TREE MAINTENANCE
Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative, Inc.
North Baltimore, Ohio
I. POLICY STATEMENT The routine removal, mechanical clearing, trimming, and/or spraying of vegetation growth in the electric system rights-of-way shall be completed to ensure reliability of the system and to eliminate potential safety hazards.
II. APPLICATION
A. The management of the company’s tree maintenance program may be carried out by either company management or by a qualified outside management contractor.
B. The routine removal, mechanical clearing, trimming, and/or spraying of trees and brush will be carried out through the employment of an independent contractor who is qualified and specialized in pruning and/or removing trees interfering with cooperative overhead & underground electrical lines & equipment.
C. The Company will implement practices that seek to establish and maintain a rotation on tree trimming for the system.
D. Right-of-way maintenance contracts typically should be rebid on an annual basis. The CEO and President may elect to extend the length of the right of way contract, but the agreement shall never extend longer than five years.
E. Rights-of-way will be maintained by the company through routine scheduling of trimming activities. The areas to be maintained will be determined by the operations department, and shall be included in the operations maintenance budget.
F. Prior to any tree trimming, the contractor is responsible for communications with any member that is scheduled for tree trimming on their property. Company contact information shall be provided to the member for questions or concerns they may have.
G. Two to Four weeks prior to the commencement of tree trimming activities on Kelleys Island, a notice of tree trimming shall be placed in Kelleys Island Life newspaper and at the post office. HWE will also utilize the IVR system to call members prior to trimming trees.
H. HWE right-of-way contractors shall not trim vegetation from secondary wires within the company’s right-of-way unless it is directly contacting secondary conductors. Removal of limbs from secondary conductors outside the company’s right-of-way shall only be performed as part of the company’s scheduled tree trimming rotation when a potential hazard that creates an unsafe condition exists, or as a result of an emergency condition due to outage restoration work. All other tree trimming work on secondary service conductors shall be performed by the member and coordinated with the company’s Operations Department.
I. Member and other requests for tree and brush trimming and removal for areas not included in the annual budget will be evaluated on an individual basis. J. The Company practices will seek to maintain rights-of-way in accordance with RUS, NESC, and CRN specifications and requirements and the company will attempt to maintain a 30 feet right-of-way under the Company’s distribution lines. The Operations Department or outside management maintenance contractor shall be responsible for determining whether trees shall be removed or trimmed within the distribution right-of-way.
Passed, approved and amended June 18, 2001
Amended September 20, 2007
Amended March 30, 2010
Amended May 25, 2010
Amended January 22, 2013
Amended December 22, 2014
Amended May 23, 2017