Officials in Neighboring Towns Critical of CL&P

With 96 percent of its residents and businesses in the dark, “The Town of Farmington continues to request and emphasize the need for additional CLP resources,” a news release said Wednesday.

But how are officials in surrounding towns reacting to the power company’s efforts?

In West Hartford, patience with CL&P's efforts to clear downed lines and restore power was wearing thin as Day 5 of the storm's aftermath began.

"I'm kind of done being polite. We had a fatality last night ... it's boiling over now," Mayor Scott Slifka said to CL&P representative Watson Collins on Wednesday morning.

Slifka had initially been advised that at least one contractor had chosen to do restoration work for United Illuminating rather than CL&P because of issues with payment from Irene clean-up. And so he said the city is attempting to hire them directly.

"We want to grab them ourselves if they are not working because of a problem with Northeast Utilities. We are not satisfied with the number of crews in West Hartford and to the extent that we can bring more crews in on our own to make up for the shortfall from CL&P, we will attempt to do that," Slifka said.

In Simsbury, town officials are growing tired of waiting for CL&P to clear downed power lines from roads. Some houses in the town are not accessible. Like Farmington, roads remain closed because of the wires only CL&P can remove.

First Selectman Mary Glassman said she is frustrated that the necessary crews are not being provided.

“We have contacted the governor’s office, the National Guard, CL&P, the American Red Cross, and the state DOT to muster the resources we need to keep our people safe and to restore power,” she said.

“We were told additional crews were coming to Simsbury and up until today one crew was in town. That indicates something is clearly wrong.”

Glassman said that Simsbury sued CL&P in the 1990s and was considering doing it again. The Town is also filling CL&P and DOT trucks with fuel to keep them in town.

The priority to make roads safe is the same in Avon, where 85 percent of the town has no power and more than 30 roads are blocked by fallen trees and downed wires.  

Southington Town Manager Garry Brumback sternly criticized CL&P’s staffing Wednesday.

“We made it clear that we have been disappointed in their communications…we told them the time for sending one or two crews into Southington is over. The recovery piece is complete and it’s time for them to focus on restoration,” Brumback said.

In a meeting Tuesday night, State Rep. Chris Donovan (D-Meriden) was critical of a response that he called “underwhelming” and demanded further action from the utility giant, which responded to his concerns by promising they would have six crews assigned to Meriden on Wednesday.

“I want 30 crews here tomorrow, not six. I want 30,” Donovan told reporters after the closed-door meeting Tuesday night.

In Canton, 65 percent of customers, including Route 44 and Collinsville center have power and officials are more positive.

East Granby officials too, are satisfied with CL&P’s efforts, even with 85 percent of its customers in the dark.

"The CL&P representative has been very cooperative," First Selectman Jim Hayden said. "They said they were going to have crews here today, and they had crews here today."