BERLIN– An inclined tree that appears to threaten town power lines became a hot topic of conversation during a recent council meeting.
The now infamous tree, housed on the property of 101 S. Main Street, was first mentioned by councilmember Paula Lynch during a discussion about adding in-line disconnects to town power lines.
“I brought it up to (town attorney) Dave Gaskill as to whether or not there’s any legal way to pursue doing something – to trim it or what have you because we’re waiting for it – it’s going to fall on our power lines eventually,” she said. “If you look at it, every time we have a storm it seems to be leaning farther and farther. I was just trying to be proactive and get a legal opinion as to was there anything that the town could do to forestall or prevent something that was going to cause us a lot of time and a great deal of inconvenience.”
Lynch wasn’t aware if the town had explored the issue before.
“I’ve made comments to my husband and to my family that I think we have an accident waiting to happen, but what has been done at the town level I do not know. I only brought it up to get an opinion from our attorney and it kind of took on a life of its own thereafter.”
The councilmember believed the town would be willing to foot the bill.
“I certainly think it would be money well invested as far as the town is concerned,” she said. “The town has ability to do quite a bit on their own.”
Several other council members chimed in.
“We need to be proactive in tree and limb maintenance so that when we have storms and bad weather conditions we don’t have to deal with them then and create a problem with the electric going out,” said Lisa Hall.
Town Administrator Laura Allen said Berlin officials approached the property owner, Rene Schoellkopf, about the issue several years ago. Schoellkopf refused to the cut down or trim the tree, and the town sent a note stating she could be responsible for damages if the tree fell. Town officials attempted to restart talks with the homeowner several weeks ago but have yet to receive a response.
Schoellkopf was unavailable for comment.
Mayor Gee Williams underscored the importance of preventing an incident and agreed with Lynch that the town would be willing to pay for any preventative maintenance.
“It’s not their fault – that tree was there probably before they were there, but it’s obviously threatening the power lines,” he said. “It’s just something we’re concerned about. I’m not sure how many people or how many businesses are on that particular grid, but I’m sure it’s too many and with the way technology is today we don’t want to have to react to a problem that we can prevent.”
The now infamous tree, housed on the property of 101 S. Main Street, was first mentioned by councilmember Paula Lynch during a discussion about adding in-line disconnects to town power lines.
“I brought it up to (town attorney) Dave Gaskill as to whether or not there’s any legal way to pursue doing something – to trim it or what have you because we’re waiting for it – it’s going to fall on our power lines eventually,” she said. “If you look at it, every time we have a storm it seems to be leaning farther and farther. I was just trying to be proactive and get a legal opinion as to was there anything that the town could do to forestall or prevent something that was going to cause us a lot of time and a great deal of inconvenience.”
Lynch wasn’t aware if the town had explored the issue before.
“I’ve made comments to my husband and to my family that I think we have an accident waiting to happen, but what has been done at the town level I do not know. I only brought it up to get an opinion from our attorney and it kind of took on a life of its own thereafter.”
The councilmember believed the town would be willing to foot the bill.
“I certainly think it would be money well invested as far as the town is concerned,” she said. “The town has ability to do quite a bit on their own.”
Several other council members chimed in.
“We need to be proactive in tree and limb maintenance so that when we have storms and bad weather conditions we don’t have to deal with them then and create a problem with the electric going out,” said Lisa Hall.
Town Administrator Laura Allen said Berlin officials approached the property owner, Rene Schoellkopf, about the issue several years ago. Schoellkopf refused to the cut down or trim the tree, and the town sent a note stating she could be responsible for damages if the tree fell. Town officials attempted to restart talks with the homeowner several weeks ago but have yet to receive a response.
Schoellkopf was unavailable for comment.
Mayor Gee Williams underscored the importance of preventing an incident and agreed with Lynch that the town would be willing to pay for any preventative maintenance.
“It’s not their fault – that tree was there probably before they were there, but it’s obviously threatening the power lines,” he said. “It’s just something we’re concerned about. I’m not sure how many people or how many businesses are on that particular grid, but I’m sure it’s too many and with the way technology is today we don’t want to have to react to a problem that we can prevent.”