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FirstEnergy staff walks Lorain council and residents through online streetlight reporting and response
Summary
A FirstEnergy representative demonstrated the company's web-based streetlight-reporting tools, answered council questions about ticketing and multiple-outage reporting, and agreed to consider improvements such as map/GPS selection; council granted extended time for the presentation.
The council granted FirstEnergy representative Nick Casares extended time to brief members and residents on reporting streetlight outages and service requests.
Casares told the council the "best way" to report outages is through FirstEnergy's website or the mobile interface and walked the council through the steps, including selecting "report a streetlight" and choosing "multiple" when more than one light is out so crews address every outage on a ticket. He emphasized the importance of the work request ticket number and asked residents to share it with him if repairs did not occur within a week.
Council members and residents raised technical and usability concerns. Councilmember Henley and others described trouble identifying lights that lack addresses; one councilmember suggested a map or GPS picker similar to the city's SeeClickFix app. Casares said the system is under continuous improvement and that the company recently updated storm-response mapping; he said he would share the suggestion with his team.
Mayor Barry Bradley and Chief of Staff Kerian said they will post a short video or hyperlink to the city's "Ask Lorain" portal so residents can find instructions quickly. Casares confirmed a hyperlink that goes directly to the streetlight-reporting page is available and said he would provide a short video to the city for repeat questions.
Members of the public also raised related concerns: resident Dennis Flores asked about LED conversions and noise from a light outside his house. Casares and council members suggested reporting those locations through the same system and noted the city link as a shortcut.
Council moved by motion to allow Casares additional time for his presentation; that motion carried unanimously.
