Residents complain Encore crews 'clear‑cut' trees; company points residents to claims portal

Encore representatives told the Willow Park City Council that recent aggressive vegetation work is part of a state‑mandated system resiliency plan and that crews have been widening clearances, replacing poles and upgrading infrastructure to reduce outages.

Rick Bill Beal, Encore area manager, said the company has assessed and hardened more than 1,500 poles locally and is about 77% complete on those upgrades. 'We have arborists on site… we met with the mayor and spoke with customers about their concerns,' Beal said. He described a claims process — Encore asks residents to file damage or access complaints at encore.com so claims can be tracked and assigned a confirmation number.

Multiple residents contradicted Encore's depiction of outreach. Homeowners said crews drove onto private property without prior contact, opened gates, parked cherry‑pickers on yards, and removed mature pecan and oak trees down to the stump. One resident said equipment left large piles of debris and dug ruts in a driveway that may have damaged septic lines; another said a contractor left long bolts and debris behind.

Encore acknowledged errors and said contractors are being addressed. The company said some crews are subcontractors and that the communications team is working to provide tailored notices to affected neighborhoods; Encore representatives said they will escalate claims and that an arborist can visit individual properties on request.

Councilmembers asked staff to coordinate notice to residents and clarified that the city would not absorb Encore's claims process; staff said residents should use Encore's portal and the city would liaise when appropriate. Encore noted that while TxDOT and the Public Utility Commission have pushed timelines for resiliency work, it is working to improve communication and said the program includes investments of roughly $3 billion for grid hardening.