As part of its annual system maintenance plan, Okefenoke REMC will begin pole inspections April 20 on its distribution system in parts of Charlton County in Georgia and Baker County in Florida. About 8,000 poles will be inspected over the next two months beginning in St. George, Georgia, moving west to Moniac, south to Taylor, Florida, then over to Glen St. Mary and Macclenny, Florida, and back up to St. George.

“We wanted to give our consumer-members a heads up in these areas so they wouldn’t be surprised when they saw people digging in and around poles on or near their property,” explains Travis Page, OREMC operations manager. “Pole inspections are part of routine maintenance on our system to ensure its integrity and reliability. In accordance with the Public Utilities Commissions of Florida and Georgia we inspect about 10 percent of our system each year.”

OREMC has contracted with Osmose Utility Services, LLC, to complete the inspections. Their crews will be identified as an OREMC contractor in marked trucks, ATVs (all-terrain vehicles), UTVs (utility task vehicles) and on foot as they move from pole to pole on the system. They will be capturing GPS points of poles for mapping, numbering poles if necessary, conducting minor maintenance repairs such as fixing guy markers, guy wires and broken ground wire. They will also be digging around the poles to check for any structural damage or deterioration.