Watchdog’s Encounter With The City

Let’s save time and words and get down to the ‘next-to-the bottom line’; we can do the bottom line at the end. The encounter with the City exceeded expectations. How’s that for saying something nice about local government.

It started in 2011 when all hell broke loose in Naperville over the forced installation of electric Smart Meters. It made national news, which is not the kind of news city officials of ‘Family Friendly’ Naperville wanted. I was one of the ‘hold-outs’ of the installation, but I folded like a bad suit when installers appeared at my door escorted by two of Naperville’s finest (police officers) fully armed to encourage my compliance for the installation. It was at that moment when I realized if I would have been around during the Revolutionary War, I wouldn’t have provided much resistance to King George III.

I could tell quickly the police officers would have preferred being on a different assignment instead of leaning on homeowners, but they had a job to do. So on the house went the Smart Meter.

Jump ahead 11 years to April of 2022 when my wife said the TV was not working, along with about 25% of our home was without power. Thus began my positive encounter with local government. I called the City to tell them my tale of woe, and within 30 minutes two city employees from Naperville Electric were checking out my electric meter informing me that me electric meter socket had burned. They said it was not uncommon for this to happen in the southeast part of Naperville for homes built in late ’70s thru the mid-80’s. They also said the ‘burn’ was in an unusual area of the socket. A socket is to an electric meter, what a baseball glove is to a baseball. They made a temporary fix so I could have full power. They couldn’t have been nicer, and told me what to do.

I contacted an electrician referred by a city employee and friend, who then told me what to do, including getting a permit, and he knew a carpenter, and everything was falling into place. The young lady at the city-permit desk could not have been kinder or more helpful in navigating through the paperwork.

I corresponded online with the City regarding questions I had, and each time I had a quick and clear answer. The entire process and experience couldn’t have been better on the City’s part.

Bottom line, I didn’t always get the answers I wanted, but I got the answers I needed, and the work is scheduled to be completed this week. Watchdog will have a follow-up posting, of interest, on this topic