[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Geneva 7-3-1968 as Ch. 44, Arts. II and VI, of the 1968 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A. 
No posts, poles, structures or supports used for supporting electric or other wires, and no wires used or to be used for conducting electricity shall be placed in, over or under any street, square, lane or alley in the city without permission of the Department of Public Works.
B. 
Such permission shall not become operative, take effect or have any validity until the person to whom it is granted shall, if a natural person, file with the Department of Public Works a written agreement and, if a corporation, duly adopt a resolution and file a certified copy thereof in the office of the Department of Public Works, assenting to the conditions contained in this article, accepting said permit subject thereto and promising to abide by and perform all the conditions and provisions contained in this chapter and of all other ordinances contained in this code or hereafter enacted amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto.
Every application to the Department of Public Works for permission to place, erect and maintain poles or electric wires in, over and under any street or highway shall state the intended location of each pole and wires and the purpose for which said poles and wires are to be used.
Every person or corporation erecting, maintaining or using such poles, structures, supports or wires shall indemnify and save harmless the city, its officers, agents and servants from and against all claims and demands for injuries or alleged injuries to persons or property, occasioned by the existence of such poles, posts, structures, supports or wires, or by the transmission of electric currents by means thereof; and said city, Department of Public Works or its officers, agents or servants of the city exercising the rights, powers and permission herein, shall not be held liable by such person or corporation on account thereof, or by reason of any injury or damage caused thereby.
The wires, posts, poles, structures and supports of the fire alarm telegraph shall at all times take precedence and right-of-way as to all other wires, poles, posts, structures and supports maintained or erected in the city, and no lineman or any other person, either in erecting wires, poles, or posts, structures or supports or in any way whatsoever, shall interfere with, or disturb, disarrange or change the fire alarm or any appurtenance thereof.
All poles for telegraph, telephone and electric lights shall be straight, properly trimmed and painted, shall not be less than 25 feet from the ground, and shall be of iron, cedar, chestnut or hard pine, as may be directed by the Department of Public Works. Wherever any wires shall cross any street or way, they shall be at a height of not less than 25 feet above such street or way and cross at right angles unless otherwise directed by the Department of Public Works.
All poles now standing or to be hereafter erected shall be branded or stamped with the initials of the company owning them, at a point not less than five or more than seven feet from the street surface; and when a pole is occupied by wires belonging to more than one company, each group of cross arms, or, where necessary, the support of a single wire of different ownership must be distinguished by some characteristic paint, mark or fastening.
All broken and dead wires and all wire, poles and fixtures not actually in use must be removed from the streets, avenues and highways of the city. When an old pole is taken down, it must be removed from the street the same day. New poles must not be brought upon any street more than two days in advance of their erection. Any pole that shall lie on any street more than two days shall be removed at the expense of the party owning it.
All other wires shall be placed at least three feet distant from electric light or power circuit unless otherwise ordered by the Department of Public Works. Whenever any person or corporation maintaining electric wires in any highway shall make any alteration in the arrangement of such wires, or shall make any addition to those already in operation, such person or corporation shall forthwith notify the Department of Public Works to end that the same may be seasonably inspected.
A. 
On all streets where curbstones are set, all poles shall be erected next to and adjoining the curbstone, and where there are no curbstones, the poles shall be erected so as not to interfere with the gutters, unless the Department of Public Works shall otherwise direct. No poles shall be erected within five feet of any hydrant nor so as to interfere with any water pipes, driveway or intersection of a street.
B. 
On streets where underground conduits have been built for conducting electrical wires, no poles, posts or similar obstructions shall be permitted to be erected or allowed to remain in the sidewalk except where poles, posts or other similar obstructions are erected for streetlighting purposes. In such case, no pole or post shall be erected without the location being approved by the Department of Public Works.
No two lines of poles shall be erected on any street or avenue, and on any street where there is more than one line of poles, one of such lines of poles shall, upon direction of the Department of Public Works, be removed and all the wires placed upon a single line of poles. No poles shall be erected in any street containing a conduit for the reception of electrical conductors.
In case of fire, the Chief of the Fire Department shall have full power and authority to order and cause any electric wires to be cut and removed, and electric currents discontinued until the fire is extinguished.
The city reserves the right to place wires on all telegraph, telephone, electric light and other poles erected in the city, at least two feet below the other wires, for use in connection with the fire alarm system and for other city purposes, and every person or corporation erecting or maintaining such poles shall, when directed by the Director of Public Works, properly affix thereto, on the space reserved as aforesaid, and cause to be kept in proper repair and condition an arm bracket, or other fixtures, as may be directed by the Director of Public Works, and having thereon such number of pins for wires as shall be directed by the Director of Public Works, for the exclusive use of the city.
[Amended by Ord. No. 72-12, eff. 7-5-1972]
Any violation of either this article or chapter, as the case may be, shall be punishable as provided in § 1-17 of Chapter 1, entitled "General Provisions," of this Code.