GIRARD Solutions in place to fix outages

One substation serves most of the city, so any problems there affect many people.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN, JR.
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- City officials have grown weary with power outages that affect large numbers of people here, but representatives at Ohio Edison say they have the solution.
Earlier this week, members of council expressed concern over the number of power outages in the city. Officials from Ohio Edison met with Mayor James Melfi on Tuesday to find a solution to that problem.
"[Ohio Edison] is going to make the necessary improvements to reduce the number of people affected by an outage or the time it takes to repair an outage," he said.
The area from Kline Street going north has been affected by outages more than any other section of the city, Melfi said.
According to information submitted to the city by Ohio Edison, there have been five major outages this year "which affected a large number of customers."
Ohio Edison investigated those outages and determined the causes to be a car-pole accident, lightning, a problem at the Niles power plant, cracked line insulators and a malfunctioning protective device at the McKinley Heights circuit on Tibbetts-Wick Road.
Melfi said most of the city is serviced by the Tibbetts-Wick Road substation, meaning any problems at that location could result in massive outages in the city.
According to information supplied to the mayor by Ohio Edison, the company plans to reconfigure the circuits that serve the city, dividing city customers between the McKinley Heights location on Tibbetts-Wick Road and a Salt Springs Road location.
The information also says the company plans to upgrade a protective device at the McKinley Heights location so that fewer customers experience an outage when there is power line contact or an equipment problem.
There will also be strobe light indicators installed at both the McKinley Heights and Salt Springs locations. The lights, the company information says, will decrease repair time by indicating exactly where a problem is in the event of an outage.
A four-year cycle of tree trimming will also begin in the city in 2006. Ohio Edison notes that tree clearance from power lines is an important factor in reliable service.
Melfi said only time will tell how effective the changes will be in reducing the number of power outages here, but officials are happy something is being done to address the problem. He said the changes should be in place by the end of the year.
jgoodwin@vindy.com