‘It is Unacceptable’: Cortlandt Officials Outraged Over Con Edison Work
Cortlandt officials have notified Con Edison of their dissatisfaction with the condition several town roads were left following the installation of an underground gas line.
Supervisor Linda Puglisi sent a letter directly to Con Edison President Timothy Cawley and Chairman John McAvoy expressing her outrage on behalf of residents who have traveled on Croton Avenue, Locust Avenue and Watch Hill Road.
“This construction has left the roads where your contractors were putting in these lines broken up and with heavy raised metal plates covering the work. It has been weeks and no return to fix this disaster,” Puglisi wrote. “It is unacceptable to us as representatives of our Cortlandt residents and we have heard from many of them who have stated same.”
Deputy Supervisor Dr. Richard Becker also relayed his frustration with Con Edison, maintaining the utility has failed to meet its obligation to the community.
“Why is ConEd ignoring us? Easy answer: They don’t care, and it shows,” Becker stated. “Con Edison is responsible for restoring the roads to “as found” condition. These roads are owned by the town, and we allow ConEd to perform their repairs with the understanding they will meet their responsibilities. Normally, ConEd repairs only one side of a two-lane road, repaving only that side that was disturbed. This is unsatisfactory, as it leaves an unbalanced surface, and necessitates that the town repave the other side, at our expense, to correct for this.”
Puglisi noted Cortlandt spends an average of $2 million annually to maintain and resurface roads. She and Becker are demanding Con Edison repave the roads it disturbed or pay half the cost of the town repaving them.
Allan Drury, a spokesman for Con Edison, stated Friday Con Edison has reached out to town officials to try to resolve the situation.
“We have made only temporary restoration to roadways. We never intended to leave roads permanently in poor condition after completion of our work gas work, which is intended to keep our system safe and reliable,” Drury said. “We are in touch with the town about an agreement that will result in permanent repairs to the roads.”
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