In a unanimous vote, Shenandoah City Council voted in opposition of a proposed underground utilities project during a meeting Wednesday night. The proposed project, which stirred controversy among council members and residents alike during the Jan. 11 workshop meeting, would have cost $7.3 million and required residents to agree to 10-foot easements in their front yards. “I’m very relieved and very happy with the vote that we will not be able to spend city money for burying the power lines,” resident Nancy Smith said. “I don’t have power lines that need to be buried, but I laid awake and worried about what kind of an impact that would have on the city.” Prior to the decision, Entergy Texas representatives gave a presentation on cycle trimming—the removal of vegetation that may interfere with power delivery—the company recently conducted throughout the city. “This last weekend, with the storms that blew through, I believe most of Montgomery County had vegetation outages of some sort, but I believe that the trimming that we did [in Shenandoah] has proven to hold,” Entergy representative Tracy Dillon said. “We had no outages for the entire weekend through the wind and the storm in Shenandoah.” During the Jan. 11 workshop meeting, council discussed the possibility of putting the item in the hands of voters in an upcoming election. However the unanimous vote against the project on Wednesday put the matter to rest. "I'm disappointed that the project encountered as many hurdles as it did but the reality of it is, that right now it doesn't logistically or financially make sense," Mayor Ritch Wheeler said. "But my long-term goal is to do something about the overhead power lines down the road. I am dissappointed that day isn't today, but I understand why—at this point in time, [burying the power lines] is almost impossible."