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Moffat County commissioners will host a special meeting this morning to discuss the NC Telecom bankruptcy.

The Meeker-based telecom company, which is the county's Internet provider, filed for bankruptcy in October.

At Tuesday's regular commissioners meeting, the commissioners, County Attorney Kathleen Taylor, budget analyst Tinneal Gerber and information technology specialist Mason Siedschlaw went into a 40-minute executive session to discuss the county's relationship with NC Telecom.

After the closed-door session, Taylor said the county was in negotiations with the company so that if it comes out of bankruptcy, the county and NC Telecom will continue doing business.

Moffat County Commissioner Saed Tayyara said Wednesday that the county scheduled Thursday's meeting because something came up in the negotiations.

Tayyara declined to comment on what the status of the negotiations are until after Thursday's meeting, where commissioners are scheduled to enter another executive session.

"There are, like we said, negotiations going on," Tayyara said.

Rick Heming, NC Telecom general manager, said Tuesday that the company is in similar negotiations with Rio Blanco County, which also has prepaid for Internet services with the company.

In 1999, Moffat County paid the Meeker company $733,000 in advance for Internet service through 2011. The money from Moffat County helped the company open its doors.

Commissioners at the time entered into an agreement with NC Telecom despite warnings from some residents and community leaders that doing business with a start-up was a risky move.

The county has $507,000 remaining in prepaid services with the company.

All along, NC Telecom has said bankruptcy reorganization would not disrupt services it provides to the county, and service has not been interrupted.

Commissioners also will discuss purchasing equipment for the pest management department at Thursday's meeting.