Residents can do their part to alleviate power outages by reporting outages that may even be a few seconds in duration to FirstEnergy. In October, FirstEnergy representative, Karen Goodson, took questions from residents affected by continuous and/or long-term outages.  Ms. Goodson stated that because of discrepancies in the reporting of outages (predominantly in the Westwinds area), she was led to believe that some power outages were much shorter than they actually were. 

Goodson indicated that there are many reasons for the outages including the Crestwood vault needing to be replaced and the severe storms that have plagued Northeast Ohio through the spring, summer and fall.  93,000 customers were without power due to the August 25th outage alone.

Councilman Marty O'Donnell wants a more efficient communication system.  He noted that the Long Pointe and Lear Road areas will often have random outages,  He would like to see a procedure implemented to let customers know who to contact to determine how long the expected outage will last.  This is especially vital to those residents with health issues. 

Councilman David Kos told residents experiencing any outage -- even for a few seconds -- should contact FirstEnergy or Council. 

"You should contact FirstEnergy or Council if there is a small, several-second outage," Kos said.  "Those aren't picked up by FirstEnergy.  If you come home and your clocks are blinking or if you know there was an outage, mark down the date, the address and, if possible, the time and duration of the outage." 

Public Utilities Committee Chairman John Shondel conducted a Town Hall Meeting at the Lake House at Veterans Park on March 22, 2012 to discuss what has been done and the First Energy plans for 2012 and what to do if you experience a power outage.

To report a power outage, contact FirstEnergy at 1.888.LIGHTSS (1.888.544.4877), Councilman John Shondel at 440.939.6838 or Mayor Zilka at 440.933.6141