The City of Warren held a meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss ongoing issues with double utility poles in the city.

Third Ward Councilman Greg Greathouse tells 21 News city leaders met with representatives from Ohio Edison, BriteSpeed, and Spectrum regarding the ongoing issue of two utility poles standing together, side by side.

Greathouse explained that if a pole is damaged or destroyed, utility crews are called to the scene to promptly replace the pole with a new one.

From there, telephone/internet companies such as Spectrum and BriteSpeed are called to remove the old damaged pole and transfer its cables to the new one.

The old and new poles are tied together while the city waits for this to happen, which causes a safety risk and an eyesore around town.

"In those situations,. Ohio Edison wants, that power back on right away," Greathouse explained. "And then they notify the other players and say, 'Alright, we've sent a new poll, we've transferred our stuff and now it's time for you guys to transfer your stuff,' but they're not transferring it."

In Warren alone, Greathouse says there are 363 examples of poles being tied together like this. Greathouse says some of them have been like that for at least five years.

"I want every last one of them fixed," Greathouse said. Greathouse has spoken with leaders of surrounding communities, including Niles Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz and there are no similar scenarios.

"You see these conditions that do little, if not hinder, the property values of these neighborhoods," said Law Director Enzo Cantalamessa. "You don't live here. You don't care. But, we do live here. We do care."

Spectrum and BriteSpeed representatives are committing to focus their resources on clearing up the backlog and providing weekly updates.

"I'm going to take them at their word," Greathouse added. "This was a friendly meeting. We brought it to your attention so let's see how good of a job you can do following up on that commitment that you're going to do something about it."

Greathouse says if that doesn't work, he will contact the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) about the issue.

If nothing is done after that, Greathouse says the Council will propose legislation to give these companies a time frame to get these poles removed and penalize the utility companies with fines if those deadlines are not met.

A follow-up meeting on the subject is scheduled for the last week of October.