Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents press Sayreville council to escalate repeated power outages to state regulators
Summary
Residents said recurring localized power failures have left neighborhoods without heat during winter storms and urged the council to involve the Board of Public Utilities and state representatives; council members agreed to escalate complaints beyond utility customer service.
Multiple Sayreville residents pressed the borough council on Feb. 9 to take stronger action after recent localized power outages and repeated brownouts.
A resident who addressed the council described years of outages concentrated in one quadrant of town and said they were not the result of storms but "negligence on the part of Jersey Central." He urged the council to bring the issue to the state Board of Public Utilities and to district and legislative officials rather than relying exclusively on resident complaints.
"These power failures are not an act of God... They are negligence on the part of Jersey Central," the resident said, and asked the mayor and council to escalate the matter to higher authorities.
Council members acknowledged the problem and said they had attempted to contact the utility and the BPU with limited success. Several council members agreed they would pursue additional avenues, including contacting the 19th Legislative District representatives and asking administration staff to follow up with the BPU. The mayor and other members said they had written to the BPU and received no response.
Separately, the council discussed the borough’s emergency response during recent storms: OEM activated a warming center during a three-hour outage and the council highlighted two fire incidents that required multiagency responses. Council members also discussed volunteer recruitment for first responder roles and announced the appointment of Christopher Barsley as director of emergency management effective Jan. 1, 2026.
Additionally, Councilman Rios moved to reinstate Zoom participation for council meetings to improve access for residents who cannot attend in person; the motion passed with mixed votes, and the council said staff would coordinate the logistics.
The council did not set a formal date for bringing utility representatives before the full council during the meeting, but several members asked administration to pursue contact with state regulators and legislative offices and to report back.
