The Mineola Village Board recently approved $25,400 in repairs for streetlight conductors damaged by village employees during roadwork maintenance last month. According to Tom Rini, Mineola’s superintendent of public works, more than 1,000 feet of street light conductors needed repairs, totaling 16 light poles for Roselle Street, Barwick Boulevard and Betty Lane.
Street lighting power in the area is all underground, Rini said. No homes lost power due to the light pole outage.
Rini said underground lines should be installed in the “right of way” area (between the curb, the sidewalk and the grass.) But he said these power feeds actually extended into the road bed.
“We didn’t have any plans from the original construction of [the power conductors],” Rini said. “They were not supposed to be in the roadbed. When we excavated the roads, because of their age, [the lines pulled apart].”
The construction is part of the ongoing road improvement project in Mineola, which was approved last year.
The repairs to the power lines were completed some time before Christmas.
“It was better to replace the whole thing and make brand new connections in the right spot,” Rini said.
