Verizon official apologizes for 4-hour service cutoff
BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - A graciously offered and graciously accepted apology marked the appearance at the June 25 Township Committee meeting by John Szeliga, Verizon's external affairs director.

Szeliga appeared before township officials to address the inadvertent cutoff of service to the Manalapan Police Department's telephones between 10 p.m. May 14 and 2 a.m. May 15.

When a police administrator became aware of the situation and sought a reason from Verizon personnel as to why it occurred, he was told the department's service had been cut off due to the nonpayment of an outstanding bill.

That turned out not to be the case.

During his appearance at town hall, Szeliga reiterated an explanation that had been provided by Verizon spokesman Rich Young about a week after the incident occurred. Young said an investigation determined that the Manalapan police shift supervisor was given incorrect information when he contacted Verizon on May 14.

Young said the cutoff in service was not related to the nonpayment of a bill and was in fact caused by Verizon while servicing equipment in the area.

Szeliga told Manalapan officials the work that caused the cutoff in service at the police department was being done during what the company refers to as the safe-time practice window of 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

However, said Szeliga, "Proper safetime practice notification procedures were not followed."

Szeliga said Verizon's policy dictated that a phone call should have been made prior to the work being done and after it had been completed. According to Szeliga, the utility was supposed to have notified the police department of the work and the pending cutoff in service, but did not do so.

Mayor Michelle Roth asked Szeliga what safeguards have been put in place "to make sure it won't happen again - here or elsewhere."

"We do have a policy in place that should have averted this problem and allowed the upgrade to occur with minimal or no disruption," he told the mayor.

Szeliga said as far as the company could tell, the Manalapan Police Department line was the only telephone service to be affected that evening by the work being done.

"We're not proud. A number of missteps occurred. The police department should have been apprised of the turnoff. (A police sergeant) was given misinformation that the line had been cut for non-payment," he said.

Szeliga said he was providing Police Chief Stuart Brown with a special contact number at Verizon and his own personal cell phone number.

He gave repeated assurances that the incident had been a wake-up call for the utility and said the matter had become a priority issue for Verizon which would be holding managers meetings in an effort to create safeguards that would preclude a similar situation from occurring again.

Deputy Mayor Susan Cohen suggested the company look to establish a system of checks and balances that would aid in the effort to tighten their policy.

Committeeman Richard Klauber thanked Szeliga for "stepping up and admitting the mistake." However, Klauber said he was "troubled by the week-long runaround" the police were given in the days following the cutoff in service on May 14 when they were trying to ascertain the circumstances of the situation.

Szeliga said he, too, had been distressed by the follow-up circumstances, noting, "I personally was uncomfortable with the amount of time it took us to figure it out. What occurred in Manalapan has highlighted this issue. I don't want to have to appear again before you."