Atmos Energy executives promised the Durango City Council on Monday they would improve management of their natural gas line construction and limit disruption in neighborhoods.
The company has been upgrading gas lines installed in the 1940s, and during construction two outages in September and October left hundreds of customers without hot water or usable stoves.
Councilors asked for the meeting because of the outages and a dearth of communication.
“We’ve had a couple outages that pretty much wreaked havoc on our community,” Mayor Christina Rinderle said.
Rinderle asked company officials to improve their communication about planned projects and outages using all possible channels to keep residents informed.
She also asked the company settle insurance claims from businesses and the city in a timely way and renegotiate the occupational tax agreement because it was signed in the early 1990s.
Atmos executives agreed there was room for improvement, and they promised to work more closely with the city on the next phase of improvements scheduled in 2018.
Natural gas outage are rare, and the company does not have the ability to contact residents by phone. But it sent out some notifications to The Durango Herald and employees went door to door multiple times to relight appliances.
Thus far, the company has received insurance claims from about a dozen businesses, Ken Fogle, vice president of operations.
All claims must be submitted through the company’s customer service call center, he said
Business should hear back from the company in seven to 10 days, he said.
The city will also be submitting claims to recoup costs for damaged city utility lines, City Manager Ron LeBlanc said.
Councilor Sweetie Marbury also asked city staff members to look into recouping lost sales tax revenue.
Atmos officials said the project was a bit rushed because it was approved by the Public Utilities Commission in November.
“We’ve learned a lot of lessons, not just about communication,” Ken Fogle, vice president of operations.
During the first outage the contractor did not follow all the rules, and some people were fired, he said.
The contractor will be responsible for covering insurance claims. But the insurance submissions will be handled by Atmos.
In addition, one contractor was opening up streets all over the project area, and left those open.
Dust and noise from these projects frustrated some residents and businesses.
Contractors will be allowed to work only in two-block areas in the future, Fogle said.
During 2017, the city and Atmos should work together on plans so the utility doesn’t dig up streets freshly paved from city utility work, councilors suggested.
“I think it’s really important as you lay out the long range plans, so that we can synergize,” Councilor Dick White said, about working together.
The directors of utilities and city operations also asked for better communication from the company and any new contractors.
“Our citizens were telling us we had a problem before we knew,” Utilities Director Steve Salka said.
Business who would like to make an insurance claim can call 888-286-6700.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
