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Residents say Encore crews cut mature trees, left damage and received little city help, speakers tell Willow Park council
Summary
Multiple residents told the council that Encore contractors repeatedly entered private property outside utility easements, cut mature trees along Squall Creek to stumps, left equipment and caused damage, and that city staff did not provide meaningful advocacy or timely follow-up.
Several residents used the public-comment period at the Sept. 23 Willow Park City Council meeting to criticize vegetation-management work by Encore and its subcontractors and to urge the city to intervene.
"Contractors have repeatedly entered our property without notice," Whitney told the council, saying crews had driven through her yard, left heavy equipment and large bolts, damaged a driveway and cut down a mature back tree line along Squall Creek. She said her family filed a claim with Encore in late July that remained unresolved, that police told her there was little they could do, and that city staff advised filing open-records requests to obtain contractor contact information.
Whitney said Encore’s published standards did not appear to match the field work she documented and asked the council to consider requiring temporary easements or stopping work until a public meeting could be held; city staff and Encore regional leadership met on site but, she said, crews continued work.
Council members and attendees discussed easement law and whether temporary permits or consent would be required for the crews to access private yards. One speaker noted Encore follows standards set by the Texas Utility Commission and federal guidelines but that those standards typically limit complete clearing to transmission-line corridors rather than distribution lines traversing private property.
The council did not adopt an immediate emergency restraining action at the Sept. 23 meeting; staff said Encore representatives had been invited to a future meeting and that placing the issue on a future agenda is possible if citizen concern continues. The council later approved an ordinance formally denying Encore’s proposed rate increase (item 10), a separate action that council members linked historically to prior discussions of Encore-related service and rates.
