It’s said that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. That was certainly the case recently when the area was pummeled by a violent wind storm March 8, leaving tens of thousands without power.
Local Municipal Electric Utility Association of New York State (MEUA) municipalities not only restored power to their own villages, their linemen also helped to restore power to RG&E customers around Monroe County.
Churchville Mayor Nancy Steedman is the current president of MEUA. “The recent 81 mile per hour winds caused tremendous damage to our community and surrounding areas,” she says. “This windstorm on March 8 brought the need for mutual aid to RG&E by the MEUA.”
Village municipal electric companies from Bath, Bergen, Castile, Churchville, Endicott, Fairport, Frankfort, Greene, Groton, Hamilton, Mohawk, Penn Yan, Solvay, Spencerport and Watkins Glen were ready to offer mutual aid assistance to the RG&E storm restoration process, Mayor Steedman says.
“Locally, the MEUA systems of the Villages of Bergen, Churchville, Fairport, Holley and Spencerport joined with an additional 35 villages throughout NYS as their Mutual Aid plan was implemented for this storm,” she adds.
Owen McIntee, Electric Superintendent of the Village of Spencerport and Tom Santillo, Village of Fairport Electric, coordinated and led linemen for the mutual aid starting Friday, March 10 through Wednesday, March 15, Mayor Steedman says.
“There were 45 linemen who worked with RG&E to restore power throughout Monroe County,” she explains. “MEUA linemen repaired a primary circuit feeding East Rochester and Perinton that restored power to 2,000 RG&E customers. Their repairs to restore power continued until completed.”
Mayor Steedman says she and the entire Churchville Village Board are very proud of the efforts of these linemen. “The Village of Churchville linemen, Churchville DPW crew and office staff had Churchville village customers restored within 24 hours along with clearing the streets of fallen tree debris and responding to phone calls. We were then ready to help others. They are all to be commended.
“The continuation of the restoration of power to the Rochester area by Churchville Municipal Electric linemen along with linemen from across NYS is to be admired,” she continues. “Power was restored quickly, safely and without injury. The MEUA Mutual Aid plan was deployed when needed and worked efficiently. This was definitely a proud example of multiple local governments working together for the good of residents. It makes me proud to be a part of the Village of Churchville and the MEUA.”
Bergen Mayor Anna Marie Barclay says there were no outages in the Village of Bergen during the violent storm. “(Our) crew removed downed trees from roadways, and removed branches from overhead wires,” she says. “The Village Board and residents are extremely proud of the upgrades and maintenance – tree pruning, etc. – to our system by our linemen. This enabled the homes and businesses within our system to remain up and running, and enabled our crew to provide mutual aid for other communities in need.”
The Bergen crew spent nine hours in Churchville providing mutual aid to their system, and four hours in Spencerport providing mutual aid, Mayor Barclay says.
“The next four days were spent in Rochester for mutual aid with RG&E. Nick Booher and Matt Sluburski worked 79 hours, Joe Chimino worked 82.5. In all situations the village bucket truck was in use. Our crew was very complimentary of all those they worked with, and of the support they received from everyone during the storm event and restoration time,” she says.
In Spencerport, Mayor Gary Penders says he and the village board are very proud of their village and villages throughout the state. “With associations like the MEUA, Mutual Aid plans are developed and efficiently deployed when the need calls,” he says.
Mayor Penders said Spencerport Municipal Electric Superintendent Owen McIntee, who is also MEUA’s Mutual Aid Coordinator, and the New York Power Authority contacted the MEUA to activate the newly adopted Private/Public Mutual Aid Protocol Agreement which, “activated the MEUA Mutual Aid response process with RG&E. RG&E welcomed the offer,” Mayor Penders said.
He adds that from Sunday, March 12 through Wednesday, March 15, MEUA crews worked in the Village of Pittsford, Henrietta, the City of Rochester, Brighton, East Irondequoit, Webster and the Durand Eastman Park area restoring power to RG&E customers.
