HUNTINGTON -- The Cabell County Commission took no action Tuesday regarding a union resolution opposing the sale of Verizon's land line service to Frontier Communications Corp.

The Communications Workers of America opposes the $5.3 billion stock deal. The union worries the sale may lead to decreased customer service, eventual job cuts and potential bankruptcy for a company already carrying too much debt.

Representatives for Verizon and Frontier disputed those allegations at Tuesday's meeting.

The union is taking its road show of opposition to each of West Virginia's counties. Wirt County, in west central West Virginia, was the only county to adopt the union's resolution as of Tuesday.

Cabell County Commissioner Bob Bailey voiced support for the union's position, but commissioners did not vote on the resolution due to it not being an action item on the agenda. Bailey asked for the item to be placed on an agenda for early December.

"I think we should stand behind the workers," Bailey said.

Shannon Fink and five colleagues represented Communication Workers Local 2009, based in Huntington. He said 90 members of the local union will be affected by the pending sale, along with other Huntington-area residents working for Verizon in Charleston.

Fink said the union worries about Frontier's viability. He suggested a large debt could force the smaller company to cut jobs and increase rates to turn a profit.

"Do you really want to risk the infrastructure on a company that could fail?" Fink asked.

Frontier consultant Billy Jack Gregg and Verizon representative Sam Cipoletti disputed Fink's claims.

Cipoletti told commissioners the sale, still pending before the state Public Service Commission, already has been adopted by the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission as well as some other states affected by the 14-state deal.

Cipoletti and Gregg said the deal promises faster Internet speeds to rural areas of Cabell county. Gregg estimates more than 100,000 households in the state lack broadband Internet.

"Those folks out in Salt Rock, out the rural reaches beyond Culloden, beyond Barboursville -- they don't have an option today," Gregg said. "That is what Frontier is going to bring them. Their business model is based on taking decision making down to the lowest possible level and driving broadband out to these rural areas. That is going to increase the need for employment, not decrease it."

Gregg explained the sale actually reduces Frontier's debt burden.

In other business, county commissioners received an update on an ongoing waterline extensions and a state auditor's report concerning the county's 2007-08 budget.

Auditors raised concerns spending practices during the Kim Wolfe's administration as Cabell County Sheriff. The state indicated matters had been corrected by first-year Sheriff Tom McComas.

Commissioners also met behind closed doors for 42 minutes to discuss courthouse security. No public decisions were made.

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