Select Board chair Brian Herr at Tuesday’s Select Board meeting pushed for the creation of a special liaison for the Main Street Corridor Project and an explanation for the continuing delay of the electrical transformers from Eversource needed to complete the undergrounding of utilities.
Herr asked to take on this role so that he could communicate directly with the companies involved, noting his extensive experience in the electric and construction industries over the past four decades.
“I have not been mincing my words about this for the last few months,” he said. “I think we need to push. I think we need to push hard on Eversource, Amorello, MassDOT and whoever else is involved.”
Herr stressed that he did not see this role as interference in “the day-to-day operations of government” because the board is requesting information from entities that the town has been working with “trying to get things done.”
Added Herr: “We’re still looking at the same thing we’re looking at at the beginning of this year and the end of last year … and mid-summer of last year.”
It is “time to raise a little heck” with the companies involved, he added, noting that a June 19 work date had been pushed back until after the July 4 holiday.
In her report, interim Town Manager Elaine Lazarus said that MassDOT signed a contract extension for utility work until July 2025.
Herr works as the senior vice president and central manager of the construction services group at Solect Energy, a Hopkinton-based renewable energy company. He explained to the board that he procures transformers as part of his job.
“I buy 220 transformers a year at work,” he pointed out. “I know the transformer world. I know the whole thing, and I know how to talk to contractors.”
As the liaison, he said he would also talk with state Senate President Karen Spilka about the delay, as this is a state project. He also intends to speak with the head of Eversource, Joe Nolan. Herr argued that, in the industry, the transformer installation schedule can be altered based on need, so Hopkinton should be a priority.
Select Board member Amy Ritterbusch asked if the definition and terms of the role would be defined in writing. She raised a similar concern regarding the creation of the water and sewer liaison position that Herr suggested and was unanimously approved.
Replied Herr: “I just told you what the role is: Go raise hell.”
“We’re all frustrated,” Ritterbusch said.
Added Herr: “If there’s not a squeaky wheel, we’re not going to get any traction here.”
He also argued that even if the transformers can’t be installed soon, the aesthetic aspects of the project, such as tree planting and brickwork installation, could be done now.
The liaison position was unanimously approved by the board.
Lazarus pointed out that Eversource currently is working on overhead installation work. Transfers from ground to overhead systems should be completed by September. The old poles will be removed on the west side of the project.
She added that Amorello will be working on the south side of the project after Independence Day. This will include brickwork, sidewalk construction and curb cut installation, landscaping and some underground utility installation.
“Utility companies will continue to work on the north,” she explained, so that there will be work being done on both ends of the corridor.
Amen! A great thank you to Brian Herr for finally adding some common sense to this project. Over two years of “lip service” about transformer availability is sheer nonsense from Eversource. If this were in the midst of the pandemic with rampant supply-chain issues I might have some sympathy, but this is not the case. Just more Eversource mismanagement and incompetence (all from the Company that is prone to taking 3+ years to remove abandoned poles and has about the highest electricity rates in the Country).
Would be good if Brian or other Town leader can shed some light and common sense on the infamous bike path portion of this project, followed by some insight on peeling paint on brand new light poles. Now that we have someone with common sense in a leadership position, we can revisit the dumbest of dumb decisions relating to the siting of the Elmwood school replacement.
I don’t know. I kind of like the traffic downtown
Will this fix our downtown and remove the 15 foot wide sidewalk to nowhere? Probably not. What a cluster.
Pelase remove 15 foot sidewalk. They are not useful for anyone. extend a lane in downtown to ease traffic.