ORDER-2022-30 : An Order on the Status of Green and Howard St. Electrical transmission Line

Transcript (~22 min @ 2:58)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 2:49 Cory Thomas: we have order 2022-30 in order on the status of green and howard street electrical transmission

▶ 3:01 Speaker 1: lines mr clerk do we have someone from eversource uh we have uh three people here for this matter

▶ 3:26 Cory Thomas: and we'll unmute them and bring them in thank you sir i believe we have meredith barecki the public relations coordinator from eversource yes welcome miss berecki

▶ 3:40 Speaker 3: not sure why my video is not working so i apologize for that

▶ 3:45 Cory Thomas: that's okay thank you for being here welcome my pleasure thank you for having us

▶ 3:50 Cory Thomas: sure uh would you like to uh let the committee know more about what's going on in the project

▶ 3:58 Speaker 3: on green street in howard street in melrose i would be happy to and actually i think i am getting my camera on so just give me a second thank you for bearing thank you for bearing with me this this evening um i'm not sure why my camera's not working again but uh without further ado let me let you know that the first of all i want to acknowledge for the residents of melrose what a long haul this has been um with eversource so very much appreciate the patience and the partnership we've had with the city and the residents really over what's been more than two years time with this project um so the good news is the work is done um and if it would be helpful i would be happy to provide um the committee with a you know a little bit of the background of the project uh it looks i see people nodding so i will go go ahead with that so the project began in the fall of 2019 and this was a reliability project that required the replacement of two underground transmission lines they span six miles between everett and saugus and really our obligation as a public utility is to make sure that we are delivering safe reliable electricity across the entire metro boston area so like i said earlier the project took almost two years to complete as we replace these aging underground cables and because there were two parallel cables running along under underground construction occurred at least two times in each location which again recognizing that that was very disruptive for the residents along the route but we were able to use the existing duct banks and those are a group of pipes that house electrical lines so that helped to minimize even greater traffic disruptions had we been having to install brand new duct banks and trenches work on the project was completed in early june of 2021 and both of the transmission lines at that time went into service so what occurred shortly thereafter because typically these lines run without issues uh upwards of 50 years if not longer unfortunately the newly installed line faulted at the end of june again not very long after it had been energized so that occurred and required us to do emergency work um again working in partnership and are so grateful for that that partnership with your city employees so that repair took place over the course of 11 weeks and during this time that work included it included excavation of five pits um most of them along howard street one in the sidewalk at green street freezing the lines um so that required about two bouts of continuous 24-hour work and we just completed the final patching of the roads so over that time we had five different notifications that were sent out created hand delivered so those went to direct abutters they went to residents living along the detour routes and we also were in touch with the principal at the horace man elementary school ahead of the school opening um so that the principal could provide families with an update for the work that was occurring down on howard street um so like i said at the beginning at the get-go all the roads have been patched the work is complete um and then at the direction of the dpw we will be fully restoring next spring the patches this will allow the patches to settle over the winter the sidewalk at 85 green street and the curb have been restored um we've been working with the homeowner at 85 green street um that lawn was reseated on friday um and we are continuing to be in in touch with that homeowner as well so i know i went through that pretty quickly i also have with me this evening our project manager paul graham um who have you have technical questions

▶ 8:28 Cory Thomas: we'll be happy to to help with that thank you very much mr ricky and welcome mr graham uh council

▶ 8:35 Mark Garipay: garrett video question yeah thank you mr chairman uh thank you all for being here as uh myself and uh councillor mcnaught uh co-sponsored this order or so to get to get an update and to find out when the project would be would be completed it's been the quality of life for the residents over on over on that side of town it's not my ward but i abutt it and and the detours um for the residents that travel um from the east side of our our community uh everything being detoured having to go all the way down to main street during rush hour during school drop off um it's been a it's been a extremely inconvenience for for all the residents um the main the main question a couple questions i had um at least for me and then then i then i can probably pass it off this uh council mcnaught probably has a has a few questions but um you did answer that you will be um repaving howard street i'm assuming that will be curb to

▶ 9:42 Speaker 3: curb when when that's done yeah well we are working with um the dpw director and i see miss rice the town engineer is here as well so at their direction we are doing places of curb to curb and then um in other areas you know bonnie if you want to help give some direction

▶ 10:16 Cory Thomas: around that miss breech you're muted you miss reese you're still you're still muted welcome

▶ 10:27 Cory Thomas: hello nice to have you here still can't hear you bonnie mr clerk is there anything we can do to

▶ 10:34 Cory Thomas: help miss reese get audio yes i'm trying to right now great thank you sir but the bottom line is

▶ 10:42 Speaker 3: while we're waiting for that um yes whatever whatever the city needs us to do to restore the pavement um and you know the pat the so we have the temporary patches down now um and then we will fully restore to the from the direction of the dpw um in the spring

▶ 11:07 Speaker 3: Can you hear me now?

▶ 11:10 Speaker 4: Yes. Oh, good. Okay. I don't know what that was, but thank you for bearing with me. So to answer

▶ 11:19 Jeff McNaught: the question, we- Point of order. Point of order. Sorry, Mr. Chair. I think Councilor Garipay was

▶ 11:29 Speaker 2: just asking a question. Councilor Garipay, please continue.

▶ 11:31 Mark Garipay: That's fine. That's fine. I'll let Ms. Reese finish, and then I'll just ask my questions after regarding the road she may answer some of my questions uh with her statement thank

▶ 11:43 Speaker 4: you counselor i apologize um so to answer your earlier question the director and i and the eversource representatives walked the entire length of the project last week and looked at each location where they had done the the trenching for the freeze pits and for the repair in most locations we are having them do a curb to curb restoration I think there was only one location where it was the trench was very much only on one side of the road and so we agreed that we could just pay from the curb to the center line. And then between Heseltine and, help me out here Meredith. I think it's Nelsa.

▶ 12:32 Speaker 4: Haskell and Heseltine, they're going to do, they're going to do a full mill and overlay for that entire stretch. And then there's another stretch further down where we had three freeze pits in a row where they're just going to do the entire stretch, not just where the pits are, But the entire structure road, so that the, you know, at the end of the day, and they're going to infrared after they do the melon overlay. So, at the end of the day, it should be a nice smooth, even surface going out Howard street.

▶ 13:05 Mark Garipay: Thank you. I mean, I ultimately, I would prefer curb to curb on all everywhere where they, where they opened up. This has been an inconvenience for all the residents and I believe if we go back, I don't believe it's been that long since how which street was was paved over. Then not just Howard Street, I think we need to look at the neighborhood of Carlita and Cochrane, which where all the detours were for the last two years, which those roads were not main traveled roads that handle all that traffic. Some of those roads are an absolute mess if you talk to some of the neighbors up there, especially Cochrane from Boardman to Howard Street. If there's something that Eversource could do with that, because the detour every day was going down Carlisle, Cranmore, up around Boardman and then back down to Cochrane. Vani, I'd encourage yourself and and Elena to please take a look at those before we sign off on anything from Eversource, because I really think those roads should be looked at, especially for the inconvenience and the quality of life that the neighbors had to put up with for the last two years. And I understand this was a project that needed to be done, but I still think those roads took a beating over the last two years. So, with that, I'll pass it off to any other councils

▶ 14:46 Cory Thomas: another one thank you councillor Garipay council mcnaught thank you mr chair and as a non-voting

▶ 14:50 Jeff McNaught: member of this committee i just want to thank you for the opportunity to speak um thank you miss barecki miss reese and mr graham for being here this evening um it i want to say first to thank you to council Garipay uh it was actually his idea to file this order which is strange because it's in my backyard um you know the reason i i didn't think to file the order was i've uh i've contacted city officials many times asked for meetings out on howard street many times which were not responded to favorably there never was a meeting miss reese i still invite you out to talk with the residents even though the project is ending which we'd like an end date or at least to project an end date um but you know i don't think it's unreasonable to ask the city engineer to come out and speak with residents i know miss broika's ellis director of dpw did this plenty of times before in her city engineer capacity and um it wasn't very long ago that we were asking for this help and information and we didn't get it um and it's been two years of hell on howard street and green street and and you need to know that because anybody living in Ward 2 or in Melrose who's driven down these streets knows it and Ms. Borecki with all due respect when you say the city officials that you've worked with have been patient well that's great they don't live here and I don't just mean on Howard Street or in the neighborhood I don't think any of them live in Melrose so there's a big difference between them being patient and the people on Howard Street and the surrounding streets that have been affected with detours on and off for two years they're not patient they've had it so it's time for this to and it's time for curb-to-curb pavement repaving, Ms. Reese. We're not looking for patchwork here. And even if it means that work has to be done beneath the roads, I do understand that there's a plan for when we do work underneath the roads and when we may repave a road. That's fine, I understand that, but we've gotta get the money now to make sure that that's gonna be done right. because the June flub, if you will, we're now in October, cost us another four months of hell over here. So the detours, Ms. Burecki, go to Facebook. Don't go to the city officials if you wanna know if people are being impatient. Go to Facebook and see the comments from people they've had it. So that being said, my only question is, when is it gonna be done? When are you gonna be gone? And when can we get to repaving at least Howard Street? Thank you.

▶ 17:35 Speaker 3: would you like me to take that one i can okay yeah no thank you for thank you for that um and we are we're done in melrose um with the exception of the final curb to curve restoration so that we are done with the patching but in order for those patches to settle over the winter so that the final restoration sticks if you will um that we would be coming back in the spring to do the or our contractor would be coming back in the spring to do the curb to curb restoration um and on your point and question about the detour routes uh yep you're you're absolutely right um in all of our literature all of our handouts um we have our our hotline number our email our email number our personal cell phone of our field outreach representatives so you're 100 right we unders we heard from people both on howard street and along the detour route and we're also working with the city on um the the street repair fund

▶ 18:48 Speaker 3: and making sure that those detour uh those detour streets get attended to

▶ 18:54 Jeff McNaught: Thank you, Ms. Barucki. And can we make a commitment to, Ms. Reese and Ms. Barucki, can we make a commitment to making a list of what streets are going to be done and, again, fully repaved? Can we get together and make that list, whether it's virtually or meet at City Hall?

▶ 19:17 Speaker 4: um i don't want it to just to just so just to address that question sir um elena sits down with all the utilities every single year and we have you know we have our list of streets that are still under the moratorium because they've been paved in the last five years we have our list of work that national grid and eversource both are planning to do and we do our best to coordinate and you know sometimes things don't line up and unfortunately this is one of those projects but we do really make an effort to coordinate with the utilities as best that we can

▶ 19:58 Jeff McNaught: okay yeah that doesn't really answer my question what i want to know is are we going to get the funds to repair the streets that need repair i'm not really interested in a five-year moratorium if a road's been torn up due to a construction project that the residents had no control over so there's rules and there's exceptions to rules. So I'd just like to know that we're gonna get the funding to repair Howard and Green and all the side streets that were affected by the detour. Can we make that commitment? And can we also make a commitment to at least make a list of those streets that are gonna need that repair, whether or not you make the exception to go inside the five years or not, the money is gonna be there at some point to fix the roads for these people. Can we make that commitment?

▶ 20:43 Speaker 4: We are already having discussions. We've already brought up the topic of us being able to repave Carlita, and we are looking at some of those side streets and what needs to be done. In addition to that, just so you know, on Howard Street, they'll be doing the curb to curb, but they'll also be restoring crosswalks and such as they go through so that any impact to those side streets coming off Howard Street in terms of that type of thing will also be replaced.

▶ 21:24 Jeff McNaught: Yeah, yeah. And those projects were also held up due to this project and the errors made. So I'm glad to hear that that's moving forward. I don't think I'm getting the answer I want. It doesn't mean I won't keep seeking it. uh i'm uh mr chair thank you again for the opportunity to speak um i yield the floor

▶ 21:47 Cory Thomas: thank you council mcnaught uh are there any members of the public works committee for the first time we would like to ask any questions council garibay for the second time yeah just

▶ 21:57 Mark Garipay: for some just for some clarification i think there's a little confusion um when i had suggested that uh you know it's the detoured routes um i understand that we have a list that um when we when we redo a road we're doing all the utilities i'm looking to see if eversource is willing to um to uh provide any repave repave those sections of the roads even if it's just scraping right now uh because they're in such dire need of repair uh the cochrane and the carlita i'm I'm wondering if Eversource, due to this project and the delay in this project and the inconvenience to the residents is willing to pay for that. I'm not asking right now to reconstruct and have all the utilities come in. I think that's where Councillor McNaught was going. So I guess my question is more of a direct question. Is that would Eversource be willing to provide some funding in order to get those roads done and make them at least passable so people aren't ruining their cars as they're driving down there due to the last two years of the amount of traffic that have been detoured into those neighborhoods?

▶ 23:10 Speaker 3: Yep. No, I, for the chair, would you like me to answer that? Okay. Thank you, Councillor. Yes, we are to, yes. we're working with the dpw um to make a contribution to the street repair fund um so can i give you an exact dollar figure tonight i know but to answer your to the short answer to your question is yes we're going to work with the city to um address the detour routes as well as in addition to the paving we already discussed thank you very much you're

▶ 23:44 Speaker 3: You're welcome.

▶ 23:47 Cory Thomas: Ms. Borecki, thank you for being here. Ms. Reese, thank you. Mr. Graham, thank you. Seeing no other questions, what is the will of the committee?

▶ 23:55 Mark Garipay: Make a motion to place this on file or recommend to place on file.

▶ 24:03 Cory Thomas: Thank you, Mr. Garipay. Seconded by Councillor McMaster or Councillor McMaster, do you have a question?

▶ 24:08 Shawn M. MacMaster: Yes, Mr. Chairman, just through the chair to the makers of the order, I'm just wondering if it might make sense to keep this open at the committee level in the event That either 1 of you want to call parties back before us for questions, rather than file a new order. Just a suggestion, but it's certainly up to both of you.

▶ 24:26 Cory Thomas: Thank you. Council of McMaster. Council Gary pay the orders to you still.

▶ 24:31 Mark Garipay: I'll withdraw that motion and make a motion to hold and committee.

▶ 24:38 Cory Thomas: Anyone like the 2nd, that motion.

▶ 24:44 Cory Thomas: so we have a motion on the table to holding committee seconded by me by councillor Garipay seconded by councillor Eccles clerk any color all I chair

▶ 25:02 Speaker 1: Thomas yes vice chair Garipay yes councillor McMaster yes

▶ 25:09 Speaker 1: Councilor Eccles? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes.