MARK HARTAS and his team could be Canberra's most tactful diplomats. They turn off people's power and cut down aged and rotting power poles, all the time wary of glasshouses, expensive sheds and prized rose bushes below.
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For Mr Hartas and his crew of A-grade linesmen and apprentices, they have succeeded if they go about their job relatively unnoticed.
Some residents are more happy than others to let ActewAGL workers in their backyard.
''Often you've got four backyards to choose from to access one pole,'' explains Mark Hasler, who oversees the team led by Mr Hartas and has replaced 1000 poles in his career. ''We often say, 'Choose the backyard of least resistance'.''
While climbing the poles, they encounter cockroaches, bugs, spiders and even the occasional possum during maintenance work at night.
They spend many of their days replacing the ubiquitous wooden power poles, which are now outnumbered in Canberra by concrete and fibreglass poles.
The fibreglass poles weigh about 100 kilograms, compared with 900 kilograms for the wooden versions.
They are a dull grey and tend not to stand out too much for a 9.7-metre structure.
''They match a Canberra winter,'' Mr Hasler said.
Completely smooth, the new poles are also impossible for possums to climb. PHILLIP THOMSON
