After Sandy, mayors want better communication from JCP&L
Nov 18, 2012 (Menafn - Asbury Park Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --Monmouth County's mayors, upset with Jersey Central Power & Light following superstorm Sandy, hope to come up with a list of ways the utility can improve.
"The goal is to get all the mayors in Monmouth County to unite as one voice to say we want JCP&L to do better service," said Michael Skudera, mayor of Tinton Falls.
Skudera and Middletown Mayor Tony Fiore say JCP&L's performance will be the focus of the Third Annual Snow Summit, a forum for municipal officials on Monday.
Superstorm Sandy knocked out power to 1.2 million JCP&L customers, including more than 469,000 in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Fiore said JCP&L "failed miserably.
"We each have our own experience as to what went wrong from JCP&L's perspective and what they could have done to help the municipalities and the customers that they serve," Fiore said. "We want to come up with an action plan to give to them."
Mayors have said JCP&L could not provide either them or customers with specific information on when power might be restored to their neighborhoods.
JCP&L has said the damage was greater than that experienced by Tropical Storm Irene and last year's October snowstorm.
"We put together an army of resources from across the country to repair the damage we sustained, rebuild the system and restore customers to service," JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said last week. "JCP&L employees, contractors and mutual aid crews put forth an incredible effort to restore customers as safely and quickly as possible."
The meeting will focus on ideas and not complaints about JCP&L, mayors said.
Among possible topics:
? Have a regional call for mayors. The current call, which updates mayors on JCP&L's efforts, is held with officials from around the state, Fiore said. "We could have had a little more local information."
? More proactive tree-trimming throughout the year, Skudera said.
? More local information for customers and officials. "They did not give us enough information coming back to residents," Skudera said.
"We all have our experiences, and none of them are good," Fiore said. "We need to tell them the steps we want to see taken to ensure that municipalities and customers are coming first in their eyes."
David P. Willis: 732-643-4039; dwillis
@njpressmedia.com facebook.com/dpwillis732
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