Questions Raised About National Grid Practices

A routine request by the National Grid to install and maintain gas mains on two Hingham roads came under fire at Tuesday night's Selectmen meeting after residents of Fairview Street voiced their disapproval of the company.

Selectmen had allocated five minutes on the agenda for the petition to install and maintain gas mains on Fairview Street and Linscott Road, but the debate lasted for nearly an hour when residents came forward to object to the way that National Grid had carried out work in previous weeks.

Fairview resident Richard Shaun Haley was present at Tuesday's Selectmen meeting and said back in June he had requested that the gas main on his street be extended to six homes including his own. Haley was upset because his request was never met and said he was “disgusted with National Grid.”

A National Grid official said the only way the main could be extended is if each household paid $4,200 for the installment.

Dennis Reagan, representing National Grid, advised that he had attended a , but no residents had appeared to voice any objections and the maintenance work was carried out as planned without any extension. 

Nicole Murhill, who lives on the corner of Colby Street and Fairview, then advised Selectmen that work had been carried out between the unreasonable hours of 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. on a Thursday night. Murhill also said a 10 foot square metal grate used to cover the trench had been left on her front yard for over two weeks, despite repeated requests to remove it.

Murhill also complained that she had received “inappropriate comments” when she asked the workers to move the grate and although she would not explain in detail what the comments were, she did say that workers had caller her "hunny."

Reagan was unaware of this and promised that he would speak to relevant departments.

However, this was not good enough for the Selectmen to approve the petition for maintenance on Fairview Street.

Selectmen Bruce Rabuffo suggested that until acceptable answers were received from the company as to their conduct regarding Fairview that they should table these petitions until the next meeting on Dec. 13.

John Riley, chairman, said he appreciated that National Grid was trying to get the work done before the weather changes, but that he wanted the situation sorted with disgruntled residents sooner rather than later.

“This is the second time that we’ve found ourselves in this position,” Riley said. “There have been criticisms of work done by National Grid before and we’re back in the same position.”

The motion to approve the Grant of Location for Fairview Street was held over until the next meeting while the motion for Linscott Road was approved but neither received the full support of the Selectmen and National Grid were warned about their future petitions. 

“The gas company has made enormous leaps in their relationship with the town,” said Selectmen Bruce Rabuffo. “But when I have two citizens coming to spend over 30 minutes of our time upset about the way they were treated, they are coming to us for our opinion and to get our support. I expect standards to be maintained and we are available at any time to make that happen.”

The vote to approve work on Linscott Road was passed by 2-1 as the National Grid explained they were “nervous about that main.”