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Regular Council Meeting <br />September S, 2014 <br />Page 5 <br />Council Member Lancaster reiterated these three properties were an exception, and expressed <br />concern about safety issues. Mayor Frierson inquired of Mr. Collier about reimbursement. Mr. <br />Collier said they would try to work with the City and that he would meet with the City Manager <br />to look at options. Mr. Collier said there were a lot of problems you run into when placing <br />utilities underground when the buildings were on the sidewalks. Council Member Lancaster said <br />she was asking for something temporary. Mr. Collier said they would have to address with <br />Peoples Bank about the three transformers and if they could get them to take a different point of <br />delivery for their meeting point, which could be served from the rear of their bank. He said if <br />this happened, they could serve secondary service for the remaining of the customers. Mr. <br />Collier said Oncor had not heard back from Peoples Bank. Council Member Lancaster wanted to <br />know if he had a timeframe citing that these people already had building permits. Mr. Collier <br />said he was waiting to hear from Peoples Bank. Council Member Hashmi asked if the City could <br />create a law that would force Oncor to move the line. Mr. McIlyar said Oncor was probably <br />operating in the right -of -way, or a utility easement had been granted to them. He said if they had <br />a valid utility easement or right -of -way they had a right to run their power lines and utilities and <br />that he was not aware of the City having a right to force them out of that area. Council Member <br />Lancaster asked if Oncor had a responsibility to do so within safety regulations. Mr. McIlyar <br />agreed that safety was one of the City's better arguments. Council Member Lancaster said it was <br />absolutely not safe and wanted to know who was responsible if someone got killed. Council <br />Member Hashmi asked if an ordinance could be written addressing a safety range that utility <br />companies have to follow. Mr. McIlyar said Oncor was a statewide utility and they had a tariff <br />issued by the State and the State had more regulatory authority. Council Member Hashmi <br />referenced what Mr. Dux read and thought he understood that the City could make and <br />implement a rule about this. <br />Chris Dux said the City had regularity authority within the confines of the municipality. <br />He said according to the public utilities act, they could make rules governing the public utility as <br />long as they were reasonable and in the interest of public health and safety. He said if they <br />looked at the information he gave to Mr. Godwin there was also a statement that talks about any <br />of their expenses are pass through expenses to any utility or electrical retail customer that they <br />provide services to. Mr. Dux said it would be paid by all of the customers that get their <br />electricity through an electrical retailer that uses Oncor' s lines so the cost would be spread <br />amongst hundreds or millions of customers, not the people in Paris Texas. Council Member <br />Hashmi said as Council Member Lancaster point out if it is a safety hazard and it needs to be <br />done, then they should do it. Council Member Hashmi also said if law permits the City to write <br />an ordinance then he did not see any harm in doing so. Mr. McIlyar said he would be happy to <br />look at what Mr. Dukes gave Mr. Godwin and get with Mr. Collier, as well to see what they <br />could come up with. <br />