Lee County says utility crews made 22 repair calls in a neighborhood hit during fiber work

Lee County utility crews have made 22 water and sewer repair visits this year in a neighborhood where residents reported repeated service damage during fiber installation, according to reporting by Brinkley Hill for WINK News.

The county told WINK that the fiber work has created ongoing challenges and that it bills the contractor when appropriate. The report does not identify which company was billed for any specific repair or provide a total cost.

Residents described interruptions to water, sewer and internet service. Joe McMasters told WINK that a Quantum Fiber line was cut on a Monday, a temporary line installed that day was cut the next day, and a water pipe across the street was also broken. An Aldridge Avenue neighbor reported damage to water and sewer lines during work by a company drilling for Tillman Fiber.

What the 22 repair visits establish

The county's figure is a count of water and sewer repair visits in the community during 2026. It is not a public finding that one contractor caused 22 breaks.

Tillman Fiber told WINK that it was reviewing the incidents, including whether they were associated with work performed on its behalf. The company said it was committed to operating responsibly and minimizing disruption. WINK also reported that T-Mobile was reviewing residents' concerns and that other third-party contractors had not responded.

That distinction matters. The residents' accounts describe damage they saw during the installation project. The county confirms repeated repair work and says it bills contractors as appropriate. Neither the county statement published by WINK nor the county's public boil water records assign every repair to Tillman Fiber.

The county record confirms one affected area

The Lee County Utilities notice layer independently records a two-inch main break at 8943 Ellington Street at noon on August 27.

That notice covered 824 through 867 Ellington Street, 2230 through 2260 Jasper Avenue, 8924 through 8960 Crest Lane and 2260 Woodland Boulevard. The county marked it rescinded at 9:41 a.m. on August 29, about 46 hours after the recorded break.

The layer does not name a cause or contractor. It also does not serve as a complete repair ledger, so its ten current records cannot be used to prove or disprove the county's broader 22-visit figure.

No matching open notice remained for Ellington Street, Jasper Avenue, Crest Lane, Aldridge Avenue or Sunrise Avenue when the layer was checked early September 6. That is a status check on those streets, not a finding that every repair or service problem in the neighborhood has been resolved.

Money & World reported August 25 on an earlier county notice tied to a separate Crest Lane main break. That record and the later Ellington Street notice show at least two county boil water records affecting Crest Lane within the same week.