From the Salisbury Post (6/19/11): After learning Fibrant will borrow millions of dollars from other city funds, some local businessmen are calling for more transparency for the city's new broadband service.
“People are starting to feel funny about this,” said Bill Wagoner, vice chairman of the Salisbury Planning Board and a commercial builder and contractor. “A lot of folks are saying how is this going, really?”
City Manager David Treme said the internal loans are a good business practice and save the city from high interest rates. He acknowledged the city needs to do a better job communicating about Fibrant.
The city’s largest ever one-time capital expense, Fibrant was built entirely with borrowed money.
Given that, the city should “bend over backward to match the enterprise with the communication,” said Wagoner, former chairman of the Rowan County Economic Development Commission. “We should go to extraordinary means to explain how it’s doing.”