People living in Warren have voiced their concerns over installing overhead power lines to replace existing underground cables.

That's why council is working to fight the concept, along with a proposed AT&T tariff that puts certain costs on the city. 21 News spoke with the city leaders behind these efforts.

Warren council passed legislation to prevent overhead lines from replacing pre-existing underground cables after hearing residents' unease.

"Property values that have poles in front have a decreased property value relative to those that don't," explained Kyle Phillips. "And by burying lines, you can also plant trees and trees add to the property values of houses."

Phillips spoke directly to council, sighting pedestrian and traffic safety concerns.

Concerns were sparked in the Perkins Circle neighborhood with residents voicing their disapproval to the council.

"Crews just wanted to come in with these poles. We just felt that it was going to be very unsightly and not necessary," said Louis Lepro. "Because we didn't know of anyone having a significant electrical problem, first of all. We want to keep the neighborhood historically significant and how it appears. Both Councilman Herman and Councilman Greathouse have done a fabulous job getting this legislation put together quickly and voted on."

"Ohio Edison just wants to save money by downgrading the service," said Councilman Andrew Herman. "We don't want that. We want it to be the way it is and we feel that it's important that when they replace electric services, they replace them in the state that they found them in."

"The Perkins Circle area is a historic district and residents don't want power lines to go overhead," said Councilman Greg Greathouse.

Sponsored by Councilman Greathouse, the council also passed legislation to prevent an AT&T proposed tariff that imposes additional costs to the city. AT&T would require the city to pay pole placement and rewiring costs that the city just isn't on board with.

"Now suddenly, we don't have enough money to fix the intersection because we need to pay AT&T," Councilman Greathouse said. "They introduced it in the last minute. And the time frame is within a week and a half, it goes into effect if we don't get it stopped in the meantime."

Council meets again on January 22 where they plan to discuss Howland properties annexing into Warren.