KATY, Texas (Covering Katy News) — The Katy City Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday to discuss and vote on a proposed moratorium that would temporarily stop the installation of underground fiber optic cable within city limits after contractors repeatedly broke water lines and caused other infrastructure damage, an issue widely known to be a problem regionally since 2023, but the city failed to address it proactively.
Jason Rivera, Katy's assistant public works director, said the city has had at least 16 infrastructure complaints since last October. The complaints, locations of damage and other information are in this city document starting on page eight. The document also includes the Tuesday night city council agenda.
At last week's council meeting, it was revealed that the city lacks an ordinance regulating fiber installation. Without an ordinance some fiber installation companies have been installing underground fiber lines without checking to see where water lines are located, Rivera said at Monday's meeting.
Water lines are breaking and repair costs are mounting as the city waits for insurance companies to reimburse some of the costs.
"That is a substantial burden to the city," Rivera said.
Each water line rupture left residents and businesses without water for days, according to Council Member Gina Hicks.
Moratorium to help to get control of the problem
Mayor Thiele said the moratorium will temporarily suspend fiber installation work in the city's right-of-way "with the exception of fiber companies that currently have an approved agreement with the City."
The moratorium would last up to 120 days, giving the Council time to draft and pass an ordinance with guidelines designed to reduce infrastructure damage by fiber installers.
"I am seeking possible action to halt these activities while we assess how best to regulate and manage these projects going forward," Thiele said.
Cities have the power to draft ordinances and respond fairly quickly but counties do not have that same authority so the damage done in unincorporated areas of Fort Bend and Harris county has been generating media attention.
The problem was knowable
The issue of fiber companies striking and breaking water lines has been widely reported in media since 2023, yet the city has not proactively drafted an ordinance that could have protected the residents and businesses from the problems before they came to the city.
The lack of action undermines council member Dan Smith's argument for extending council term limits from six to 12 years. Smith claims the city cannot replace what he believes is irreplaceable leadership that will turn over next year.
However, neither Smith nor other members of council suggested acting proactively after problems of fiber installers breaking water lines and damaging property was widely covered by the Houston area media including but not limited to Covering Katy News, KHOU 11, ABC 13 and My Neighborhood News.
The reports documented infrastructure damage from Kingwood to unincorporated Katy. Some media outlets produced more than one story but those reports never prompted calls for proactive action from members of the city's so-called irreplaceable council members.
In Cinco Ranch, the problem became so severe that the homeowners' association asked residents to help them compile a complete list of damage. Fort Bend County, Fort Bend County MUD 57 and Harris County's North Hampton Municipal Utility District issued similar alerts about fiber optic installers damaging waterlines and property. These warnings never prompted action to protect residents of incorporated Katy.
Despite widespread publicity of the issue, the city will not have an ordinance ready for a vote before April but the emergency moratorium is expected to slow or stop the damage.
Council had Other Priorities
Critics contend the council and mayor focused on less urgent matters such as charter changes to allow them more time in office, and give council more authority over the Mayor.
There was also a lengthy effort to take control of Katy Market Days from businesswoman Betsy Proctor, who managed the event uncompensated by the city for 30 years to draw customers to downtown shops. Council Member Rory Robertson told a local newspaper that the council felt she was making too much money from vendors who purchased booth space. Proctor said Robertson has never seen the festival's financials and his estimates were inflated and wrong.
The council spent excessive time on gaining control of the semi-monthly Market Days. Instead of holding discussions publicly with all council members present simultaneously, the Mayor conducted multiple closed-door meetings, one council member at a time, to get around quorum laws. One lawyer told Covering Katy the way Mayor Thiele handled the issue was a criminal violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. Read more here.
"Their priorities seem to be misplaced," said Proctor. "I don't know what their priorities are. They are all over the place."
The council's meeting on Tuesday begins at 5:30 p.m. and there will be time for public comment.