HARTFORD >> Northeast Utilities has selected a former National Grid executive to serve as president of the energy company’s natural gas operations in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
William Akley had served as senior vice president for U.S. operations for London-based National Grid. In that job, he was responsible for field operations including construction, maintenance and meter services throughout the company’s service territory in New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Akley replaces Rodney Powell, who has taken on a new role at Northeast Utilities as the company’s president of corporate citizenship. Powell had been president of Yankee Gas since 2008 and added leadership duties with NSTAR Gas after Northeast Utilities merged with the Boston-based energy company in April 2012. “Bill is a seasoned veteran of the utility industry with more than 30 years of experience in all facets of the natural gas sector,” Werner Schweiger, executive vice president and chief operating officer at NU, said in a statement. “His solid track record for exceptional operational and safety performance along with his extensive knowledge and foresight will be invaluable for our customers as we continue to expand access to natural gas in Connecticut and Massachusetts.” Akley’s new role has him in charge of delivering natural gas to approximately 214,000 customers in 71 cities and towns in Connecticut with Yankee Gas and 300,000 customers in 51 cities and towns in Massachusetts with NSTAR Gas. Yankee Gas is in the midst of a decade along expansion of its natural gas distribution lines. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Asbestos, parking among school priorities
Groton - Removing asbestos, fixing the parking problem at Mary Morrisson Elementary School and planning school construction should be top priorities for capital spending in the coming fiscal year, a Board of Education subcommittee decided Monday. The spending recommendation - a little more than $1 million - will now go to the Board of Education for a vote and then the town. School officials had initially suggested about $3.4 million in capital projects - all as top priorities - including money for schools expected to be torn down later. Then last week, Town Manager Mark Oefinger urged the school board to review its list. If every project is a priority, the Representative Town Meeting may conclude that none are really priorities and reject them all, Oefinger said. Superintendent Michael Graner presented the revised list Monday. The request includes $785,000 to remove asbestos from Fitch High School and Claude Chester Elementary School. It would also spend $100,000 to develop plans to remove asbestos at S.B. Butler Elementary School, Carl C. Cutler and West Side middle schools, and the district administration building. Groton is working on a long-term plan for its schools that would build one middle school, convert its two middle schools to elementary schools, and close three older elementary schools. Even though Claude Chester and S. B. Butler schools are slated for closure under that plan, the state will help pay to remove asbestos, Graner said.CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Route 6 sidewalk project to begin in spring
BROOKLYN — A second holiday season with Wal-Mart on Route 6 has arrived and First Selectman Rick Ives is hoping it will be a safe one.
A 900-foot stretch between Wal-Mart and the rest of the Route 6 commercial area is void of sidewalks. In the two months between the Nov. 1, 2013, opening of the retail giant’s 24-hour store in Brooklyn and the start of 2014, three pedestrians were hit by cars in the area. None were seriously hurt. “I wanted sidewalks in by this winter,” Ives said. “We just have to get through another winter and hope nothing happens."
Ives signed an agreement with the state this week to move ahead with a sidewalk construction project. He said the sidewalks are expected to be built in the spring.
Brooklyn has the money for the sidewalks thanks to a $500,000 grant the Northeast Connecticut Council of Governments received on behalf of Brooklyn in early 2014. Ives has spent most of 2014, however, trying to sort out the plan for the sidewalks with the state, which has final say on all projects related to state highways.
In 2013, Ives had estimated the sidewalk would cost about $370,000. However, he said the state has allowed design changes that should bring the project under $300,000. The leftover money can be used for another NECCOG approved project, he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Now that the scheduled start of New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail service is just two years away, Massachusetts and Connecticut leaders stepping up their campaign to encourage new development around stations on the route.
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., led a delegation of Springfield officials and business executives Monday morning on a tour of the train stations in Hartford and New Haven to view improvements that their city might want as it extensively renovates its own station. Massachusetts wants to complete a roughly $80 million makeover of the 88-year-old station that currently serves Amtrak customers. The plan is to redesign it as a regional transportation hub with a terminal that can also handle 26 buses and substantially more rail passengers. The city also wants about 60,000 square feet of retail space on the second floor, and officials examined the New Haven and Hartford stations to see what kind of development they'd generated. At Union Station in Hartford, they toured and watched construction crews rebuilding the approach area from Spruce Street that's intended to lead to a new indoor waiting area for CT Transit bus riders. The center will have new heating, lighting and security systems, and will include a bus layover area and bike parking racks. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE