Communication is a Must Between NSTAR and Acton (VIDEO)

Though it has been almost two months since Acton’s brush with Irene, many Acton residents still remember , in some cases for almost a week and are disappointed with NSTAR’s performance post storm. Anyone who was without power during the aftermath of Irene can recall having a hard time reaching NSTAR’s emergency contact line.

At Monday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting, Town Manager, Steven Ledoux, explained in a power-point presentation what the Town has learned from Irene:

• The Town has to communicate better with folks without power and NSTAR.

• The Town has seriously thought about purchasing an emergency FM radio transmitter so that folks can tune-in and receive the latest updates from the Town during a major emergency situation.

• The Town wants to equip Public Address Speakers on their emergency vehicles.

• The Town wants to provide a reminder notice in the Municipal Quarterly and the Senior Newsletter to inform residents how to register their cell phones with NSTAR, the emergency Connect-CTY system and how to join the Towns website email list.

Some residents, like Ann O'Grady, who attended Monday night’s meeting, claimed that you couldn’t rely on NSTAR for safety.

“I understand (restoring power to) hospitals and business are a priority, but I do not understand how your company (NSTAR) could leave live wires that could kill somebody in the road for five days,” O’Grady said to Annemarie Walsh, the NSTAR Representative that attended the meeting.

According to O’Grady, she knew of a live wire in her neighborhood that was down for several days, hanging down over the middle of the street. She said a school bus went under the live wire and children were riding their bikes on that street.

Selectmen, Pam Harting-Barrat, asked the NSTAR representative where on NSTAR’s priority list does a downed live wire in a neighborhood full of children stand.

“We (NSTAR) did meet with the town a few weeks back and at that time we did discuss the different priorities of how we (NSTAR) have our own priorities and the town has their own and we’ve agreed to work together to address these priorities,” said Walsh. “Hopefully there isn’t another storm.”

The fact of the matter is that there will be another storm sometime down the road and many Acton residents and Town Officials are seeking better ways to communicate with NSTAR. Before Irene hit, the town prepared an and filled sandbags for precaution. for those without power and the Public Safety Facility offered residents without power a place to charge their electronics. Police, fire and

“The sneaker-net issue is that I think people need to be more connected in this community,” said Mike Gowing, Selectmen Chair. “We are a community and we have to be able to watch out for one another. If you know you have somebody elderly down the street from you, don’t assume everything is fine, go down the street and knock on the door and do a face to face because sometimes people are too proud or don’t know what to do. We’ll work with NSTAR and we’ll work with National Grid to make sure we can get a better response and we’ll better our communication with the utilities and with the people in the community but it’s not just going to rest with us, it rests with everyone in the town.”

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