Title
Resolution Concerning the Reliability and Functioning of Detroit Edison Streetlights
Memorandum
The ownership of street lights within the City of Ann Arbor is split between the City of Ann Arbor and Detroit Edison (DTE). While the City’s public works staff is responsive to reported outages and performs routine preventive maintenance checks, DTE’s responses to outages takes much longer and there is no evidence of a reliable preventive maintenance program. The purpose of this resolution is to raise City Council’s level of concern to DTE leadership and ask for a program to improve prevention and response.
Budget and Fiscal Impact: This resolution has no financial impact.
Staff
Prepared by: Howard S. Lazarus, City Administrator
Reviewed by: Missy Stults, Sustainability and Innovations Manager
Body
Whereas, The City of Ann Arbor has established Building and Maintaining Sustainable Infrastructure as a core goal; and this is consistent with the City’s commitment to a Vision Zero approach;
Whereas, Properly installed and functioning street lighting is a vital these commitments:
Whereas, There are 2,617 City-owned streetlight poles and 7,736 Detroit Edison (DTE) owned light poles within the City;
Whereas, The City’s public works staff provides a sound preventive maintenance and repair program, repairing outages on City-owned fixtures within 72 hours; and
Whereas, The lighting Detroit Edison (DTE) owns is subject to more sustained outages due to the lack of an effective preventive maintenance program and these outages are longer lasting due to a lack of resources;
RESOLVED, That City Council finds DTE’s lack of assignment of resources to street light reliability unacceptable; notwithstanding the excellent commitment of its staff;
RESOLVED, That the City Council directs the City Administrator to report on street light outage and repairs data on a quarterly basis, including ownership of impacted lighting;
RESOLVED, That the City Council directs the City Administrator to explore options surrounding purchasing streetlights directly from DTE, including the benefits and drawbacks of such an approach;
RESOLVED, That the City Council directs the City Administrator to communicate the City Council’s concerns about DTE’s street lighting reliability to DTE Executive Leadership, the Michigan Public Service Commission, and the City’s elected delegation in the State Legislature and send the quarterly report on DTE street light repair and maintenance to the City Council and the entities named above; and
Sponsored by: Mayor Taylor and Councilmembers Griswold, Lumm, Smith, Ramlawi and Bannister