The management at the Long Island Power Authority continues to be held accountable for its lack of preparation for and pathetic response to Hurricane Sandy.
LIPA Chairman Howard Steinberg has resigned two weeks after accepting the resignation of Chief Operating Officer Michael Hervey. He will leave at the end of the year. Steinberg is the fourth high-level LIPA official to quit. In addition to Hervey, Vice President for Customer Service Bruce Germano and Trustee X. Christofer Damianos have also resigned
At the same time a commission created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo is already investigating the LIPA’s and Con Edison’s response to Hurricane Sandy. The commission, which possesses broad investigative powers under the Moreland Act, has sent subpoenas to both LIPA and Con Edison.
The governor is under pressure to find out what went wrong and, in this case, that means taking heads.
As we reported, mayors from the Great Neck peninsula, New Hyde Park, Mineola, Williston Park and East Williston as well as Town of North Hempstead officials were completely frustrated by the utility in the weeks following the storm.
The failure to communicate was inexcusable. No one at LIPA would even give an educated guess when residents and business owners could expect the power to come back on in their communities. Crews coming in from other states waited for hours on the side of the road for directions where to go next.
The resignations are not enough. The commission must come up with a plan to ensure that this fiasco will not be repeated, no matter how bad the storm.
