Springfield councilors press Eversource, DPW on slow streetlight repairs and LED rollout

Springfield City Councilors and neighborhood residents pressed Eversource and the Department of Public Works on Wednesday over slow repairs to burned‑out streetlights, the pace of a multi‑year LED conversion and long wait times for replacement parts for decorative fixtures.

Councilor Victor Davila, chair of the General Government Committee, opened the meeting saying the agenda would cover “the lack of street light[s] in the Forest Park neighborhood, the amount of crews dedicated to replacing burnout street lights, and the schedule to replace burnout street lights.” He told the meeting he has received dozens of constituent complaints and demanded faster fixes.

The meeting focused on three interlocking problems: the utility’s multiyear LED conversion, day‑to‑day repair response for reported outages, and the inability to source parts for older decorative poles. Amy Henderson, Eversource’s representative at the meeting, said the company has completed “about 70%” of its five‑year LED conversion and “we just completed year 3 of the 5 year plan.” Henderson said the conversions began in January 2023 and that Eversource has been replacing eligible fixtures as crews encounter outages rather than leaving a non‑LED lamp in place.

Chris Sigmoid, director of public works, and other speakers described the city’s two‑track problem: standard cobra‑head or modern LED fixtures that provide roadway illumination, and older decorative poles that are increasingly impossible to repair because vendors no longer produce…