Clearance, not appearance. They probably were not allowed to saw it down, but they still should have cut them two big stubs off. Utility treework is a vital, yet often thankless task.
It was not a question of clearance...the tree had already been trimmed for clearance. The tree just grew out over the church and was becoming top heavy. The church is a historic site and the organization is out of money. They probably called the utility to see if they could take it down.
IMHO,the company thought they could do easily get it down, got in over their head with an inexperienced crew and left the job as you see it. Here is an example...one bucket operator held the limb and the other bucket truck operator used a pole saw to cut the limb.
We do about 90% of the work for the town (street dept) this church is in plus we have worked with the historic society on other projects around town so I am not sure where this project stands.
I have been keeping an eye on town hall meetings and I am curious as to the 'why' aspect of the job. Seriously, what company doing line clearance would call this a good job?
I am with you on the clearance part being thankless....as no one offers to give up electricity over trees...well maybe a few