I'm sure by now you've heard the news:
Xcel Energy has informed us that this will be the last year for the
Christmas wreath lights and the flags to be hung on the poles on
Second and Dallas Streets. Citing safety issues and referencing the
National Electric Safety Code, the “Bible” of the electrical
utility industry that every state except California refers to,
everything must come down – holiday lights, banners, hanging flower
pots and even Old Glory on Second Street. (Carl Cooley did a very
informative article about this matter that was published in the
Wednesday, November 1 issue of the Chetek Alert see Xcel Energy to Prohibit Flags.)
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| She is a grand old flag |
Understandably, there's been a reasonably loud hue and
cry about this. After all, the lights are pretty much brand new
having been bought and donated to the city by the Friends of Holiday
Lights for Chetek citizen committee in 2015. And the flags? Well,
they've been hanging on those poles on Second and Dallas Streets
pretty much as long as anyone can remember. What will Liberty Fest
look like if the parade route is decidedly absent of the Stars and
Stripes?
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| "Strings of street lights..." |
First of all, we have to remember this: we don't own the
poles. Xcel Energy does. I don't know how many street lights and
utility poles there are within the city limits but Xcel owns every
last one of 'em. Except, of course, the four light poles out on the
long bridge. We learned this the hard way when a summer ago one of
them just keeled over, the bottom totally rusted out. Fortunately no
one was hurt but when Public Works Director Dan Knapp called Xcel to
let them know that one of their poles went down he was informed that
in actuality while the State owned the bridge and the county
maintained it, the poles belonged to us. At $10,000 a piece those are
some light poles. But beyond that, the rest of the poles in town are
theirs and so therefore we have to abide by their rules.
Does this affect, say, other municipalities like Barron
and Rice Lake? Actually it doesn't because both these neighboring
cities have their own utility company. Not us.
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| Here's a wreath that will have to be moved |
But
here's the good news. Right before Christmas, Dan and I met with Xcel
Energy representative Larry Loverude to discuss this matter and were
pleased to learn that (just like Carl reported in his November 1st
article) that we
can keep our holiday lights after all.
Xcel, in fact, allows decorations on street lights “but
only if they don't have power distribution lines on them” (quoting Carl's article).
In our case of the 25 lighted wreaths only four of them are currently
posted on poles that are “hot”. Dan and the guys will have to
relocate those four wreaths but next year things should pretty much
look the same as they always do at Christmastime. That's a relief.
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| Some new arrangement will have to be worked out |
And
what about the flags? Well, that's another matter. Technically, the
Chamber of Commerce is the one that finances and puts up the flags so
they'll have to work things out with Xcel. Larry brought in a catalog
of sorts featuring ground-mounted flags but that, of course, won't
work downtown. There was some thought about various businesses
purchasing mounts for the side of their building as well but again
those are Chamber-issues that for the time being we'll leave to them.
It's
just my opinion but looking forward, we ought to decorate those four
poles we own out on the bridge and, say, deck out Main Street Park to
the nines as well. Several people called Carmen when the news broke
that Xcel was pulling the plug on our holiday lights and if you were
one of those folks you may be hearing from me soon to get your input
on keeping our city looking festive and bright.
