§ 1911. Definitions
The following terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meaning:
(1) “Acquire” shall mean to purchase, to acquire by eminent domain, to hire, to lease,
to construct, to reconstruct, or to replace.
(2) “Communications plant” shall mean any and all parts of any communications system owned
by the municipality, whether using wires, cables, fiber optics, wireless, other technologies,
or a combination thereof, and used for the purpose of transporting or storing information,
in whatever forms, directions, and media, together with any improvements thereto hereafter
constructed or acquired, and all other facilities, equipment, and appurtenances necessary
or appropriate to such system. However, the term “communications plant” and any regulatory
implications or any restrictions under this chapter regarding either “communications
plant” or “communications service” shall not apply to facilities or portions of any
communications facilities intended for use by, and solely used by, the municipality
and the municipality’s own officers and employees in the operation of municipal departments
or systems of which such communications are merely an ancillary component.
(3) “Communications service” shall include ownership, operation, and utilization of a
communications plant within or without the corporate limits of the municipality to
transport or store information in any form and medium.
(4) “Improve” shall mean to acquire or construct any improvement, whether consisting of
real or personal property.
(5) “Improvement” shall mean any extension, betterment, addition, alteration, reconstruction,
and extraordinary repair, equipping, or reequipping of the communications plant of
the municipality. (Added 2007, No. 79, § 4, eff. June 9, 2007.)
§ 1912. Communications plant; authority to acquire, construct, operate, improve, extend, and
better
(a) A municipality is authorized and empowered to own, maintain, operate, improve, and
extend, or otherwise acquire, and to sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of, in accordance
with and in any situation or manner not prohibited by law, its communications plant
for the furnishing of communications services within or without the corporate limits
of the municipality, for public, domestic, commercial, and industrial use, and for
the provision of communications service. For the aforesaid purposes, the municipality
may hire, lease, purchase, own, hold, and acquire by contract, agreement, or eminent
domain proceedings any buildings, land, rights-of-way, and any other real property
necessary or convenient to the operation of the communications plant, and may use
any public highway over which it may be necessary or desirable to pass with the poles
and wire of the same, provided that the use of such public highway for the purpose
of public travel is not thereby unnecessarily impaired. These powers may be exercised
through a taking by eminent domain in the manner prescribed by law. All of the foregoing
powers are in addition to and not in substitution for or in limitation of any other
powers conferred by law.
(b) Before a municipality may sell any service using its communications plant subject
to Public Utility Commission jurisdiction and for which a certificate of public good
is required under 30 V.S.A. chapter 5 or 13, it shall obtain a certificate of public
good for such service. Each such certificate of public good shall be nonexclusive
and shall not contain terms or conditions more favorable than those imposed on existing
certificate holders authorized to serve the municipality. (Added 2007, No. 79, § 4, eff. June 9, 2007.)
§ 1913. Communications plant; operation and regulation
(a) A municipality shall operate its communications plant in accordance with the applicable
State and federal law and regulation, and chapter 53 of this title, relating to municipal
indebtedness, with regard to the financing, improvements, expansion, and disposal
of the municipal communications plant and its operations. However, the powers conferred
by such provisions of law shall be supplemental to, construed in harmony with, and
not in restriction of, the powers conferred in this chapter.
(b) A municipality’s operation of any communications plant shall be supported solely by
the revenues derived from the operation of such communications plant, except that
portion which is used for its own municipal purposes.
(c) A municipality may finance any capital improvement related to its operation of such
communications plant for the benefit of the people of the municipality in accordance
with the provisions of chapter 53 of this title, provided that revenue-backed bonds
shall be paid from net revenues derived from the operation of the communications plant.
(d) Any restriction regarding the maximum outstanding debt that may be issued in the form
of general obligation bonds shall not restrict the issuance of any bonds issued by
a municipality and payable out of the net revenues from the operation of a public
utility project under chapter 53, subchapter 2 of this title.
(e) To the extent that a municipality constructs communication infrastructure with the
intent of providing communications services, whether wholesale or retail, the municipality
shall ensure that any and all losses from these businesses, or in the event these
businesses are abandoned or curtailed, any and all costs associated with the investment
in communications infrastructure, are not borne by the municipality’s taxpayers.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a municipality may enter
into a public-private partnership for the purpose of exercising its authority under
this subchapter regarding the provision of communications services. A municipality
may contract with a private entity to operate and manage a communications plant owned
by the municipality or may contract with a private entity to co-own, operate, or manage
a communications plant. A communications plant that is the subject of a public-private
partnership authorized by this subsection may be financed in whole or in part pursuant
to this chapter and chapter 53, subchapter 2 of this title, provided the municipality
first issues a request for proposals seeking an internet service provider to serve
or to assist with serving unserved and underserved locations targeted by the issuing
municipality. The terms of such a partnership shall specify that the owner or owners
of the communications plant, as applicable, shall be responsible for debt service. (Added 2007, No. 79, § 4, eff. June 9, 2007; amended 2019, No. 79, § 13, eff. June 20, 2019.)
§ 1914. Validation of bonds voted for communications construction
No action shall be brought directly or indirectly attacking, questioning, or in any
manner contesting the legality or validity of bonds, issued or unissued, voted by
any municipality, after six months from the date upon which voters in such municipal
entity met pursuant to warning and voting affirmatively to issue bonds to defray costs
of communications improvements or upon vote of a question of rescission thereof, whichever
occurs later. This section shall be liberally construed to effect the legislative
purpose to validate and make certain the validity of bonds issued or authorized by
municipalities for communications system purposes, and to bar every right to question
in any manner the validity of bonds voted for such purposes, and to bar every remedy
therefore, notwithstanding any defects or irregularities, jurisdictional, or otherwise,
after the expiration of the six-month period. (Added 2007, No. 79, § 4, eff. June 9, 2007.)