Lake View, Iowa dealing with about 75 snapped electrical poles

LAKE VIEW, IOWA – NOVEMBER 15, 2010

1. Electrical poles started breaking off about 6AM on 11/12/10 due to weather.
- There were 75 poles on the ground.
- They found 4 inches of ice on the lines.
- One section of poles were replacements from the early 2010 ice storm event.
- The poles snapped about 6 feet off the ground.
- Personal are getting stuck on the gravel roads while trying to do repairs.
2. At 9AM there were 12 poles reported. By 12PM they needed to call in more crews.
- Total of nineteen guys working.
-- Last year there are 42 guys.


3. Council already received a bill for $63,000
- First two days bill.
-- All overtime.
- Whenever a person is working the city is also getting charged for equipment.
- Motel and meals are provided by the city.
-- They are staying at Boulders.
- Customer provides fuel.
4. Estimated total cost will be in the $186K neighborhood.


5. “One good thing about this is that it helps out with mitigation.”
6. Still finding broken poles that haven’t fell over yet.
7. City still has $258K on hand
8. City going to try to have take care of issues that weren’t completed during the last ice storm.
9. New poles are being put in closer together.


10. “How come the feed didn’t work from the other way?”


11. “Bill, I would say that everybody’s tickled that you guys are doing what you’re doing.”
- It probably speeds up the process that the same people are on the job.
12. The motel is happy.


13. City Administrator discusses the process of being declared a disaster area.
- Peterson not real optimistic do to the area affected being to small and isolated.
- Last time it took six weeks to get a decision.
14. Can this storm be related back to the previous ice storm?
- no answer back from the state on that yet.
15. This could certainly help spur reimbursement for the re- conductoring project.


16. The city will be down to $0 cash on hand. What will it cost to restock a supply of poles, etc?
- Should we borrow money from the bank already and keep a cash reserve?
-- May cost $25K to re-stock.


17. Council approves contract to have power lines repaired.
18. Council approves payment of the initial bill.
- It doesn’t have to be paid immediately, but the council felt that the company deserved it, the way that they dropped everything and got right up here and got to work.

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