Chickamauga Council approves pole inspections, tree trimming

This oak tree is a popular spot for people to gather at when visiting the new Magnolia Pines Southern Estate in Chickamauga.
This oak tree is a popular spot for people to gather at when visiting the new Magnolia Pines Southern Estate in Chickamauga.

The Chickamauga City Council approved several measures at its June meeting to help ensure the safety of citizens in regards to utility lines.

The city approved an estimated $35,000 contract with Osmose to inspect city poles.

City Manager Micheal Haney explained that in the event of inclement weather, it is important to have poles in safe condition.

"We do it every 10 years," he said. "It's called a sound and bore inspection. It will start sometime this year."

Haney also said the city is gearing up to trim trees near power lines.

"Bad weather causes outages," said Haney. "Trimming trees helps. It's just maintenance of the system. It's approximately $30,000 [to trim trees]. It could be substantially less depending on the amount of tree trimming we have to do. We try to break it out into sections. We will get quotes from several different tree trimming companies. The tree trimming will happen sometime this year."

In other business:

- The City Council is discussing joining the North Electric Reliability Council, which helps avoid blackouts. Haney said currently, the city deals directly with TVA in a blackout instead of NERC.

- Haney said the recent half Ironman was a success for the city. "We had a large crowd as usual for [the half] Ironman with no issues or problems," he said. "The next one [full Ironman] will be in September. It attracts a lot of people to our town. We get a good response. It helps stimulate our economy."

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