CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin says an ‘after action review’ will be absolutely mandatory for the utility companies involved in the natural gas outage on the city’s West Side that began Nov. 10.
Goodwin was asked Monday during an appearance on the Dave Allen Show on 580 WCHS how she would assess the communication Mountaineer Gas and West Virginia American Water Company had with their customers following a water line break that was followed by the flooding of the gas lines that gas service to be cut off.
“I think the fair answer is–yes in some respects, no in others, initially not a great job, eventually yes,” Goodwin said. “We unfortunately were dealing with something that never happened before and there was some confusion.”
Goodwin said she expects both utilities to review how they responded and how they let their customers know what had happened.
“This has never happened before and trying to understand what happened, who was impacted and how severely took a hot minute to figure out what is going on. An ‘after action review’ is mandatory,”
Goodwin said.
The city will also be doing a review, she said.
“While I think we did a good job, I always think that everybody can do better. What did we do really well? What did we do poorly? Let’s go back and fix it. There’s always room to improve,” Goodwin said.
Mountaineer Gas restored its service a week ago although some residences still need damaged appliances replaced. Mountaineer Gas is footing the bill for that work. The company has also announced a $75 credit for each customer on their next bill.
The city has been going door to door in recent days checking with residents to see if there are remaining needs.
“At this point and time we are dealing with residents who haven’t been home,” Goodwin said. “In the meantime, we want to make sure that everyone has heat and meals and that they are taken care of.”
Goodwin said the outpouring of help from various groups has been overwhelming.