Floyd County halts fiber optic work after resident complaints, multiple gas line strikes

FLOYD COUNTY, Ind. (WDRB) — Just days after residents raised concerns about ongoing fiber optic installation work in Floyd County, local officials have ordered the company behind the project to stop all operations.

Residents in neighborhoods like Cobblers Crossing said their yards and streets were left in disarray, with large holes in pavement, cones and plywood scattered around, and equipment parked for days. But after WDRB's coverage of the situation, major changes followed quickly.

The Floyd County Commissioners issued a letter to Lumos Fiber of Indiana, officially suspending all work the company was doing in the county, including at least seven permitted projects.

"It feels like it’s a success," Jay Schiedewitz, a local resident, said, calling it a win for the community.

But Schiedewitz also shared a concern voiced by many in the area — that companies can enter neighborhoods and start tearing up property with little notice.

“It’s absolutely a scary predicament to be in,” Schiedewitz said. “We had very little notice — I think 24 to 48 hours — that they were coming in to do this work. So any company could apply and do the same thing, and then tear up the yards again.”

The New Albany Township Fire Department reported that at least seven gas lines were cut by Lumos Fiber contractors over the past month, four just this week. In a letter to CenterPoint Energy, the region’s gas utility, the fire chief blasted the contractors’ actions.

“The carelessness and lack of regard that has been demonstrated by the contractors has put their own employees, the community, responding firefighters, police officers, and the gas utility personnel in grave danger,” the fire chief wrote.

Lynn Minton, who lives a few streets from Cobblers Crossing, said she was blindsided by the sudden arrival of heavy equipment.

“They just started bringing all these big machines in to dig their cable, and we didn’t know who they were,” Minton said.

The company left a large plastic utility box in her yard, something she didn’t ask for and doesn’t want.

“It felt like a communistic society, where they just go big,” Minton said. “I understand the easement issue, but at the same time, you were given no warning.”

In the days following WDRB’s story on Wednesday, residents said they saw a dramatic shift. Streets were cleaned, holes filled, cones removed, and even pressure washers brought in to scrub away mud and stains.

“As soon as your story aired, they came in,” Schiedewitz said. “They cleaned up all the cones, took up the plywood, filled in all the holes that had been left for over a week.”

Now, with work halted and peace restored, residents are left wondering what’s next, and whether similar disruptions could return in the future.

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