City officials will be talking with representatives from Entergy about getting better street lighting for the city and better response times to complaints about inoperable lights, South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson said Monday.

“I’m doing this from a public safety standpoint,” said Thompson, whose office is responsible for handling issues involving the city’s streetlights. “I feel like the city’s much safer when it’s lit. “We’ve got some issues in certain neighborhoods where lights have been out for a span of time, and we would like to sit down and have a conversation on ways we can improve service, get faster response times, get faster identification times.”

He said he has received calls from residents who say they are uncomfortable because a streetlight near their home has gone out and had not been repaired. “We’re just looking for faster response and better service,” he said.

He said his staff goes out before daybreak to check streetlights, adding he makes checks in the evenings and has asked police officers to call in problems with lights while they are on patrol.

Besides replacing and repairing inoperative lights, Thompson said, he also wants Entergy to control problems with weeds and vines on utility pole and lights.

“Vegetation is covering street lights, and making it that much darker,” he said. “It’s an aesthetic situation when vegetation takes over a light pole.”

There is also a problem with the types of lighting being used in the city.

“We need uniformity in bulb replacements. There’s areas in the city the need upgrades,” he said. “I’m bringing this to the board’s attention, because I know we’ve all gotten calls and concerns about that.”

“We need upgrades,” North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said. “When one goes out, we try to do upgrades to fixtures for high intensity lighting. There’s several areas that need upgrades. I’m looking forward to that meeting.”