Utility line removal gets council support
by Brian DiTullio

CAREFREE – Four more sections of power lines are disappearing underground after Carefree Town Council approved partial funding of a utility pole removal project.

The vote to approve was 6‑1, with Councilman Bob Coady dissenting, stating his belief the expenditure only benefits a few people.

“The town shouldn’t be providing money for this,” Coady said.

However, Councilman David Schwan pointed out $50,000 was specifically set aside in the budget for such projects as an incentive for more homeowners to remove power poles on their property and bury the lines.

The town’s end of the current $94,965 removal project along Carefree Drive is 25 percent, or $23,741.

“The cost is justified on safety issues,” Schwan said. “When poles come down, they tend to start fires. This cost was justified in the budget as part of a program.”

Mayor Wayne Fulcher told The Desert Advocate a few days after the meeting that to qualify for this program, a group of homeowners must get together to share in the cost and that the town would contribute no more than 25 percent.

“We’re encouraging it,” Fulcher said. “But the (primary) financial burden is on the homeowner.”

Fulcher pointed out the town’s contributions come from a limited pool and financial assistance to property owners would be allocated on a first‑come, first‑serve basis.

Ron Clarke, head of Carefree Undergrounding LLC, a company formed to remove utility poles and bury power lines in the town, said Arizona Public Service Co. is behind the project but will not perform these kinds of jobs unless the homeowners or the town is willing to pay for them.

Councilman Greg Gardner noted the homeowners are paying their fair share, so it is reasonable the town should as well.

Coady wasn’t swayed by these arguments, however, saying the town’s contribution only benefits a few, not the town as a whole. “I think it’s wrong.”

Clarke states in a letter to the town his company has received all the necessary monies from the Carefree Drive homeowners and will be contracting directly with Larson Excavating for trenching and installation of the utility lines, which includes Cox Cable and Qwest. All line transfer work will be performed by the respective utility, including the relocation of transformers by APS.

Clarke also states any cost overruns due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a hard dig, will be borne by the homeowners. The town has no further monetary obligation in this endeavor other than waiving right‑of‑way permit fees.