Fair Haven holds JCP&L accountable for outages
Meetings held with utility reps over recurrent problems
BY JENNA O'DONNELL Staff Writer

FAIR HAVEN - Borough and state officials are "not resting" in efforts to ensure that the power stays on for residents, Mayor Michael Halfacre said at last week's Borough Council meeting.

During the July 14 meeting, Halfacre went over the recent meetings with Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) and District 12 representatives, Sen. Jennifer Beck and Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, to ensure that the problems that caused a week of outages last month are solved. Beck and O'Scanlon held a meeting in their Red Bank office with borough officials and representatives from JCP&L to discuss the recent outages.

"We wanted to get everyone in a room, determine the source of the problem, and get a timeline from JCP&L on when the source of the problems will be addressed," said Beck.

"In the past, the folks from JCP&L have been very cooperative with our office in addressing the concerns of our constituents. I have no doubt that they will continue that level of attention to our requests."

According to Halfacre, who has been in office 18 months, the power issues predate his tenure and were not solely caused by the mini-heat wave that occurred in June.

"Ask any longtime resident, and they'll tell you that this is a fairly common occurrence in both summer and winter, so I'm hopeful that there are some long-term solutions to these problems," Halfacre said.

JCP&L representatives attended a council meeting last month during which the power at Borough Hall flickered on and off several times.

Halfacre said that he and Borough AdministratorMary Howell have been meeting with representatives from JCP&L every two weeks to report on their review and analysis of the outages.

He added that the meetings had given them some preliminary information and analysis and an outline of a corrective action plan.

"We are satisfied with what they have produced so far, but I'm in 'trust but verify' mode," Halfacre said. "We'll give them time to do their thing, but we expect the process to continue to be transparent and for there to be concrete improvements in reliability when we are done."

O'Scanlon said that the intention of the meeting was not to cast blame or point fingers.

"We are interested in looking forward," he said. "Let's identify the problem and fix it. Our office will monitor the situation closely so that the residents of Fair Haven don't have to worry the next time we have a stretch of warm weather or an ice storm in the winter."

O'Scanlon said he is confident that JCP&L was committed to those same goals.

Council members continue to express skepticism in light of a long history of outage problems in the borough.

Councilman Jon Peters said during last week's meeting that the question of whether JCP&L is doing the work promised continues to be an issue. He added that the utility company had assured him in February that the utility would do a network evaluation that "apparently hasn't worked."

"The reality is, we've been talking to them for two-and-a-half years trying to get them to [improve] their quality of service," he said.