Northeast Salem residents said their neighborhoods have been invaded and their property damaged by workmen with heavy machinery installing underground fiber-optic cables.

The complaints came during a Northeast Neighbors Neighborhood Association (NEN) meeting on Tuesday, June 9, where neighbors complained directly to company officials from Ezee Fiber, the Texas-based internet service provider installing the cables. Residents said their waterlines and private property had been damaged by the excavations.

Neighbors said that they received little, if any, notice that the work would be happening. Officials from the company’s regional headquarters in Washington addressed the room, and said they sent out numerous letters, door hangers, and other types of notices leading up to construction.

Neighbors in the room shook their heads at that, according to footage of the meeting shared with Salem Reporter. 

A company spokesman told Salem Reporter in an email that sending out regular notices to residents is part of the company’s normal construction process. 

“We’ve heard that some residents raised concerns at a recent community meeting, and we genuinely appreciate them taking the time to share their experiences. Construction projects can be disruptive, and we don’t take that lightly. If anyone’s property was accidentally damaged or accessed in a way that caused frustration, we want to know about it and make it right,” said Jim Schwartz, the Ezee Fiber company spokesman. “We also hold our contractors to clear standards — following local rules, staying within permitted easements and right-of-way, and restoring any affected property to its original condition or better. Our neighbors deserve nothing less, and if something wasn’t handled the way it should have been, we want the chance to fix it.” 

During the neighborhood association meeting Austin Christoffersen, Ezee Fiber’s public affairs director for the Pacific Northwest, told residents the company uses a service that can predict with 98% accuracy when its notices are delivered. 

He said the company can confirm that notices were sent to residents prior to construction. He also referred residents with issues to a hotline, 253-260-3600 and an email address, [email protected]. 

City Councilor Paul Tigan and Council President Linda Nishioka represent residents in the area and were both at the meeting on Tuesday. 

Tigan’s ward, Ward 1, covers the downtown core where most of the fiber-optic construction is taking place. 

“People feel like they didn’t get the right amount of notification, so when the company came and started digging up in the right-of-way, they were surprised to see that. And there were definitely some complaints that they weren’t just operating in the right-of-way, they were operating in people’s private property like backing into people’s driveways and things like that,” Tigan said. “I got the sense that Ezee Fiber wanted to make it right … I am hoping that we will see Ezee Fiber step up their game as they expand into other parts of the city.” 

Nishioka, who represents Ward 2, which covers the areas south and east of downtown, said Ezee Fiber has a permit to install its fiber-optic cables in the public right-of-way similar to agreements the city has with utility companies like Portland General Electric and Northwest Natural. She said Ezee Fiber pays a franchise fee to the city for its access. 

“(Residents) are angry, they’ve had their yards messed up, and the public right-of-way often feels like their property, when it’s not, though they do need to mow it and maintain it. So, it is all this, ‘Well, who does it belong to? And why are they doing it?’ and it sounds like some pretty awful things happened to people’s yards,” Nishioka said. 

Nishioka said expanding fiber infrastructure is important for Salem’s future and that other internet service providers have been installing infrastructure also, but without such uproar.

“This is the first fiber layout where we’ve heard complaints,” Nishioka said. 

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected]. 

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