MEDINA, Ohio — Last week, New 5 told you about Medina County Engineer Office’s plans to introduce new rules for fiber installation after residents’ complaints.
Since then, one viewer emailed us and said, a fiber company cut her internet line and left her yard a mess.
We also received an email from Cristina Hart. She told News 5 she appreciates the county's efforts but feels it’s a little too late. Still, she’s hopeful she’ll see more positive outcomes.
Watch previous: Medina County pushes new rules for fiber installations after resident complaints
“I wish it was put in place when the project had started back in 2024, but I do appreciate that there’s progress being made now,” said Hart. “I understand that these are private contractors and things like that, but the city needs to hold them accountable.”
In Cristina Hart’s yard, she said there’s a mark that brings back painful memories of what happened in March 2024.
“I was working from home that day, and suddenly the power went out. I didn’t know what happened, but I knew they were installing fiber in our neighborhood, so I came outside to check with them if that was supposed to happen,” said Hart.
Hart said crews accidentally cut a power line from a box outside of her home, and pulled the power line out of the house, so she was forced to call a private electrician to do emergency repairs while she and her family found somewhere else to stay.
“They were not able to fix it that Friday. They had to get an entire crew out here to run a new line from the box, under the driveway all the way up to the side of the house, and that had to wait until Monday,” said Hart.
To this day, Hart said she still hasn’t gotten an answer from the fiber company, Rio Broadband, or the United States Infrastructure Corporation (USIC), which is responsible for making underground utilities.
She even said her insurance company, State Farm, was left in the dark after they told Hart in a letter that they “reached out to these contractors and have not received a response” following an expensive claim that she wants reimbursed.
“The blame is on us essentially because they were not reimbursed for the losses that were caused,” said Hart.
Rio Broadband nor USIC didn’t respond to my requests by the time this story aired.
In an email response to News 5, Medina County Engineer Andy Conrad said his office would have no regulatory authority over this installation or to force a remedy due to current laws and the facilities being in a private easement.
Still, he said the fiber company should be responsible for the cost of the repair if they damaged the property owner’s electrical service connection.
