Mayor Dan Cougill said Tuesday that Eastern refused to provide electricity for the new flashing pedestrian light set to be installed on Fourth Street claiming it was not possible.

“Someone from our staff approached the university,” Cougill said. “We were advised it was not doable.”

Cougill said his staff spoke with Eastern about the possibility of tapping into their electricity through a nearby building or residence hall.

Without being able to use the university’s power, the Fourth Street location will require the installation of a new transformer in order to ignite electricity in the flashing light, Cougill said.

“It will make it a little more expensive,” he said.

Cougill said despite the fact that Eastern will not allow the city to tap into their electricity, they plan on taking care of the light themselves.

“We plan to press on doing it ourselves,” he said.

However, university employees of the Physical Plant denied ever being approached by Charleston city officials on the matter.

Gary Reed, superintendent of utilities for the plant, said when the drilling was done around the area no city staff member asked about the power.

“They never approached us, to my knowledge,” Reed said.

He said the electrical plans concerning the light had been determined prior to the city making any progress on the light.

“They had already figured out about where they were going to get their power from,” Reed said. “It was already predetermined that they were going to use AmerenCIPS power lines.”

Carol Strode, interim director of facilities and management, agreed with Reed. She said the city never asked Eastern any questions involving the electricity of the flashing light.

“The only questions I am aware of that the city asked were concerning the confirmation of the location of crosswalks to be protected and whether we had underground utilities to mark before boring the holes for the signs,” Strode said.

Tim Fox, spokesman for AmerenCIP’s media relations said the company was not involved in negotiations between Eastern and the city concerning the flashing light.

Fox could confirm that the city has been in contact with the company on this matter.

“We were contacted by the city and we will provide a rate,” Fox said. “We have always been working with the city on this.”

He said from the company’s stand point the flashing light is on city property so the city is paying.

“The city is running electricity underground,” Fox said. “We are just putting the city on a rate.”