MOUNT VERNON — The sign in big black letters reads, “Look at the mess Asplundh made.” The sign is in the midst of a 50-foot long pile of tree limbs cut down after the windstorm a week ago Sunday.

“There was one little branch on the power lines,” was property owner Mike Phillips’ comment on the mess in front of his home at 524 Coshocton Ave. He relates that Asplundh arrived Sunday at 10:45 p.m. and carved most of the branches of the tree in front of his home. And they weren’t on the power lines in front of his house. In fact none of the lines were pulled down by limbs.

“There were limbs blown down on the property next door and Asplundh cut them up and piled them on my property.” To add insult to injury, the worker piled the limbs on a decorative spilt-rail fence knocking it down.

Getting rid of the mess is the next problem. “I called AEP about the branches, they said they could put in a work order to Asplundh to have them shredded but it could be up to three months,” he said.

Phillips is very vocal about the mess in his yard, “The way they hacked it up is kind of dispiriting.”

According to Vikki Michalski, spokesperson for American Electric Power, which contracts with Asplundh to trim trees, during severe weather and emergency situations such as the windstorm on Sept. 14, standard procedure is for Aslplundh to come in and do necessary trimming without permission from the homeowner. It is also typical, in these situations, for the debris to be left behind for the homeowner to clean up.