The City Grants a Telephone Franchise
A new 25-year contract outlines the city's control over telecommunications infrastructure, requiring underground conduits and free service for city officials.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The City Council of Kennewick has passed Ordinance No. 196, granting A. F. Brown a 25-year franchise to operate a telephone and telegraph system within city limits. The ordinance mandates that all infrastructure be maintained to modern standards and grants the city authority to regulate pole placement. As part of the agreement, Brown must provide free exchange lines for city government use and assumes full liability for damages caused by the system’s operation. The ordinance also includes a provision allowing the city to regulate service rates should state law return such power to municipalities in the future.
“The said city of Kennewick reserves the right and privilege to suspend on the poles or place within the conduits erected or laid by the said grantee... any and all wires which may be required for fire alarm and police purposes.”
This 1916 franchise agreement reflects the early, messy struggle to regulate utility monopolies in a growing town. Today, similar debates over 'franchise fees' and infrastructure control continue in Kennewick as the city navigates modern telecommunications and high-speed internet rollouts.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.