Festival of the Bells' Main Street utility being removed
By Rory Ryan
The Highland County Press
Workers were removing the utility box along the Highland County Courthouse square in the 100 block of West Main Street Tuesday morning.
The breaker box has been used for years by the Festival of the Bells Committee, which paid to have the box installed.
According to longtime Festival of the Bells Committee member Rick Williams, there had been discussions for at least a year or two about discontinuing electric service at that location.
AEP disconnected the electricity last week, Highland County Commissioner Tom Horst told The Highland County Press.
Today, S&S Contractors were removing the meter and breaker box.
"It is my understanding that Commissioner (Tom) Horst and Hillsboro Mayor (Drew) Hastings wanted the poles removed," Williams said. "Will it hurt the Festival? Yes. Do we have a plan? Yes."
Horst said the decision was the city's, not the county's.
"I talked to the city or the city talked to me a couple of years ago about it," Horst said.
It had to do with removing the utility pole along Main Street, Horst said. He said that the pole is in the city's right of way.
[[In-content Ad]]
Both Williams and Horst noted that other groups have used the breaker box for electricity for events or projects unrelated to the annual Festival of the Bells, which is held over the July 4 weekend in uptown Hillsboro. The utility has been in place for many years, and groups such as Anna's Army and the contractors for the Highland County Veterans Memorial have used it.
Horst said the Festival of the Bells Committee could have access to electricity from the utility conduit that is currently in place beneath Governor Foraker Place, not far from the former meter.
"It would be an expense, but it is an option," Horst said.
Festival of the Bells Committee President Michael Bradford said the committee was informed by Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Todd Wilkin that Mayor Drew Hastings and Commissioner Tom Horst wanted the wooden utility pole removed "because it took away from the aesthetics of the county courthouse."
"This has stood for many years without complaints," Bradford said. "We have maintained it. The city and Commissioner Horst chose to take them down, and we will abide by that. As far as accessing the conduit under Governor Foraker Place, that would be a major expense either for the committee or the city, and I don't see that happening.
"Will it hurt us? Yes, it will, both operationally and financially. Regardless of this setback, it will not dampen the committee's spirits, and we look forward to another exciting Festival of the Bells in 2015."
"When I first started in March of 2013, this topic was a hot button, specifically the electric poles in the courthouse lawn," Hillsboro SSD Todd Wilkin said. "I do not know the back story on the Festival of the Bells and their relationship with the county, but I know there have been a few disputes in the past few years. I have had multiple meetings with Mr. Bradford and Mr. Williams, and they are aware we inherited this dilemma.
"The long story short is that the county asked the city to have the poles removed from their property," Wilkin said. "It has taken several years, but we were able to get the meters pulled a few weeks ago – with the help from Mr. Bradford – and now they are attempting to remove two poles that are on the county's property. The poles were old abandoned street light poles that should have been removed years ago.
"When we met with Mr. Bradford and Mr. Williams last year at the conclusion of the Festival, we discussed the removal of the poles. They indicated at that meeting that they knew there were problems with the two aforementioned poles. I asked them if they had a backup plan for the electrical needs, and they stated they did."