Dearborn Heights gives ultimatum on utility poles
Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi has a message for utilities: Get your poles out of the city by year-end or municipal workers will.
“These poles are an inconvenience, they are an eyesore, and they present a safety risk for our residents,” Bazzi said in a news release. “So I’m making it clear to the utility and communications companies. They need to either install or remove these poles by December 31. After January 1, any poles still laying in our residents’ yards will be slated for cut up and disposal by our public works crews.
“I will not allow our residents to be forced into using their yards as storage areas for unused poles.”
Bazzi said he has received a number of complaints from residents about unused, abandoned utility and communication poles being left on residents’ lawns by DTE Energy and others. Some of these poles are new, and not installed yet. Others are just old that have been replaced but not removed yet.
Residents who want to report utility poles can call Bazzi’s office at 313-791-3490. Residents will be required to provide their name, address, the location of the pole on their property, how long it has been there and any visible identifying marks or tags that may be on the pole.
“This is clearly not the way we would like to handle this issue, in light of the traditionally good relationship we have with the utility and communications companies,” Bazzi said. “However, this issue has gone on far too long with no response or results.”
A DTE official said the utility is making every effort to remove the poles as quickly as possible
“In our continuing work to improve reliability for customers, DTE Energy has been upgrading its equipment in Dearborn Heights, including the replacement of more than 200 poles,” said DTE Vice President of Distribution Operations Ryan Stowe in a written statement.
“In an effort to do this as efficiently as possible, these poles are staged in the neighborhoods in which they will be placed. We plan to have this reliability work complete by the end of the month and, as a result, customers will no longer have these poles staged in the utility right of way.
“Poles that have been replaced will be removed by our field crews.”
He encouraged customers to call DTE at 800-477-4747 to report poles after Jan. 1.
“We apologize for any inconvenience the upgrade work has caused,” he said. “Our customers in the areas of Dearborn Heights in which we have completed work can look forward to improved reliability in the new year.”