Residents press JCP&L over streetlight outages and $71,000 bill; council seeks answers

Residents and council members raised concerns about multiple, long‑running streetlight outages and a $71,000 bill to JCP&L listed on the borough’s bills list, asking whether the borough can withhold payments when lights remain unrepaired. The topic matters to residents who say outages reduce public safety and to the borough because the bills are a recurring budget item. Public commenter Jim Robinson noted the $71,000 payment to JCP&L and said the borough had asked the utility to meet about streetlight outages earlier in the year; he said more lights were out now than at that time. “We continue to pay them $71,000,” Robinson said and urged the borough to withhold payments for outstanding repairs. Councilmembers said the borough attorney and staff have been pursuing the matter and asked the utility to provide a written response to a set of questions about infrastructure condition and planned repairs. Council members requested that the borough’s representative continue to seek answers from JCP&L (including a response to a previously supplied list of 10 questions), and Councilwoman Mary Novak said the council had previously passed a motion to consider deductions for lights that remain out. Councilman Zabrowski said he would again request a comprehensive written response from the utility’s representative and asked that the borough pursue enforcement of any service obligations. No reduction of a payment was recorded in the meeting minutes; councilmembers said staff would follow up and bring any dispute or recommended withholding to a future council meeting with documentation from the utility and the borough attorney. Speakers quoted in this article are those who raised the JCP&L issue during the public comment and council reports; all quotations are taken from the meeting transcript.