The Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority voted unanimously Friday to rehire a controversial contracting firm that laid its original 47 miles of broadband fiber for an upcoming network expansion project .
The firm, which recently changed its name from Edwards Telecommunications to Utility Service Contractors, came under scrutiny when its former CEO James Todd Edwards pleaded guilty to fraud in 2015. The case was related to a wide-ranging federal investigation of illegal practices involving Bristol Virginia Utilities.
Utility Service Contractors, based in South Carolina, is now led by Bryan Edwards, James Edwards’ brother.
Roanoke County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jason Peters was among those urging the broadband authority to choose a different contractor when it began accepting bids for the $3.4 million expansion project, which will add 28.7 miles of fiber to the government-owned network designed to deliver high-speed internet across the region.
