Scarsdale Board of Trustees Demands Answers from Con Edison

The Scarsdale Board of Trustees has sent a letter to Con Edison Chairman, President and CEO Kevin Burke outlining the abysmal response of the utility in Scarsdale during Hurricane Sandy. Dated December 12, the five-page letter gives a detailed account of what did and didn't happen, calling the restoration effort "fraught with frustration, confusion and anger on the part of both Village residents and Village staff." The letter charged Con Edison with lacking a plan, "critical deficiencies in staffing" and "poor communication."

For the first four days following the storm "not a single restoration crew was dispatched to Scarsdale," and when crews did arrive prioritizing work sites was a "major issue." Since there was only one Con Edison person who could deactivate lines in Scarsdale, there was a major bottleneck in clearing streets.

The letter goes on to suggest that Con Ed "train and authorize local licensed electricians to de-energize and cut lines," and "decentralize work assignments" so that there is a person with command authority at the municipal level.

The Con Ed representative assigned to Scarsdale "rarely had the facts available" needed by the Village staff, was unable to obtain crew, lacked authority and technical training.

Furthermore, the Trustees change Con Ed with poor communications with both the Village and residents. During the entire 12-day outage, the utility's only response to questions about when power would be restored was a blanket guarantee of November 9 and then November 11 – providing no sequenced work plan or timetable. Even the Con Edison online map was "rarely accurate."

The letter ends with a call for a meeting with senior Con Edison Officials and the Village Staff to address these concerns, to find out what improvements are planned and to formulate a long-range plan. Read the entire text of the letter here.

The letter is signed by the Mayor and Board of Trustees and copies are being sent to Governor Cuomo, Robert Abrams and Benjamin Lawsky of the Moreland Commission, Garry Brown, Chairman of the NY Public Service Commission, State Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins, County Executive Rob Astorino, Congresswoman Nita Lowey, Congressman Eliot Engel, Village Manager Al Gatta and Linda Leavitt of the Scarsdale Inquirer.