After weeks of work – which included emails, phone calls and numerous meetings – a sinking pole was fixed.
It took communication with the president’s office of AT&T to get the job done.
The Clarkston News spent a lot of time over the past few weeks, contacting and meeting AT&T and Comcast representatives.
Independence Township Supervisor Pat Kittle also sent a letter to the AT&T president’s office.
The pole is near the Independence Township pump station behind Hope Elesi’s Main Street home.
The pole, which is across the river behind the home, was in serious disrepair and looked to be close to falling into the river. Utility lines on the pole crossed over the river and were strewn atop tree branches on both sides of the water.
While on site, Elesi opened her window hoping a utility company worker had finally came out to fix the mess. She said the pole had been damaged for over a year, but it came down even further in September 2014 after a big storm.
Elesi placed numerous calls to DTE to report wires and the pole were damaged and swaying the wind.
‘When they came out all they did was cut the top of the pole off. They did some work up front and left. They told me they would notify companies that have utilities on the line, but no one came,? she said.
Elesi added when the pole fell down even more, she and her neighbors stood around in amazement to see the wires hanging so low.
Eleisa was thankful The Clarkston News made the discovery and offered assistance getting the job fixed.
No power lines were on the pole. CNews called the Comcast Regional Director who promptly sent out a representative and later let us know the pole is owned by AT&T.
Last week, Elesi called CNews to let us know the pole was being fixed.
“I know they are only fixing it because of you,” she said.
Jason Geiger, supervisor of the crew from DVM Utilities sent to fix the pole, said as soon as they saw it, they knew it would be a tough job.
‘The lines on the pole feeds service to 200 customers,? he said. ‘It definitely needed to be fixed. It’s not broken, but it was sinking.?
The area the pole was installed in was a wetland, and Geiger said the pole sank down about 15 feet since it was installed. It took the crew about four days to fix the pole.
It was a difficult job, the crew said. They had to straighten the pole, brace it and install an anchor on the pole 12-feet deep in the ground.
All of the work had to be done by hand because no equipment could be taken back to the job.
‘It was definitely a unique job,? he said. ‘Besides getting a helicopter to fix it, there was only so much we could and we had to do it by hand.?