will not grant access to any of the lines.
In the documents, the company says in order to sell these lines to businesses, they have to have access to the lines, and to have access, they need "right-of-way" permits from the city.
They claim they have filed for six of those permits since June of this year and none of them have been granted.
In the suit, A2D says "Mayor Randy Toms is acting wrongfully, capriciously and arbitrarily."
They go on to say he is "interfering with the ministerial duties of the Director of Buildings and Transportation by wrongfully denying issuance of ROW disturbance and access permits which Petitioners filed as far back as June 2020. Defendant Mayor Toms is in violation of his legal duties to uphold the legal rights of Petitioners under State Law."
They are asking the court to grant the 'right-of-way' disturbance and access permits.
We reached out to Toms for comment, but he said he could not talk about the lawsuit.
A2D and eCBI Warner, LLC are being represented by the Atlanta based Cheeley Law Group.