Officials from Harvard, Ayer, and Shirley met with representatives of utility company National Grid earlier this month in a meeting hosted by state Senator Jamie Eldridge and state Representative Jen Benson. The goal of the Dec. 5 meeting was to gain a better understanding of events after the snow storm of Oct. 29 and for National Grid to take recommendations for improving the process of bringing the power grid back on line after a major disaster.
Representing National Grid at the meeting in Shirley Town Hall were Joe Newman, vice president of government affairs; Trina Dombrowski, coordinator with local first responders; and Paul Shibley, operations manager for the Central Massachusetts region.
Newman said that the state had completed public hearings about the response to Tropical Storm Irene in late August and is about to begin public hearings on the Oct. 29 storm. The early snow storm, which caused severe outages throughout the Northeast, required work crews from as far away as Michigan and Texas.
Shibley said that the storm resulted in 12,000 downed wire calls, all of which had to be verified in the first three days.
Harvard Town Administrator Tim Bragan said that the storm caused 100 percent of the town to lose power and that phone company and pole owner Verizon had not received orders from National Grid to repair or replace poles in a timely manner. Once notified, Verizon replaced 15 poles within its promised 24 hours, Bragan said.
Harvard Selectman Ron Ricci said that there needs to be a rapid and safe protocol to determine that wires down have no power. With this protocol in place, trees could be cleared and poles replaced faster, Ricci said.
Eldridge asked whether the number of full-time work crews employed by National Grid had increased or decreased over the years. Newman did not respond directly to the question, but said that the contract with its union called for 750 workers. National Grid serves 172 towns and cities in Massachusetts.
Harvard Fire Chief Rick Sicard noted that 42 roads in the town had to be closed after the Oct. 29 storm and that National Grid needs to coordinate better with town emergency officials during a significant power outage.
When asked later about plans to improve the resiliency of the electrical grid, Newman said that National Grid has budgeted $170 million for maintenance of lines, transformers, and substations.
The consensus of town officials at the meeting was that communication and transparency between National Grid and local emergency management officials can, and must, be improved.
This was an information-gathering meeting; officials expect an action plan will be worked out in the coming months.