County may join CenturyLink settlement

LEE COUNTY - A proposed $280,000 settlement with CenturyLink will be in front of the Lee County Supervisors on Monday.

The agreement is being proposed as a settlement to litigation that CenturyLink initiated in 2020 after the communications company satisfied a judgment against it related to a construction project to expand and repave a road to and around the Iowa Fertilizer Plant in Lee County.

The judgment was ruled in favor of Allied Mannatts Group, L.L.C and DeLong Construction. After the judgment was entered, CenturyLink filed suit against Lee County, Poepping, Stone Bach and Associates, and Terry Knoke, an Illinois resident involved in the project. Current Lee County Engineer Ben Hull and former engineer Ernie Steffensmeier were also named in the suit and settlement.

CenturyLink claimed that the three groups collectively were negligent and made misrepresentations during the project and caused the harm that CenturyLink was ordered to satisfy.

The settlement would be paid as a sum from the three groups and their respective insurance companies within 14 days of approving the settlement. The individual responsibilities of the $280,000 payment weren't spelled out in the contract.