PORT SALERNO, Fla. — A Port Salerno man's five-year battle with a leaning utility pole in his neighborhood finally came to an end this week after he brought his concerns to a WPTV "Let's Hear It" community event.
Michael "Whiz" Wisowaty was worried about his loved one's safety when he came to WPTV's event in Stuart earlier this month.
WATCH BELOW: FPL acts on leaning pole after resident contacts WPTV
He showed us photos of the utility pole with a transformer attached, leaning over his girlfriend's home in the Hidden Harbor Estates community, and said he felt like he was out of options.
"I need somebody to really help us on this," Wisowaty said.
He said he first noticed the pole's tilt about five years ago and immediately contacted Florida Power & Light. About five months ago, according to Wisowaty, a crew installed a new pole behind the house, but the old, slanted pole remained in place.
"They started it, and they just stopped! I mean, it makes no sense to me at all," Wisowaty said. "That transformer is going to fall down and either electrocute — or definitely start a fire — or just fall down and hurt someone."
When WPTV contacted FPL for a status update on the repair, a spokesman explained that the pole isn't just owned by the power company. They said it belongs to multiple utilities, which complicates the repair process.
"Because of this, replacing a pole or transferring equipment requires coordination among all companies with equipment on the pole, which can sometimes extend the timeline for completing the work," the FPL spokesman wrote in an email.
The spokesman also said FPL had conducted an assessment and determined the pole posed no safety threat. He explained that the communications provider had installed the new pole, and FPL needed to wait for authorization before transferring its equipment.
"That transfer has been scheduled and will be completed this week," he wrote.
On Wednesday morning, the FPL crew arrived to complete the work.
"As you can see, .... not only have they taken the transformer off — took the old one off, put the new one on, but they — they're taking the other pole off. I mean, it's amazing," Wisowaty said.
The FPL crew cut the top portion of the old pole off, but the rest will remain until the pole's other owner removes its equipment. FPL wouldn't identify the other utility company involved, but said it was a communications company.
Even with the partial removal, Wisowaty feels significantly safer with the transformer no longer attached to the leaning pole.
FPL said it also plans to fix a second leaning pole just a few houses down from Wisowaty's girlfriend's home.
While the FPL spokesman said the company had already been planning the repair before WPTV contacted them, Wisowaty said he never heard from them until after he contacted WPTV.
"Did we hear from them? No. Only after we got in contact with you did we ever hear from them," Wisowaty said.
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