September 20, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            Commissioner Margaret Stinnett requested the agenda item earlier this month during the work session. In the intervening two weeks, she met with John Thrift, the assistant public works director in charge of electric, streets and sanitation, who described procedures and policies and took her on a tour of town to look at tree-trimming. “I had a great time with John,” she said Tuesday.

            In addition, the board meeting began with a 45-minute presentation by Michael Byrd, a certified arborist and the supervisor for safety and training with ElectriCities. He congratulated the town for its long-time designation as a Tree City USA and for providing the tools and equipment for its electric linemen.

            Byrd’s PowerPoint presentation illustrated proper tree-trimming techniques, and his theme was always safety for the linemen and continuity of service for customers.

            He particularly focused on the need to provide clear air space around the pad-mounted transformers – 3 feet on three sides and 10 feet in front. There is a lot of heat in the transformers, which must have air to breathe, and linemen need room to work safely at the distances required by the different voltages.

            Stinnett asked him if there are standards for the clearances, and Byrd said not really. “There’s nothing really in stone.” He said the town can set its own standards, using the guidelines from various sources.

            Stinnett said that the current tree-trimming policy Thrift’s department is using plus the latest version of the American Public Power Association safety manual together make up a complete policy.

            She said the electric department “is trying their best to work with some of those trees that have been severely chopped” in the past by different crews.

            The goal must be safety, she said, adding she did not want any of her comments or actions as a commissioner to make any unsafe conditions. “I don’t want these guys to be in any harm’s way whatsoever.”

            At the same time, “We are a tree city, and we’ve got beautiful canopies that we need to protect.”

            Stinnett asked the board to direct planner Lisa Potts and Public Works Director Mike Barton to review the ordinances about tree-trimming and planting with special emphasis on the landscaping around the pad-mounted transformers. She saw a lot of landscaping around them in commercial and apartment areas while touring with Thrift.

            Potts said the planning department does ask developers to screen the transformers but leave the front free and open. “Some commercial properties go back and do additional landscaping we’re not aware of.”

            “John and Mike are trying to keep our lights on,” Stinnett said. There are trees and practices that have gone on in town for years that they are trying to correct.

            “What exactly are we trying to correct here?” Commissioner David Camacho asked, saying he understood about tree-trimming. “Are we talking about people not getting notices, about someone violating people’s property rights, going out and running roughshod?”

            “There are several issues,” Town Manager Mark Williams. He said there has been a lack of coordination between the utility department and the planning department about landscaping. “We need to make sure we are not planting pine trees under power lines, that we are not creating problems for ourselves.” Williams said they had started a process to make sure that everything is on construction plans that needs to be.

            Also, he said, the electric department has just added a maintenance crew that is surveying the town, looking for existing and possible maintenance problems. They cut down the tree in Staffordshire next to a pad-mounted transformer. The homeowner then put in a bench, and the crew told her she must remove it.

            “We need to educate the public about why we’re doing it,” Williams said. Thrift and Bill Crabtree, the communications specialist, will be designing information on the web site, for flyers in utility mailings and for stickers on the transformers.

            “We’re trying to make sure we have safe and reliable electric service,” Williams said. “We don’t want our guys hurt, and we want to be able to get the power back on as quickly as possible.”

            Camacho asked Stinnett is she was still concerned about over-trimming, not properly trimming, and “going above and beyond and ruining people’s tree canopy in their yards?”

            “Originally yes, but I’ve been reading,” Stinnett said, waving a stack of paper. The trimming has to be done, she said, but the crews might slack off a bit until people in town have time to better understand why the trimming and cutting are done.

            In his neighborhood, Camacho said, all the residents got a notice that the maintenance crew would clear around the transformer. “There was a little buzz. They cut away a lot of nice expensive landscaping. I think everybody understood.”

            “The easiest time we ever had for trimming trees was right after Fran,” Williams said.

            We have no way of knowing what kind of storm lies in the future,” Commissioner Velma Boyd-Lawson said. “What we need to do is get the information out.”