PARSIPPANY — Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Council passed Resolution No. R2018-45, “Endorsing Governor Murphy’s Directive to The Board of Public Utilities to investigate and hold hearings on how Jersey Central Power & Light responded to the recent Winter storms leaving thousands of Township Residents without power.”
The resolution passed 3-2, with Councilman Michael dePierro and Councilwoman Loretta Gragnani voting against the Resolution.
Council President Paul Carifi, Jr., stated “I think it is important that this issue be looked into. I know the crews on the road worked very hard at restoring power but if something was not handled correctly by upper management then that needs to be addressed, so that power outages are handled more efficiently in the future. The investigation may turn up nothing but at least the state is doing its due diligence. I have no idea why Mr. dePierro and Ms. Gragnani would vote no in supporting this investigation. I have spoken to many residents in town who were without power for many days, they deserve answers.”
“JCP&L is a utility that reports to the Board of Public Utilities. The BPU is already investigating JCP&L’s slow response to the outages at the Governor’s request. I read that JCP&L had 1400 telephone poles down and 2800 miles of cable to run. This was compounded by downed trees blocking many roads. The BPU will determine if better planning or preparations could have improved upon that. No-one likes to experience power outages, including my family. My home was without power for 11 days during Hurricane Sandy. I just felt that this Resolution was unnecessary. We will all read about the results of the BPU’s findings and recommendations for improvement when their investigation is complete, stated Councilman Michael dePierro.
The resolution read:
TOWNSHIP OF PARSIPPANY-TROY HILLS MORRIS COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
RESOLUTION R2018-045: RESOLUTION OF THE TOWNSHIP COUNCIL ENDORSING
GOVERNOR MURPHY’S DIRECTIVE TO THE BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES TO INVESTIGATE AND HOLD HEARINGS ON HOW JERSEY CENTRAL POWER & LIGHT RESPONDED TO THE RECENT WINTER STORMS LEAVING THOUSANDS OF TOWNSHIP RESIDENTS WITHOUT POWER
WHEREAS, many residents and businesses of the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills
(the “Township”) have been without power since the March 2, 2018 Nor’easter storm; and
WHEREAS, thousands of additional Township residents and businesses lost power during the March 7, 2018 snow storm; and
WHEREAS, at the height of the most recent storm, more than 350,000 New Jersey residents were without power; and
WHEREAS, Jersey Central Power & Light (“JCP&L”), which services the Township, has been identified as the utility company responsible for the most outages; and
WHEREAS, JCP&L has failed to restore power to Township residents and businesses in a timely manner, which has jeopardized the public health, safety and well-being of Township residents; and
WHEREAS, Governor Philip D. Murphy has directed the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (“BPU”) to complete an assessment and investigation of how state utility companies responded to these winter storms leaving hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents without power; and
WHEREAS, Governor Murphy has further announced that as part of the investigation hearings will be held in areas served by JCP&L.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council of the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills, County of Morris, State of New Jersey as follows:
- That the aforesaid recitals are hereby adopted and incorporated herein as if repeated in full;
- The Township Council hereby endorses Governor Murphy’s directive to the BPU to complete an assessment and investigation of JCP&L’s response to the recent winter storms and its inability to timely and efficiently restore electric service to the residents of the Township.
- The Township Council hereby requests that the Mayor pursue all available actions to ensure that the BPU hold hearings in the Township as part of its investigation so that JCP&L’s response to winter storms in the Township can be properly assessed and remedies to JCP&L’s deficient service can be identified;
- If any part of this Resolution shall be deemed invalid, such parts shall be severed and the invalidity thereby shall not affect the remaining parts of this Resolution.
- A copy of this resolution shall be available for public inspection at the offices of the Town Clerk.
- This Resolution shall take effect immediately.
THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS A TRUE AND LAWFUL COPY OF A RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE TOWNSHIP COUNCIL OF THE TOWNSHIP OF PARSIPPANY-TROY HILLS, COUNTY OF MORRIS, STATE OF NEW JERSEY AT ITS MEETING OF MARCH 20, 2018.
