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Council delays Eversource, Verizon easements; sends petitions to joint committee
Summary
Springfield City Council voted to refer six utility petitions from Eversource and Verizon to the Maintenance & Development and Economic Development committees after councilors raised concerns about transparency, customer costs and coordination with road repairs.
The Springfield City Council voted unanimously Monday to send six utility petitions from Eversource and one from Verizon to a joint Maintenance & Development and Economic Development committee for further review.
Councilor James Brown pressed the motion after questioning whether the city and residents understand how utility upgrades affect consumer bills and how companies allocate costs and profits. "We're gonna reconstruct this...and then now we're gonna charge the customers this amount of money for doing it," Brown said, urging the council to "slow down a lot of this and put it in committees." Councilor John Curran seconded the motion.
The petitions include routine easements and infrastructure work. Hector Velez, the city engineer, told the council the Westwood petition from Eversource would replace roughly 2,000 feet of gas line (from Northampton Avenue to Norfolk…
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