Car Seat Installs and Inspections

Transcription

1 CITY COUNCIL EMBARKS ON BOLD STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE VILLAGE On February 6, the City Council approved a strategic planning process focused on the major commercial corridors in The Village (Britton Road, May Avenue, and Hefner Road east of Penn) and the TIF No. 1 Project Area (Generally the 70 acres surrounding City Hall). This six to eight month project will begin in March and will culminate in The Village Vision, which will include recommendations for improving the development and appearance of the most highly visible areas of The Village. The effort will be led by Councilmen Symes and Wilkinson together with a steering committee, with assistance from a team of experts and most importantly public input from residents and stakeholders of The Village. News and updates will be provided regularly throughout the process, so stay tuned! Car Seat Installs and Inspections The Village Fire Department has numerous employees that are certified car seat technicians. This is a service that the Fire Department offers residents of The Village. Fire Department personnel can demonstrate and educate citizens on how to properly install child car seats. Child safety seats and safety belts, when installed and used properly, can prevent injuries and save lives. Young children restrained in a safety seat are 80% less likely to suffer from fatal injuries when involved in an auto accident. Installations are done every Wednesday at 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. by appointment only. If you are interested in setting up an appointment, please call The Village Fire Department at and have one of our certified technicians educate you on installing your car seat. Chief T.J. Hamill SIGN UP FOR BLACKBOARD CONNECT EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SERVICE. The City of The Village subscribes to a service called Blackboard Connect (robo call) that allows the City to contact every resident and business via land line within 2 minutes! If all you have is a cell phone, you will not receive notifications unless you sign up for service. When you sign up, you can provide multiple phone numbers, addresses and SMS texting for us to use to notify you of emergencies. Seconds matter, so sign up now! Sign up here:

2 IT S BEDLAM AND THE LIGHTS GO OUT!!!! It s hard to imagine the lights going off at a worse time, unless you are an OSU fan watching your team get beat for the gazillionth time by OU. (As an OSU graduate, I know the feeling all too well) But, it happened this past fall, not only for this popular sporting event but for several others including the World Series. I can only imagine what would have happened if Super Bowl LI had been interrupted by a power outage. I m pretty sure Facebook would have literally melted down. Yes, these unfortunate events happen. No utility is immune to problems and failures and even the best experience failures that are a big inconvenience to residents and businesses. When you are sitting in the dark twiddling your thumbs, you realize just how dependent we are on this modern convenience. And when the lights go out, we are all angry or upset to one degree or another. Nobody wants the power to go off, especially the utility company. Every minute the power is off is a minute when the electric meter is not turning. When the power comes back on, nobody uses more electricity just to make up for what they didn t use when the power was off. These sales are lost forever. So, I assure you the utility company wants the power back on as fast as you do. But getting the power back on is more complicated than just flipping a switch. Having experience running municipal electric systems in both Stroud and Blackwell, I know what electric crews have to do to troubleshoot, make repairs and get the power back on safely. This is a dangerous job and line crews have to be methodical in going about their business. The lives and safety of both line crews and the public is at stake. When power outages are widespread, such as during an ice storm or tornado, the prioritization of repairs is necessary. Typically, the company will fix the problems that will restore power to critical facilities first, such as water plants, sewer plants, emergency services, hospitals and the like. Then the company will work on fixing problems that will restore power to the most customers at a time, not to those that are complaining the loudest. A repair that restores power to 10,000 customers is clearly more important than repairing an outage that only affects a handful of homes or businesses. Of course, if you are one of the handful, this is not so nice, but you have to admit that this kind of prioritization makes sense. The Village is served by what is known as the Tennessee Substation. This facility is located on Hefner Road next to Love s corporate campus. A substation is simply a transformer or several transformers that convert electricity from the company s transmission voltage to the system voltage. In our case, the power coming into the Tennessee substation is 69,000 volts. The substation converts this voltage to a distribution or primary voltage of 7,200 volts. Transformers at your home then convert the power to the service or secondary voltage that goes into your electric meter at 120/240 volts. There are several circuits that go out of the substation to serve different parts of the city. Your neighbor across the street is often on a different circuit than you and could have power when you don t. If power is interrupted to the substation, all of the customers served by the substation will be without power, which in our case would be the whole city. More often, however, a problem somewhere on a circuit will cause power outages only in areas of the city that are served by the problem circuit. There are many reasons for faults and outages to occur, most of which are things that the electric company has little or no control over. These types of problems may include the following: Weather conditions including, ice, wind, lightning and extremely hot conditions.

3 Tree branches that are too close to electric lines. Equipment failures, such as a blown transformer, burned insulators, loose connectors, etc. Overloads, which result in a blown transformer fuse or cut out. These sound like a shotgun when they blow out but, just like the fuse in your breaker box, they protect the transformer and your home from damage. The cut out can t be re fused until line crews have determined the cause of the event, which usually takes some time. Critters. Squirrels, raccoons and birds can, and often do, get too close to a connector and cause a short circuit resulting in an outage. Sadly, the animals rarely survive. (Animal Control can t get rid of all the squirrels, raccoons or birds and they will always be a problem from time to time) Accidents such as a vehicle hitting a power pole or oversize trucks that snag a power line and bring it down. One of the things that I have come across in investigating and reporting blinks and dimming is that oftentimes residents don t bother to call OG&E to let them know. If these are occurring frequently, let OG&E know so they can troubleshoot. Some of these problems are not easy to find and if you don t call, they may never be found. OG&E is not monitoring Facebook for your problems, so pick up the phone and call or a complaint to: CUSTCAREDEPT@OGE.COM. Copy city_hall@thevillageok.org on the so we can help you get the problem resolved to your satisfaction. Remember, the City does not regulate OG&E but we can work with the company to help resolve problems that our citizens have with their electric service. OG&E FAQs. This is lengthy but please read these to learn more about common issues and problems with your electric service. QUESTION: Why do my lights, computers and clocks blink sometimes? ANSWER: Blinks are split second interruptions in service. While they may be annoying, they serve an important purpose. For example, when a tree limb falls on a wire, automatic sensing equipment detects a potentially dangerous condition and temporarily breaks the circuit for a split second. This very brief break in the flow of electricity protects essential parts of the electric delivery system from major damage and actually helps prevent outages. They are a normal part of power delivery systems. They used to go unnoticed, but today s sophisticated computers and other electronic equipment are sensitive and can be affected by a momentary interruption that lasts only a fraction of a second. QUESTION: What causes my lights to go dim unexpectedly? ANSWER: The utility system is exposed and vulnerable to many types of undesirable electrical contacts: severe weather (lightning, ice and high winds), tree limbs, vehicle accidents and wildlife. These events can cause a short circuit on the system, which pulls the system voltage down slightly. The lower voltage is most easily observed by a dim in your lighting. Most of these voltage drops last only a fraction of a second because automated equipment designed into the utility system quickly disconnects power on the circuit where the contact occurred. After a short delay, the circuit is automatically restored. The momentary dimming of the lights is a sign that the utility system responded to a problem, perhaps many miles away, and operated as designed. But if this condition persists for extended periods of time, you should report it to OG&E to ensure there is not a permanent type of problem on your electrical service. QUESTION: What is partial power? ANSWER: If you have power in one part of the house but not another, or if your 240 volt appliances (air conditioner, clothes washer, etc.) do not work but you still have some lighting, it is likely a partial power condition. OG&E serves most residential customers with 120 volts on two separate wires in order to have 240 volts for

4 heavy appliances such as air conditioning and clothes dryers. The two 120 volt circuits also serve different outlets in your home. The problem could be in your home s electrical system, so first check to see if you have a tripped circuit breaker. If not, report the issue to OG&E. We will make sure that both lines of 120 volts are present at your meter. Larger facilities use what is called three phase power. If any single phase experiences an outage that would create a partial power condition for those facilities. QUESTION: What are common causes of power outages? ANSWER: In Oklahoma and Arkansas, the majority of power outages are related to severe weather. The top three threats are high winds, lightning and ice. Although we regularly prune trees in the easement, trees contribute to power outages when they are blown over and into power lines. Trees outside the easement on private property can also fall onto service lines. Another frequent cause of local outages is wildlife contacts. On some occasions equipment failure can contribute to outages, since a high percentage of the system is exposed to damage from lightning and ice. QUESTION: What if a power line falls in my yard? ANSWER: Downed power lines may look harmless, but they could be deadly. Keep children and pets away from downed power lines. Call OG&E Customer Service ( ) and report the problem immediately. QUESTION: What happens after a customer reports an outage? ANSWER: Each call will have a work order generated. The orders are sent to our outage management system for analysis to determine the most likely cause of the outage. Orders are then dispatched to troubleshooters who go to the locations of the outages to assess the problem. If the troubleshooters cannot repair the problem, then a line crew will be called out to make repairs QUESTION: Does OG&E know which customers are without power? ANSWER: Not necessarily. That s why customers should call OG&E Customer Service at to report an outage. This helps us analyze the problem and restore power more rapidly. QUESTION: Why is it hard for OG&E to say how long it will take to get power restored? ANSWER: A lot of things affect how quickly we can restore power. Weather conditions, accessibility to damaged areas, the time of day, safety and environmental issues all impact how quickly we can work. Following large storms, these and many other factors can affect the restoration process, which greatly complicates our ability to predict restoration times. QUESTION: Who fixes service connections to my house if they are damaged? ANSWER: The wire that runs from the utility pole to your house and the meter itself are OG&E s responsibility. You own the cable that runs down the side of your house and the box that holds the meter, so repairs to these items are your responsibility. You can have an electrician repair any damage to the service cable running down the side of your house and the meter socket. This will help ensure your power can be restored quickly after a major storm. QUESTION: What if someone in the home has special medical problems or is on life sustaining medical equipment? ANSWER: In an emergency situation call 911. Then, notify an OG&E customer service representative. Always have a back up plan in case the damage is so severe that it could take a while to repair. VISIT OG&E SYSTEM WATCH FOR THE STATUS OF POWER OUTAGES WITHIN THE OG&E SERVICE AREA. System Watch provides an estimate of the number of customers without power and an estimate of when power will be restored.

5 WATER BREAKS AND MORE WATER BREAKS In December there were 30 water breaks reported in The Village. Most of these were repaired quickly but the messes and damage left behind will take a little longer to deal with. Oklahoma City, as most citizens of The Village know, owns and operates the water system in The Village. (If you are interested in how this came about, read Chapter 10 of The History of The Village at It is normal to be annoyed when the water goes off and when water breaks result in damaged turf, mud and potholes, nobody has a smile on their face. Oklahoma City is acutely aware of this and they should be given credit for making a concerted effort to replace the aging water system serving The Village. Since 2001, Oklahoma City has replaced 17.5 miles of water lines in The Village. Over the next three years, another 5 miles of water lines will be replaced. The following table and maps illustrate where we have been and where we are going over the next few years. WATER LINE REPLACEMENT PROJECTS

6 WATER LINE REPLACEMENT PROJECTS RECENTLY COMPLETED WATER LINES SHOWN IN PURPLE KEATS PLACE HUNTLEIGH KINGS WAY KINGS WAY WATER LINES UNDER CONSTRUCTION NOW OR PROJECT AWARDED SHOWN IN RED CARLISLE GREYSTONE ANDOVER BRIGHTON WESTCHESTER BRIGHTON BRIGHTON MAHLER PL WATER LINES PLANNED FOR FY 2018 SHOWN IN GREEN KERRY LANE CARLTON WAY HUNTLEIGH CARLTON WAY SUNNYMEADE HUNTLEIGH MAY AVENUE MAY AVE KERRY LANE RIDGEVIEW ELEMENTARY KENT DRIVE MAHLER PL SUNNYMEADE KENT DRIVE HUNTLEIGH DRIVE

7 WATER LINE REPLACEMENT PROJECTS WATER LINES PLANNED FOR FY 2019 SHOWN IN DARK GREEN SHEFFIELD ROAD CARLISLE NICHOLS ROAD WATER LINES PLANNED FOR FY 2020 SHOWN IN YELLOW PENNSYLVANIA DOWNING NICHOLS ROAD ESSEX OXFORD WAY VISIT THE CITY OF THE VILLAGE OKLAHOMA YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR INFORMATIONAL VIDEOS INCLUDING: What You Need to Know About Bulk Waste Service What You Need to Know About Sewer Service Be A Good Neighbor (Various rules and regs.) What You Need to Know About Civil Matters Rules of Evidence, An Inconvenient Truth Potentially Vicious Animals. The Village MS4 Stormwater Plan. More informational videos to follow, so stay tuned.