Emilia Teasdale is reporting for The Columbia Paper representatives of National Grid were in attendance at the in-person Kinderhook Village Board meeting on July 14, to explain the utility's plans for the electric power transformer bank recently installed on a pole on Hudson Street as well as upgrading the voltage in some parts of the village. More than half of the people at the meeting were impacted by the platform-mounted transformer bank that was attached on poles located in front of the home of former U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson and Mary Gibson; the Gibsons were present at the board meeting. National Grid’s Hudson engineer, Serena Hazzard, along with two other company representatives, explained the reason for the large transformer platform in its current location and the plan to have it eventually moved. They said the company will add more transformers further down Hudson Street just outside of the village, spoke about upgrading the primary voltage in the village and making all the feeders in the village the same voltage class. Hazzard explained that the work needed has been made a priority. Chris Gibson requested Hazzard provide a letter assuring him that the transformer is being moved and explaining her logic. He explained that he was asking for a letter from the representatives present at the meeting, saying that he would take the issue as high as it needs to go. He said the residents of Kinderhook have not been "communicated to," and said they want to get to a place of trust with the corporation. Other residents noted that National Grid had turned up to do work and never notified the community, including the village board. Hazzard stressed several times the project was about reliability and better service. If the transformer on Hudson Street is taken out now it will mean that when there is an outage it will take longer for service to come back on some streets in the village, she said. After the National Grid representatives left the meeting, the board voted to approve the option to move the transformer bank on Hudson and Kinderhook streets to a location outside of the village. Read more about this story in The Columbia Paper.