BURLINGTON — Burlington City Councilors will open the bidding up to all four final bidders for the rights to purchase Burlington Telecom after a hotly awaited proposal failed to materialize Friday.
A joint deal to buy Burlington Telecom between Canadian telecom company Ting and the local co-op Keep Burlington Telecom Local could not be reached. The two bidders had been scrambling this past week to come up with a proposal after the Burlington City Council failed to decide between the two during Monday’s City Council meeting.
KBTL had offered $12 million for Burlington Telecom, and Ting had offered $30.5 million.
Two former bidders — the Indiana-based Schurz Communications, which last offered $30.8 million and New Jersey-based ZRF Holdings, which offered an undisclosed amount due to a non-disclosure agreement — will rejoin the discussions during Monday’s city council meeting.
As Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline approached, KBTL board member David Lansky alerted councilors that a deal between Ting and KBTL was not going to happen.
“Throughout these meetings we experienced the Ting representatives as generous with their time, thoughtful, sincere, respectful, and open to discussion and consideration of a broad collection of options. We were unable to reach agreement on a way to work together that is acceptable to both parties,” Lansky wrote.
For their part, KBTL negotiators remained tight-lipped about how negotiations with Ting went.
“We’re still in conversations with them,” said Andy Montroll, treasurer for KBTL around noon on Friday.
During Monday’s City Council meeting, several councilors expressed doubts that Ting and KBTL could come up with a workable proposal.
Dave Hartnett, I-North District said during Monday’s council meeting that KBTL “sold out” to Ting in order to stay involved in the process.
There is a sense that the process of selecting the right Burlington Telecom buyer has been tainted, Hartnett said.
ZRF partners withdrew from consideration after Mayor Miro Weinberger communicated concerns he and city professionals had with its proposal, Weinberger said Thursday. Many of those details remain under wraps, due to the non-disclosure agreement.
The sudden withdrawal irked some councilors, Hartnett included, who blamed Weinberger for going around the council.
“What I did was make him aware that our professionals had concerns about their proposals that would become a matter of public debate should he become a finalist,” Weinberger said. “After I raised the concerns with the bidder, he decided to withdraw.”
Weinberger said he never explicitly asked Nisar to withdraw, though he expressed remorse for how the situation played out.
“If I had a chance to do over with this period, some councilors felt I got out ahead of them.” Weinberger said.
Knodell has gotten assurances from Schurz and ZRF that they will come back.
“They have let us know that they would come back in if the council asks them,” Knodell said.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 6:20 p.m. Friday.
