Some residents in Newport are upset that some of the East Row’s maple trees have been altered by Duke Energy contractors who are hired for tree trimming around power lines.

One homeowner near East 8th and Overton Streets said that she had received a card on her door three months ago from Duke Energy detailing their plans to trim the trees on those streets. That homeowner claims to have called three times, leaving messages asking to speak with the company’s representatives before they did the proposed work.

No one called that person back.

When the resident, who asked to remain anonymous, returned from work one evening, the trees in front of the house had been “completely vandalized” by the tree trimming crew and the homeowner also said that the workers had trampled on the house plants in the yard and left a mess of twigs, branches and sawdust.

Chris Bendar of Newport said that many of these trees are historic and are over 40 years old and that the poor treatment of the trees happens all over Newport.

Many residents in the area have their trees trimmed by certified arborists in the area to protect the health and well-being of the trees. Cathy Weller had her trees trimmed in November by an arborist during a time that is least harmful for the trees. She has not had the trees on her property trimmed yet, though Duke put a flyer on her door on June 23. She attempted to contact Duke to ensure that the trees would be cared for by a certified arborist so that they would not be permanently damaged but was unable to speak with any company representative about specific plans concerning the trees on her property.

“I filed a formal complaint at Duke at the recommendation of the customer service representative there," Weller said. "She said that Duke is required to respond to complaints. I told her that I wasn’t calling to complain, I was calling to make sure it didn’t’ happen. So I did on June 24 and I still never heard back from Duke. I have left repeated messages on the voicemail of their tree cutting department. My calls were never answered by a human being. It goes to a voicemail that is different from the Duke customer service line. So the tree department has never called me back, the people who did the flyers never called me back and the customer service complaint department has never called me back."

Weller said that she does not want the situation to be an adversarial one between the neighborhood and Duke Energy and that it is important for all the sides to be on the same page to ensure the trees are properly taken care of. Her biggest concern, shared by other residents in Newport, is that the trees are cared for with techniques used by certified arborists.

In her research, Weller said that she discovered that Duke had contracted Lewis Tree Service in the vicinity of the Newport Historic District. She said that she was told that Lewis was not working under the supervision of a certified arborist which puts the habitat of the trees in the area at risk. She also said that the flyer she received on June 23 did not specify an exact date of when Duke’s services would be around to work on the trees. She said that the trees in the neighborhood have many overlooked benefits for communities which is one reason she is concerned about the health of the ones near her.

“A lot of people don’t understand the importance of trees. Besides being the habitat for birds and critters, they contribute to the health of the soil in an organic way. They compact the heat island effect of urban areas which contributes to more violent weather locally. Obviously if they’re maintained aesthetically, they contribute to the houses which increases the tax base. In urban areas, they are particularly important for privacy. Besides the principle of it, there are a lot of practical reasons to care for the trees. You would think that Duke would have an obligation to its customers to respond to inquiries, to give notice when they’re going to be in the neighborhood cutting specific trees, and give the people involved an opportunity to not be part of a hack and flash but to get people out to do it the right way at the right time,” Weller said.

Duke, though, says that it gives notice to homeowners in the neighborhoods it intends to do work in. Sally Thelen, Duke Energy spokesperson, said that for the work done to E. 8th, door cards were left on June 22 and the trimming occurred on June 28. For Overton Street, cards were left on June 24 and work was done on June 30.

“Duke Energy recognizes the important role that trees play in enhancing the beauty of neighborhoods and contributing to the quality of life of our customers. At the same time, we recognize that trees and tree limbs that fall into power lines are the number one cause of power outages, as we have seen during this months’ persistent and severe storms,” Thelen said. “To meet our responsibility to provide continuous and reliable services to our customers, we must sometimes remove trees and vegetation that threaten that reliability.”

Thelen said that Duke knows that landowners were concerned when they learn that their trees and vegetation are located in vital easement areas and learn that their removal is necessary.

“We do our best to work with landowners but our chief priority must be to ensure the safe and reliable delivery of electricity,” she said.

Written by Bryan Burke, associate editor