HomeMy WebLinkAboutWS Item 02 - Oncor Tree TrimmingUj [( Inv 8 Z -,-
MEMO TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: ROGER NELSON, CITY MANAGER
MEETING DATE: SEPTEMBER 16, 2003
SUBJECT: WORKSHOP - ONCOR TREE TRIMMING
After receiving numerous complaints from residents regarding Oncor's policy of trimming
trees during storm mode and leaving the limbs for resident disposal, Melisa Leal sent the
attached letter to John Self, Vice President of Area Relations. Ms. Leal's letter requests
that the company reconsider the policy.
The response from Oncor (see attached letter) states that while they are unwilling to
change the policy, the Company will discuss limb clean-up on a case by case basis.
Oncor representatives will be present to discuss the Company policy and to address any
questions or concerns that you may have.
JCH
September. 11, 2003 (8:34AM)
0
June 23, 2003
John Self, Vice President
Oncor Distribution Division—Area Relations
PO Box 660476
Dallas TX 75266-0476
Dear Mr. Self:
This letter is written to express concern and anger over Oncor's service.to the City of
Grapevine residents. More specifically, I am completely disappointed in the company's
position with regard to contractors for tree trimming in utility easement.
Mr. Wayne Grant visited the City Manager's Office to complain about Oncor's tree
.trimming contractors on June 14, 2003. He explained that an Oncor technician visited
his home, inspected his trees and called for a contractor to cut limbs hanging on lines.
The contractor cut the limbs affecting the line and proceeded to the next job. The
contractor left all the limbs in Mr. Grant's backyard making no attempt to cut them up
or remove them from his yard. Mr. Grant called the Oncor customer service line and
was told his complaint would be noted, but that the company was not responsible for
cleaning up the mess. He also called the contract company, Asplunda, to request
assistance, but was told that it was Oncor's and not their responsibility for hauling the
limbs.
I have since had a discussion with Steve Johnson, Area Manager, expressing my
concern over the lack of service to Mr. Grant. Mr. Johnson explained that, according to
company policy, the resident is responsible for the cost of having the limbs removed
from his yard and attempted to argue that the company was `providing a service in
bearing the .cost of the trimming' alone. Mr. Johnson actually characterized the
company's role and position on the issue as a benefit to the resident. I find it shocking
that making a customer clean up the mess, cut-up the limbs, and move the limbs to a
place for bulk waste pick up or hire someone to handle the above mentioned work
could ever be characterized as a benefit. That is frankly burdensome and represents
poor, unfinished work. More importantly, it appears Oncor is condoning the evasion of
city's rules with regard to trash hauling by piggybacking off the city's trash franchise
(via the resident's work) rather than requiring the contractor to haul the .limbs to a
landfill.
Since Mr. Grant's visit, I have since learned that several other citizens contacted our
Parks department requesting assistance from the city because they were told from
Oncor's CS representatives that the city would haul the limbs cut by Oncor's
contractors. That information added insult to injury with regard to the company's
policy. It is not the City's responsibility to clean tip after Oncor; a CS representative
should not be communicating such misinformation to your customers.
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City Manager's Office • P.O. Box 95104 • Grapevine, Texas 76099 • 817410-310.1 • Fax 817414-3002 • htipJ/www.ci.grapevimtx.us
I respectfully request consideration for changing the company's policy and improving
the service delivered to customers in Grapevine and throughout the service area. While
Mr. Johnson did communicate directly with the customer after our phone conversation,
the fact remains that he could offer no relief for Mr. Grant based on existing policy.
I appreciate your time and attention to this matter. Please feel free to contact my office
if you have any questions regarding this issue.
Regards,
r
wdeR
Melisa Leal
Assistant to the City Manager
C: Roger Nelson, City Manager
Stan Lowry, City Attorney
Steve Johnson, Area Manager
P
Ai.'"1 r 2003
August 15, 2003
City of Grapevine
Roger Nelson
City Manager
P.O. Box 95104
Grapevine, Texas 76099
Steve Johnson
Area Manager
Metro Area Relations
Oncor Electric Delivery
Company
200 N. Ector Drive
Euless, TX 76039
Tel 817 355 7001
Fax 817 355 7090
Dear Mr. Nelson,
We at Oncor appreciate the opportunities we've had to discuss various operational matters with
you over the past few weeks. It is our intent to be both an involved corporate citizen working in
cooperation with the City of Grapevine on matters pertaining to the growth and development of
the city as well as an efficient provider of service to our mutual customers.
I would like to address issues regarding tree trimming. It is Oncor's practice to conduct tree
trimming activities on an ongoing basis as a means to prevent outages caused by trees growing
into areas in close proximity to electric conductors. Further, it is Oncor's practice to pick up all
limbs and brush removed during these maintenance"tree trimming activities.
Even with an ongoing tree trimming program trees do occasionally cause outages, particularly
during storms. In these instances. Oncor is most directly focused upon restoring service in a safe
and timely manner. Some tree trimming does occur during these restoration efforts but only to
the extent required to restore service. Sometimes. these storms cause considerable loss of tree
limbs and other debris wholly unrelated to Oncor and electric service restoration. Consequently,
Oncor does not feel a responsibility to pick up all storm -related limbs and brush.
We would recommend that Oncor and the City work through this issue on a case by case basis.
Most of our storm related trees trimming consist of 4 to 8 limbs that would generally not exceed
2 inches in caliper. However there are times when we must do a little more trimming that will
cause undue hardship on some citizens. Clearly, it is not Oncor's intent to avoid its
responsibility in this matter and we do intend to respond to the needs of the City and our
customers to ensure the City does not incur any undue costs and degraded levels of service.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to comment on these issues.
Sincery
Steve