Update from Orangetown Town Hall - Andy Stewart

"SANDY" UPDATE FROM Orangetown TOWN HALL - as of 11-1-12 at 1:39 PM)

ORANGE AND ROCKLAND

I was in a room this morning, Thursday, with all town supervisors, highway dept superintendents and our state reps, all hammering on O&R for better cooperation around recovery effort on local roads. For obvious reasons, O&R prioritizes getting their main transmission lines up and running, but our highway dept  CANNOT  TOUCH a tree that is tangled in overhead wires until an O&R technician secures the wire and confirms the tree is not energized. So we have dozens of highway workers waiting to tackle trees.

As a result of our demands, O&R is now accepting lists of tree/wire road closures from each town (sounds like common sense, right?), and O&R will seek to follow Town guidance on prioritizing tree work that does not involve complex work on transformers or repairing utility poles, ie, prioritize the simple and fast fixes that will enable the Town to open the maximum number of roads as quickly as possible. Work continues through the night tonight.

O&R has crews in Orangetown, especially in the Sparkill area this morning. With each passing hour more customers have their service back.

• Every substation is back up.
• O&R is not providing any timeframe for restoration of power to any officials or customers. Their original estimate was “10-15 days”
• Of 14,000 customers who lost power in Orangetown, 11,000 still do not have power.
• 112,000 in Rockland County lost power, 67,000 still don’t have power.
• 43 Orangetown Town Rds are closed and many must await O&R technicians before Town highway can remove trees.
• Crews from all over the USA are working in Rockland with more on the way.
• O&R cooperated with Town EMS to get radio base on Clausland Mtn up and running
• Many traffic signals are still not working, but the main roads are clear for the most part.
• Please report all electrical emergencies to 845-434-4100 or http://www.oru.com

TOWN SERVICES:

Town Hall is operational with a comfort station, guest wireless service and powerstrips to recharge phones and computers and medical equipment. Hours are 7 AM - 9 PM Friday, and 10 AM - 5 PM Saturday and Sunday, as space is available.

Public meeting tonight at Town Hall - 7 PM for police commission and budget review; 6 PM for general Q&A on storm, budget or other matters. We are working toward a state deadline to complete town budget for 2013. There will be a budget hearing on Nov. 7 at 8 PM.

Please report any safety hazards to theTown Police at 845-359-3700

HALLOWEEN:

The Town is recommending extreme caution when leaving the house after dark due to lack of lighting and existence of downed wires that may be "live" with potential for fatalities. The Town does not endorse Trick or Treating activity at this time.

ELECTIONS:

Voting machines have arrived in Town Hall from the County, and elections have not been canceled. However, it is unclear at this time which polling places will be open.

SCHOOLS:

Closed Friday, not clear when re-opening.

SHELTER:

RCC fieldhouse has showers and overnight sleeping facilities and is “pet friendly”

We have weathered Hurricane Sandy.  Our Police and Highway crews are out working to maintain public safety and clear our roads.  We continue to urge our residents to stay off the streets and stay indoors as much as possible.

Further notifications: Sign up for NY Alerts (www.nyalert.gov), a system that offers phone, text message and email notifications for severe weather. Checkwww.orangetown.com for updates from Town Hall.

Please forward this notice to Orangetown residents.

Sincerely yours,

Andy Stewart

Supervisor