In an opinion issued Friday, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled against a group of citizens who challenged the sale of Burlington Telecom. The decision effectively ends the years-long litigation in the case.
The state’s highest court unanimously affirmed the Vermont Public Utility Commission’s February 2019 decision to approve the $30.8 million sale of the city-owned telecom to Indiana-based Schurz Communications, which does business locally as Champlain Broadband.
Six citizen intervenors — Sandra Baird, Jared Carter, Dean Corren, Steven Goodkind, Solveig Overby and Shay Totten — had argued that the deal failed to recoup the $16.9 million in taxpayer funds that city officials improperly spent to keep the telecom afloat. The group appealed the PUC’s ruling last October, asking the Supreme Court to either undo the sale or to require Champlain Broadband to reimburse the city the lost $16.9 million.
James Dumont, a Bristol-based attorney who represented the intervenors, said Friday afternoon that he’d only skimmed the ruling and was “not in a position to give any useful comment.” Dumont said he hadn’t yet discussed the ruling with his clients.
Carter, one of the intervenors, said he was disappointed in the decision.
“I think it’s a loss for the city in a lot of ways,” he said. “I just hope that now that the tragedy is closed in the legal sense that at least the city can move forward and use the funds to invest and make sure it has a voice at the table.”
Indeed, the city has until March 11 to use its proceeds from the sale to purchase a membership interest in Champlain Broadband. The city council will discuss the matter at a meeting Tuesday.
In a Friday afternoon press release, Mayor Miro Weinberger hailed the ruling as “the final word.”
“The decade-long Burlington Telecom crisis is over, and our solution promotes the public good by preserving high-speed internet choice for Burlingtonians and saving BT users and taxpayers many millions of dollars,” he wrote.
City Attorney Eileen Blackwood said in an email that “we are very happy” with the decision.
“This ends 10 years of litigation and uncertainty for BT customers and employees and recovers a portion of the City taxpayers’ investment, while finalizing the resolution of any liability to Citibank,” she wrote.
Read the ruling here:
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Keep the losses coming Steve!
CitiBank lost 33 million. They rue the day they got involved with the City of Burlington.
“….either undo the sale or to require Champlain Broadband to reimburse the city the lost $16.9 million.”
Why would it be Champlain Broadband’s obligation to bail Bumbletown out of the mess created by the corrupt actions of Bob Kiss and Jonathan Leopold? The same Jonathan Leopold who sat on the board that enabled the circumstances for the bankruptcy of Burlington College.
The biggest and most costly mistake — a betrayal even — was to privatize what ultimately would have been a solvent and valuable public asset/utility.
The previous administration misappropriated public funds to rescue the company. The current administration sold it off at a pittance for tax payers but with a sweet deal for the rest. Even Citibank did better than tax payers who were lied to and told they would bear no risk.
The Schurz sale was a travesty, not a triumph.
“Keep the losses coming Steve!” . It’s OK . This pest still has City Place (oops another loss) and his Pine Street Coalition to block the Champlain parkway causes . Perhaps he can run for Mayor again .