Barrett Backs Double Utility Pole Bill

By Kim Siebert MacPhail

Chairman Bill Moonan informed the Selectmen on August 5 that he had received a letter from State Senator Mike Barrett announcing Barrett’s support of bill H.2952, An Act Relative to Double Utility Poles. The act defines double poles as “a double utility pole, which exists when a new pole is installed next to an already existing pole in order to support the existing pole, and allow for the transfer of wires and attachments from the existing pole.”

Moonan reported that current rules governing utility poles specify that utilities must remedy situations in which double poles exist within 90 days, “but there are no teeth in that law.”

Bill H.2952 also directs that a database be established called a “Pole Lifecycle Management System” [that is] a “web-based database accessible by the department, municipal officials, licensees, and utilities, containing information about double poles, and where each licensee and utility is notified electronically, in turn, when it is time to transfer an attachment according to a previously established prioritization.”

Moonan read aloud the final paragraph of Barrett’s letter, which said, “Because municipalities are the ones that bear the brunt of the negative consequences associated with double poles, H.2852 simply gives those municipalities the authority to enforce the existing law by imposing fines when utilities companies don’t comply.”

Town Manager Rick Reed said that Bedford had already attempted to enforce the removal of double poles by passing a bylaw that would have levied fines for the failure to remove the second pole within 90 days, but the bylaw was struck down in court when the utilities successfully argued that “it wouldn’t make sense for every municipality to go out and adopt their own bylaw.

“[H.2852] is an attempt to do it statewide, universally, to give every municipality the same rights to deal with the problem.” Reed added.

To see a Bedford Citizen article from February 2013 on the issue, read “State Catches Up with Bedford on Double Pole Issue”: https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/02/22/state-catches-up-with-bedford-on-double-pole-issue/