From: Marcia Shultz
Columbus
In July 2018, flags appeared in yards in our neighborhood. Websites for utilities or the city didn’t reveal any scheduled improvements. There was difficulty in location of the gas line on our property requiring several trips to our location. My husband and the last individual found the line using some new technology and a tool called a witching stick.
At the end of August, a company came out and began making several holes to verify the gas lines and then began placing a new electric cable line. During this placement our water line was cut. We had no water, so I asked the workers if they shut off the water. They did shut off the water at the meter and repaired the line after digging in our yard. The water line was not marked, as the water company will only indicate where the meter is located. I also reported that due to the contractors placing the line and filling their tanks from fire hydrants, our neighborhood had brown water for the entire week. I was advised that the water utility had no knowledge of any work in the area.
The next issue occurred when a resident in our neighborhood determined that the easement for the utilities to place lines is 5 feet. The new line and transformers exceeded this. The entire process started over. We were gone so someone dug up next to our house in our decorative rock attempting to find the gas line. They placed this all back, mixing the dirt with the rock, and the protective barrier was gone. All the holes that were created to put the lines in and the new transformers were filled with sand. Another company was sent out to plant grass seed. This was completed about a week ago. Now our neighborhood will have dirt and straw to contend with during the winter. The only communication from the electric company was a text letting us know the electricity would be off six hours when they changed the line to new transformers.
The subcontractors working on placing the line indicated replacement of the transformers to above ground was needed because the ones that were underground needed to be replaced too frequently. In 23 years, never has one of the underground transformers been replaced. It would appear that these upgrades could be completed more efficiently with communication with all utilities. In this day of social would it not be easy to update a web page?
The other area that concerns me is the expectation of homeowners to mark water and sewer lines. It would seem to be a good customer service for the water company to mark the lines that are in the customer’s yard. I may be able to locate with a witching stick, however, the customer has nothing to indicate the line’s depth.
This entire experience did not in anyway make me feel like a customer, and that our personal property was respected. The entire project was poorly organized and communicated.
