Vernon Roads Cleared After 24 Hours Of 'Teamwork,' Officials Say

VERNON, CT — Mayor Daniel Champagne was crediting teamwork between local officials and line and tree workers for getting most of Vernon's roads completely clear in a period of about 24 hours over the weekend.

He used the term while at the scene of power restoration in Vernon Center Sunday and then again Monday at a free produce giveaway.

"It was teamwork ... and it's getting the job done," he said.

The sequence took shape at about 7:30 a.m. Vernon officials were already frustrated with what they viewed as a slow restoration process after Tropical Storm Isaias hit the area Tuesday. It came to a head Thursday when Champagne and Vernon Town Administrator/Emergency Management Director Michael Purcaro hosted a multi-town news conference, where several area administrators vented at the process.

Friday went by and hundreds were still without electricity.

The came Saturday morning. Purcaro, Lt. William Meier, and new Department of Public Works foreman Mark Rizzo met directly with Eversource crews in the field. The mayor joined in following the free mask and hand sanitizer distribution event at Town Hall that he hosted with the Milan Cultural Association.

An Eversource Energy supervisor, said crews were operating blindly with no maps and no outage lists. The same response was given to a resident of Vernon Center who saw a crew from his native Quebec and spoke with the line workers in French.

By mid-morning, every tree-clearing crew had been hooked up with Vernon Department of Public Works crew and they made the rounds. After the tree specialists were done cutting, the DPW took to hauling. For example, a tree that had been sitting across Crestridge Drive since early in the storm Tuesday was cut and hauled out of the area in less than an hour Saturday. The power was back on early Sunday afternoon.

Crestridge Drive at noon Saturday:

(Chris Dehnel/Patch)

Crestridge Drive at 12:49 p.m. Saturday:

(Chris Dehnel/Patch)

"It was like that all over town," Purcaro said. "This was hustle and a group effort by the DPW and the tree crews. The line crews finally had a road map."

By Saturday night, most roads were completely open in Vernon and by Sunday night most were with power again. Line workers from one crew said Monday would be spent fixing individual, stubborn outage at homes. There were 29 outages left by 4 p.m. Monday and zero at 7 p.m.

While he was praising the workers Monday, Purcaro was no less frustrated at the process. He said plans laid out for real time outage and tree reporting set up after the Snowtober storm in 2011, had never been implemented.

"With all due respect, we don't need another investigation. We have already been down this road many times before with Eversource," he said. "The people of Connecticut deserve better and need more definitive action to be taken that will prevent this epic failure from happening again."

Purcaro was not shy about his recommendation.

"I suggest referring this matter to the Office of the Attorney General and filing a lawsuit for damages against the utility companies on behalf of all affected municipalities and utility customers," he said. "The lawsuit should seek reimbursement of costs incurred by the municipalities due the utility company's failure to adequately respond per jointly agreed upon emergency plans. The suit should also seek rebates for customers of the utility company for fees and costs incurred during the storm. For example and at a minimum, customers should have their transmission and supply fees prorated for the days they were without electrical power. In addition, the lawsuit should protect customers by preventing the utility company from increasing their rates to pay for their costs in responding to the storm. It could easily be argued that the utility company incurred much higher response related costs then they should have due to their gross failures in implementing established emergency response plans with local municipalities."

He also questioned the funding.

"Lastly, no state or federal disaster relief funds should be used to benefit the utility company. These are our hard-earned taxpayer dollars and the utility company needs to be held 100 percent accountable for their gross negligence and failures that have caused undue suffering statewide. Now is the time to end the corporate practice of putting profit over public safety."