City Trees

November/ December 2011

City Trees is a premier publication focused on urban + community forestry. In each issue, you’ll learn how to best manage the trees in your community and more!

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Partners Updates Utility Arborist Association Municipal Utility Cooperation: City of Columbus Department of Public Utilities by Kristin Wild, Asplundh Tree Expert Co. of one of the nation's largest investor-owned utilities, American Electric Power (AEP). However, some citizens of Columbus actually have the option of choosing to have their power delivered by AEP or the City of Columbus Department of Public Utilities (CDPU), a municipal util- ity that has been in operation for 102 years. Let's take a quick look at this municipal utility, how it got started, and how it works today. C Since 1844, Columbus has had street lighting avail- able; back then, it was gas powered. In 1899, the City launched its own public electric street lighting system. The City's leaders and voters decided that it would be less expensive to operate an electric utility whose prof- its would support public street lights than it would be to pay a private utility. That is still true today and now over 13,000 Columbus homes and businesses are served by the CDPU. Of course, all of those electric lines and approximately 48,000 overhead-fed street lights need to be kept free of trees and vines. While the City of Columbus has several crews devoted to tree maintenance in its parks, for many years the City's Division of Power and Water has been contracting for utility vegetation management. For at least 23 years, Asplundh Tree Expert Co. has olumbus is the capital of Ohio and home to The Ohio State University. It's also the headquarters city contracted with CDPU for two 2-person bucket crews to serve the City's line clearance and emergency needs. "One of the best things about contracting for our power line maintenance is that we don't have the expense of insurance, liability, specialized training, and equipment upkeep," says Overhead Power Line Supervisor Joe Rice. In addition to overseeing line clearance, he over- sees a group of 17 linemen and helpers who maintain, upgrade, and repair the City's overhead lines and street lights. Rice has 27 years of experience in the City's Division of Power and Water. The City's Division of Power and Water works closely with the contracted Asplundh tree crews to respond to emergencies. It's not unusual for a car to crash into a utility pole, which then topples into trees. Or a pop-up thunderstorm may knock a big limb into a primary, requir- ing a tree crew to remove it. Rice and his employees are trained to keep a close eye on trees growing near their assets. They keep a running list of locations, spans, or street lights where pruning or removal is needed and what priority level it requires. With a City-enforced "temporary no parking zone" established, Asplundh Foreperson Ron Lambert and Groundperson Jeremiah Morgan quickly set up to prune trees that had earlier caused an outage. 14 CDPU Overhead Power Line Supervisor Joe Rice (R) discusses the day's line clearance assignments with Asplundh Foreperson Ron Lambert (L). City Trees

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