Whenever any electric, telephone or telegraph company shall desire to place a line of wire along any particular street upon which it does not have a line of poles, but upon which street there exists a line of poles owned by another company, such companies may maintain their wires upon the same poles. If an agreement cannot be reached between the companies owning the poles and the companies desiring to place wires thereon, such companies may submit the question of compensation to three disinterested persons for arbitration or they may submit the same to the city council for determination. This section shall apply to poles owned by the city, as well as to poles owned by companies operating under franchises.
('84 Code, § 23-24)