Verizon Gets Message, Begins Replacing Double-Poles

It seems all it took for Verizon to start replacing double-poles across Marblehead was a from the town's Board of Selectmen.

After months of trying to get Verizon to replace dozens of double-poles across Marblehead, Robert Jolly, Director of the town's , brought his fight to the attention of board members at their meeting Wednesday afternoon.

And, despite all the flash-flooding, Verizon trucks were out in force Tuesday afternoon, moving wires and replacing poles across town. Jolly said before the Selectmen got involved, he and Verizon's Regional Director, Stanley J. Usovicz, weren't "getting anywhere."

Of the roughly 100 double-poles in Marblehead, which are simply old or damaged utility poles supported by being connected to another pole, 40 are now Verizon's responsibility to replace, Jolly said.

Although he admitted that Jolly had been sending in requests for replacements, Usovicz offered several excuses for the delay, including flaws in the way the network's database is managed and a highly-publicized 16-day work stoppage in August.

"There’s no doubt that Bob is sending the information in," Usovicz said. "What I need to do is make sure that it ends up in the hands of the people who do the work."

Board members passed a motion Wednesday requesting that both men come back to for a progress report next week.