OCEAN PINES – Ocean Pines residents were without water for hours Monday after contractors for Comcast damaged a water main.
Commissioner Chip Bertino praised county staff for their efforts to restore water to the community after a line was cut Monday. He stressed, however, that this wasn’t the first time lines had been cut and that the county should ensure that Comcast paid for the repairs.
“I think this brings home something that’s been a real concern to us in Ocean Pines, which is that Comcast continues to cut our lines and we have the entire community that was, for lack of a better term, held hostage, because of their inability to do their job correctly,” Bertino said.
During Tuesday’s meeting of the Worcester County Commissioners, Bertino thanked John Ross, the county’s deputy director of public works, for staff’s efforts during a difficult situation.
“Yesterday was not a banner day for Comcast in Ocean Pines when they cut one of our lines and subsequently all the water, for all the residences in Ocean Pines, was lost for about four to five hours,” Bertino said.
Ross acknowledged it was a bad situation but said Comcast was in fact doing better than it had been previously with locating utilities.
“That (yesterday) was a bad incident, the contractor did not do what he was required to do, but … overall their performance has been better,” he said.
Bertino asked about the cost of line repairs related to Comcast’s work in the community prior to Monday’s event. Assistant Finance Officer Jessica Wilson said Comcast had been sent a bill for $94,000 and that since then, the county had incurred another $10,000 in manpower costs related to Comcast work.
“We will follow up on that as well as add the additional charges that have been incurred,” she said.
Bertino said he hoped the county wouldn’t just send out a bill and forget about it.
“Ratepayers in Ocean Pines are going to have to pay for that if we don’t get compensated,” he said.
When contacted after the meeting, a Comcast spokesperson said the contractor involved would be covering the repair costs associated with the water main break.
“We apologize for the water main break that occurred in Ocean Pines on Aug. 31,” said Sandy Arnette, senior manager of public relations for Comcast. “As soon as it happened, our contractor immediately notified all of the necessary parties, including the water company, to resolve the matter as quickly as possible and minimize damage.”
