It’s been a tough week for county-wide fiber projects. Yesterday the Renville-Sibley Fiber project remained on hold. The Ramsey Fiber project has also found a fly in the ointment; the St Paul Pioneer Press reports…

The St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce has requested a financial analysis of Ramsey County’s proposed $14 million fiber optic broadband network, saying it wants to make sure the county is using taxpayer money wisely.

The request is not unexpected, the Pioneer Press reported last month…

The county and Minnesota Fiber are negotiating a contract and expect to come to an agreement in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Comcast has filed an open records request with the county to find out more about its financial arrangements with Minnesota Fiber, Coleman [regional vice president of government affairs for Comcast] said.

The Chamber reports that they are looking out for the best interest of the taxpayers…

[St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce President] Kramer said the chamber wants to see the analysis before it makes up its mind on whether the county is fulfilling its role as “stewards of the taxpayers’ money.”

But the article points out that they also represent the main competition…

The request is a response to chamber members that oppose the county’s project or have concerns about its viability, chamber President Matt Kramer said Tuesday, Oct. 9.

Among those are Comcast, the nation’s leading cable company and the Twin Cities’ dominant provider of cable broadband services, as well as CenturyLink, the state’s dominant telephone company. Both oppose the Ramsey County project, saying it will create a subsidized private competitor and possibly take away cities and other public entities that currently buy their services.

I understand the Chamber looking out for the interests of their members. I wasn’t aware that they represented taxpayers – except of course the taxpayers who are also members.