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City issues Suddenlink statement

Officials not likely to take further action

ELKINS — Elkins Mayor Van T. Broughton issued a statement Thursday announcing the city of Elkins does not intend to pursue litigation regarding the closure of the Suddenlink Communication office in Elkins.

The company had announced its intention to close the Elkins location in late October. Following outcry from the public, city and county officials both made efforts to convince company officials to reconsider.

“Since the city first learned that Suddenlink intended to close its local office at the Tygart Valley Mall in Elkins, we have been working diligently to both prevent and then reverse that decision,” Broughton said Thursday. “I immediately sent a letter to Suddenlink requesting that they reconsider and at the same time reached out to the law firm of Kay, Casto & Chaney, who aided in the drafting of the original franchise agreement, for advice on what the city could do.”

He added the store went on with its plans to close, prompting a special meeting of the Elkins City Council.

“As you all know, the storefront closed on Oct. 27, despite our pleas. Suddenlink did respond in writing to my initial letter with the reasons for their decision and have been open to communication throughout,” Broughton said. “However, after receiving numerous citizen complaints including during a public hearing held on Nov. 2, council granted permission to Kay, Chaney & Casto to issue a Notice of Right to Cure to Suddenlink, believing that they had violated the franchise agreement signed in 2015 with the City.”

City officials received a response from Altice USA, Suddenlink’s parent company, earlier this month stating they had no plans to reopen the store. Due to the response, paired with the potential of litigation regarding the issue, city officials decided to no longer pursue the request.

“In early December we recently received a response from Altice, the parent company of Suddenlink, and were sorry to hear that they do not agree with our claims and have no intention of re-establishing an office in Elkins,” Broughton said. “In light of this response and taking into consideration that the only further action available to the city is litigation, we have decided to pursue this request no further. Thank you all for your time and attention to this matter. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at city hall anytime.”

Both the Randolph County Commission and Elkins City Council held special meetings on Oct. 27 to take action regarding the closure.

Randolph County Commission members, who met at 9 a.m. that day, unanimously approved signing a contract to retain the Kay, Casto and Chaney law firm, of Charleston, to determine what, if any, legal action can be taken to prevent the Elkins office from being closed by the company, which provides cable, internet and phone service in Randolph County. The cost was split between the city of Elkins and the County Commission.

Elkins City Council also held a special call meeting on Oct. 27, with all members present approving a motion to take action regarding Suddenlink Communication closing their office in Elkins. Not included in the vote were members who were absent, including Bob Woolwine, first ward; Charles Friddle, second ward; Carman Matheny, third ward; and Linda Vest, fifth ward.

The Randolph County Commission has placed the matter on their agenda for action at their next meeting, slated for 1:30 p.m. Jan. 4 at the James F. Cain Annex next door to the Randolph County Courthouse.

In late October, a spokesperson from Altice USA said the company feels customer traffic did not reach a high enough volume to keep the doors open. She added the Beverly Town Hall also agreed to begin accepting payments for Suddenlink customers.

“The Elkins, WV (sic) store will close as a result of limited customer traffic. The few customers who visited the store did so mainly to pay bills and customers continue to have several options for bill payment, including by visiting the Town Hall in Beverly, WV (sic) and/or nearby Buchannon (sic) retail store, or online at www.suddenlink.net or via the Suddenlink app,” Altice’s Krista Ostertag said. “In addition, our customers will not experience any change to their local tech support and will continue to receive excellent service.”

The Elkins office is not the only Suddenlink operation in the state that was designated for closure this year.

In April, it was reported by The Parkersburg News and Sentinel that Suddenlink, which was bought out by Altice more than a year ago, had closed its local call center, resulting in the loss of more than 160 jobs. The Parkersburg telecommunications center was the only operation to close — the walk-in center and technical support were still available locally.

In 2015, the European telecom company Altice paid $9.1 billion to purchase Suddenlink Communications. Altice also spent $17.7 billion to purchase Cablevision. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Altice planned to slash expenses at the companies and reinvest the savings in networks and services.

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