"There's no skin in the game from these folks," he said. "They're walking in with no dime down and taking over a $40 million asset."

Borget said Broadweave offered the city a letter from Sorenson Capital, a Salt Lake-based private equity firm, that guarantees the city $6 million. Should Broadweave miss a monthly payment, that amount could be withdrawn, Borget said.

Sorenson Capital previously announced it would invest in Broadband to make the purchase possible.

Stan Lockhart, director of government affairs for IM Flash and a state GOP leader, said he's impressed with Broadweave, but he wanted to know what would happen "if things went south" and Broadweave had to abandon its plans.

City Attorney Ryan Wood said the city would get the asset back as well as the $6 million guaranteed by Sorenson Capital.

Clark responded, saying the company should back the guarantee letter for at least $40 million. "Six million is peanuts," he said.

Clark turned to Steve Christensen, CEO of Broadweave, and said: "I don't think that any of us really believe you'll fail ... the question is why aren't you willing to put any money into this deal? I mean, cash to the city."

Christensen said there's a fallacy in that statement. He said the company and the city came up with a model to release the city from financial liability while freeing Broadweave to invest its money in what matters.

"And what counts is getting customers," he said.

City Councilman George Stewart said he's less interested in how much cash is going to the city as he is concerned with how successful the company becomes.

"I would rather have them put money into the system and be successful," he said.

Clark repeatedly asked what Broadweave is worth. Christensen declined to answer but said Sorenson Capital recently announced it would pump $400 million into various enterprises, including Broadweave.

Committee members also asked what will be the fate of Veracity and MStar. The firms reportedly owe the city $950,000.

Christensen said that announcement is forthcoming.

Clark said he thinks the city painted itself in a corner because it didn't send out a request for proposal specifically asking for companies to bid on iProvo.

"Why have we not allowed others to bid on this?" he asked.

At the City Council study session, council members leveled similar questions at Broadweave and city staffers.

City Attorney Robert West explained that the city doesn't need to go through an RFP process to alert people they are selling significant property, but they do need to go through a process.

"And that process involves a public hearing," he said.