HOWLAND — Residents have expressed frustration and concern with installation work throughout the community, and on Friday, it all temporarily came to a head, with fiber optics crews pausing work after hitting a power line.

According to a message from the township’s social media page, officials have been in communication with fiber optics companies and their subcontractors regarding their work throughout the community, noting that, unlike cities, townships lack the legal authority to issue stop-work orders.

The message states township officials were on site Friday morning and met with representatives from Lumos, its subcontractors, the Trumbull County Water Department, Ohio Edison and United States Infrastructure Company, which is the group responsible for locating and marking underground utilities.

The message states Howland officials received a statement from a Lumos representative expressing plans to cease work.

“Due to recent utility location concerns, we are asking crews to stop work in Howland,” the Lumos statement read. “We are working with local utility companies to resolve issues and will keep Howland Township in the loop.”

Administrator James Pantalone said Friday afternoon that a company struck a power line and affected 43 residents that morning in the White Oaks area of the township, but a similar incident happened on Bayberry and Castillion Drive throughout the week.

“There has to be a better method or some other way — they need to stop the craziness and research what’s going on and why this is happening,” Pantalone said. “I want a reason why this is happening — you’re telling me it’s a marking problem? Yeah, there’s a pattern here.”

Pantalone said he doesn’t have the authority to shut the companies down, but he’s been on the phone with state Rep. Nick Santucci, R-Niles, who also has spoken with Trustee Matthew Vansuch.

“We are going to push this pretty hard,” Pantalone said.

Pantalone said he was in the midst of drafting a letter to the Trumbull County Commissioners and planning commission, adding that he’s already spoken with Commissioner Tony Bernard, who has him working with Nick Coggins, the planning commission’s assistant director and director of economic development.

“I can tell you that all the parties, I’ve got the EMA director engaged; I’m bringing all the parties together in hopes to put a task force together or something to put pressure all the way up the chain of command,” Pantalone said.

Pantalone said township officials plan to continue working as long as needed to meet residents’ needs.

“We know that our residents are suffering — we just can’t immediately put a stop to this,” Pantalone said. “We’re doing our best in the background to find out who will help us.”

Vansuch, in a Facebook post, echoed shared concerns and frustrations with residents, noting the township’s hands are legally limited with what it can do.

“It’s also upsetting to us that we have to be the ones who bear the bad news to you that we can only do so much; I’m done doing that,” Vansuch wrote. “It’s time for our state legislators to step in to give townships the tools to protect you. They’ve heard from us.”

Vansuch wrote in a later update, after speaking with Santucci, that Santucci is supportive of a long-term state legislative solution and of practical short-term solutions through existing mechanisms and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

Vansuch encouraged residents to contact Santucci’s office by telephone or email, so he has the records to back his support.

Santucci said he served as a connector in bringing Lumos, PUCO and Howland together, saying he was happy to consider introducing a bill, but the legislature isn’t coming back until November.

“What I told him (Vansuch) was, I could introduce the bill tomorrow, but it’s not going to get heard, and there’s no guarantee it even passes in November,” Santucci said. “What you’re asking for is a long-term solution to your short-term problem, which is stopping these fiber optic companies from tearing up people’s yards and moving mailboxes and all of that.”

“I think it was just a miscommunication between the township and the Lumos company on why this is happening to neighborhoods consistently; and they’ve stopped, they reacted — Lumos reacted very positively.”

Pantalone said township officials are having an in-person meeting with Lumos on Tuesday to discuss their findings.

ARREST

Meanwhile, a resident is facing misdemeanor charges after he was accused of threatening fiber optics workers with a gun earlier this week.

Joseph Shrodek, 72, pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated menacing and a count of inducing panic in Warren Municipal Court on Thursday.

According to a police report, officers were called to Red Oak Drive NE for a man who had pulled a gun. Several men, who Pantalone on Friday confirmed were fiber optics cable workers, said Shrodek drove by in a black SUV while they were working and threw a coke bottle at them.

One of the workers said Shrodek drove away, but then returned and pointed a black handgun at them, the report states. A neighbor told police he was outside with his children at the time, and the handgun caused alarm, leading him to take his kids inside.

Shrodek was released on a $20,000 bond and is set to reappear in court July 14, court records show.