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Mayor Statement on 10-2 City Council Vote Approving Agreement with Schurz Communications

OFFICE OF MAYOR MIRO WEINBERGER
149 Church Street | Burlington, VT 05401 | 802.865.7272

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

December 27, 2017
Contact:  Brian Lowe
                  802.735.3983
                              

Mayor Statement on 10-2 City Council Vote Approving Agreement with Schurz Communications

Burlington, VT – Mayor Miro Weinberger released the following statement regarding the City’s Council’s 10-2 vote approving a deal with Schurz Communications, Inc. to buy Burlington Telecom:

 

“Tonight’s tri-partisan City Council vote represents a major step toward final resolution of one of the worst financial crises in our City’s history in a positive and forward-looking manner.  The agreement approved tonight will, when fully implemented, return millions of lost dollars to taxpayers, give the City the opportunity for continued meaningful BT ownership and protections against future resale, protect important community values like net neutrality and privacy, commit substantial future BT revenues toward youth technical education, the local tech economy, and efforts to bridge the digital divide, and much more.  I am particularly pleased that the anti-monopoly and Smart City provisions the Administration has long advocated for are part of the approved agreement.  These provisions will ensure that while nearly 60 percent of Americans have one or fewer broadband providers, Burlingtonians will continue to enjoy broadband choice, and that Burlington’s local government will have an enduring opportunity to innovate using BT’s fiber to the home as we pursue becoming a Net Zero Energy City and other municipal goals.

 

“In addition, I want to say thank you again to BT’s outstanding employees for their years of hard work under difficult conditions leading up to tonight, and thank you to City Attorney Eileen Blackwood and outside counsel Ralphine O’Rourke for working exceptionally hard during this holiday season to get to tonight’s successful vote.  Thank you also to Todd Schurz and Schurz Communications for their partnership finalizing the agreement over the past month – I look forward to working closely with Schurz in the months ahead on the remaining steps in this effort.”

 

*Please see here for the Asset Purchase Agreement with Schurz Communications.

 

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Press Release Date: 
12/27/2017
City Department: 
Mayor's Office