Plate-reader rules tabled; camera deal has two fixed readers

EAST HAMPTON — Smoke in the house. That was the call to 911 at least 19 times Tuesday night, Town Manager David Cox said. The calls brought the fire department, and then Eversource. By the town's account, the utility "experienced a malfunction" that "seems to have allowed a power surge in the lines" on Hog Hill Road, Terp Road and Schoolhouse Lane. Eversource says it is still looking for the cause.

Forty-one houses, the town said, may have taken the surge, and none got its power back until its wiring had been tested. From Tuesday night through Wednesday, Eversource's contractors and the East Hampton Volunteer Fire Department went door to door, circuit by circuit, up to about an hour a house. Residents unplugged everything and unscrewed their light bulbs for the tests. Anyone who refused the inspection could have the power back at their own risk. By about 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, 31 houses were on. By 8:30, the town said, all 41 were.

Then comes the bill. A dead dryer, for a start: one resident at the bottom of Terp wrote under the town's post that theirs had fried and a claim was coming. Eversource's position, passed along by the town, is that damage to the wiring inside a house is the owner's responsibility first, with a claim to the company after. Cox said homeowners should call their insurer, hire their own electrician, get the repairs done, then submit them to Eversource's claims department. "I think Eversource acknowledges they have some culpability here and they'll be paying folks back for the damages or equipment that's been damaged," he said.

Eversource has not said what failed. "We're reviewing the information gathered from the inspections as we continue to investigate the cause of the outage," the company said Wednesday. It has not said how many homes were damaged. Cox said at least one needed serious electrical work, and he did not think the damage was widespread.

Two more notes from the town: no generator until the wiring has been checked, and some houses may need a follow-up inspection after the power comes back.

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The commission asked for the change, and its chair said the commission discussed it at its last meeting. The public hearing earlier that night drew no speakers.

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The Town Council on Oct. 13 rewrote the police chief's job description. The chief no longer has to live in East Hampton or an adjoining town east of the Connecticut River; the new rule allows anywhere in Connecticut within a reasonable distance, as negotiated. As amended at the meeting, a home more than 30 miles away comes back to the council for discussion.

Town Manager David Cox said the old rule would limit the pool of candidates. One member raised the river's two crossings in an emergency; others worried about a chief living far away during a storm. Cox said he would use interview panels that could include council members, staff and residents.

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