Local agencies juggle many responsibilities related to community infrastructure, each with its own unique set of challenges. One such example is managing public right-of-way, which has become increasingly complex with the rise of fiber optic installation over the last few years.
At the 2026 City Engineers Association of Minnesota Annual Conference, a panel of city staff members shared insights on how their organizations are handling this task. Heather Nelson, city engineer at the City of Champlin; Brian Hansen, development coordinator at the City of Bloomington; Chris McKenzie, engineering services manager at the City of Plymouth; and Cody Mathisen, former city engineer at the City of Hastings, shared their best practices for administration, communication, and field oversight.
Administration
On the administrative side, the City of Champlin emphasized consistency by creating an internal set of guidelines for full fiber buildouts—noting details such as the scope of work, schedule and work requirements, traffic control, plan set requirements, and more. Additionally, the city established a right-of-way permit fee based on lineal footage. The City of Bloomington also updated its permit fees to be based on footage, with a maximum of 50,000 feet of active footage for any contractor at one time; this limited the intensity of construction and made the projects easier to manage, Hansen noted. Preconstruction meetings and online permit applications were also popular among the panelists.
Communication
Just as important as administrative efforts is communication, both with contractors and residents. For residents, clear and early communication efforts are paramount; Bloomington and Plymouth require contractors to place door hangers on adjacent properties prior to construction. Along with door hangers, Champlin also uses sandwich boards at neighborhood entrances to give the community ample notice of upcoming projects.
Two of the four cities created specific webpages for fiber installation, while others opted to share information on social media or direct residents to the provider’s own web pages to counter assumptions about the projects being city-led. Regular communication with contractors has also proven successful among the panelists, with most agencies requiring weekly meetings with providers.
Field oversight
While fiber installation is not a public construction project, the panelists treated it as such when it came to field oversight. “We did ask our consultant inspectors to keep an eye on and observe the routes that the fiber optic companies were doing and try to log what was happening out there,” said McKenzie of the City of Plymouth. Tracking daily work activities, in some capacity, was a common thread between agencies—whether done through an online diary or field journaling, daily activity tracking via an internal GIS map, or required work emails from contractors outlining their plan for the day and weekly lookaheads. Additionally, Bloomington implemented daily morning meetings with inspectors and admin staff to keep everyone informed.
With fiber providers consolidating and expanding across Minnesota, an increasing number of local agencies will likely be met with installation projects in the near future. By establishing expectations early, communicating proactively with residents, and putting clear processes in place, agencies can ensure fiber buildouts are managed and completed efficiently while minimizing disruption to the communities they serve.
