Last week, I mentioned that Arlington had tentatively selected Earthlink as its contractor to build out a county-wide WiFi network. I also noted that Arlington would be holding a public hearing on the proposed agreement today (7:30p, Room 311, 2100 Clarendon Blvd.). Having both professional familiarity with municipal network projects, and a personal interest as an Arlington resident, I asked the County, in writing, for a copy of the proposed agreement. And waited. And then waited some more.

Yesterday, I received a note from a consultant (that I presume has been hired by the county to run the RFP) that a copy of the agreement would be available on the county website this morning. And, well, here it is. I don’t know what time it was posted, but I can’t help but being a little annoyed that the document was only released the day of the public hearing ON the document. I wrote and asked the consultant whether, in light of that, they planned to hold any additional public hearings on the matter between now and when the county board will (presumably) adopt the agreement without much discussion at the next board meeting. Nope, says the consultant.

Not exactly the Arlington Way, is it?

(Please note that this post has nothing to do with the merits of the proposed agreement. I’ll share my thoughts on that once I read it . . .)

Update:  Analysis here.