EAST POINT, Ga. — Some East Point residents said they are fed up with ongoing power outages.
Back on Sep. 4, a tree fell knocking down 6,000 yards of power lines — even sparking brush fires. Neighbors have noticed an increase in power outages ever since.
East Point provides power to its residents in the area the outages have been occurring, and residents believe the real problem is a lack of tree maintenance and bad infrastructure at the hands of city leaders.
A spokesperson for Georgia Power said: "Power was restored to all Georgia Power customers on September 4 and repairs to Georgia Power lines from the falling tree completed in that time frame. We have not tracked any outages on Georgia Power lines since that time."
Jamie Conner has noticed a pattern.
"In the two months that we've lived here, the power has gone out three times for four hours each time," Conner said.
Conner was one of dozens in the dark complaining on social media Monday. The City of East Point announced three outages in just the past few days.
"The grid is out of date," Conner said. "The houses are old. The streets are old. The buildings are old. So, they need to upgrade the electricity in order for it to stay on."
Residents packed Monday night's city council meeting. On the agenda was a proposal to raise the property millage rates. However, residents stood before the council and said they don't want to pay another penny if their power problems fell on deaf ears.
"The electricity comes out of the enterprise fund," said one woman during public comment. "So, again, just a reminder: the general funds are funded by our taxes."
East Point laid out its plan in a statement. It includes undergrounding power lines, upgrading equipment, a power system study, and an investment into removing trees that threaten power lines.
"Is there anything that we can do as residents to help keep the power from going out?" Another woman asked during public comment. "What does that mean? Do we need to be trimming trees more?"
Residents tell 11Alive they aren't falling for false promises. They want to see fast action and also reimbursement for the electricity services they missed.
"We're tired," a third resident told the council. "And we don't want the lip service anymore."
The council meets every first and third Monday.