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4 highly paid LIPA executives keep homes off Long Island

Utility lines run along Route 25A in Setauket, with LIPA's Port... — Utility lines run along Route 25A in Setauket, with LIPA's Port Jefferson plant in the background. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas

By Mark Harringtonmark.harrington@newsday.com MHarringtonNewsUpdated April 17, 2022

Four top LIPA officials recruited from out of state have maintained homes and residency off Long Island — at times commuting from as far away as Omaha and Atlanta, Newsday has learned.

The four executives, who are among LIPA's most highly paid, have been hired in the past three years as LIPA increases its base of experienced managers to more deeply scrutinize the performance of grid manager PSEG Long Island and take on a greater role in grid oversight.

Living out of state doesn’t violate any Long Island Power Authority rules, the utility said, because its policy does not require the executives to change their permanent residency to Long Island. But after Newsday questioned the practice, LIPA chief executive Tom Falcone said through a spokeswoman that he wants senior staff to have a residence on Long Island, and all will have an apartment or more permanent-type residence here by June.

At least two of the four now have apartments on Long Island and the other two are expected to do so, LIPA said.

The utility requires all employees to be present on Long Island for certain periods, such as storms and power restorations, and to report for work in person, when required, now that COVID-19 rules are easing.

Until earlier last month, two of the officials still listed out-of-state addresses on their LinkedIn web pages, which also listed their LIPA posts. They have since changed their locations to Long Island.

LIPA said in a statement its hiring practices and policies are “consistent with industry best practices to retain a skilled and dynamic workforce.”

Asked if LIPA and its 1.1 million customers are paying for any of the executives to commute or to live in temporary housing here, the utility said it “does provide a fixed amount of relocation pay, in certain circumstances,” but is “not actively paying travel expenses for current employees finalizing moving arrangements.”

At the time of their hiring, LIPA offered each of the employees a fixed "relocation benefit" that can be used for moving or related expenses. Some have used the payment to cover some of the travel expenses, but once it runs out, it's up to each of the employees to meet in-person work mandates and travel costs on their own. The benefit can also be used to pay costs related to securing an apartment.

Assemb. Fred Thiele (I-Sag Harbor) said executives serving the region "should commit to making the move full time."

"LIPA is a public authority serving Suffolk, Nassau and part of Queens. Management should live in the community they serve," he said. "LIPA should search for the best possible candidates for its management team, however, in accepting the job, candidates should agree to live in our community. Absentee management was an issue with PSEG-LI. It is no less a concern with LIPA."

Among the executives, Tamela Monroe, one of LIPA’s top-paid officials with $332,250 in annual pay, according to state records, maintains a home in Omaha, Nebraska, while serving as the utility’s chief financial officer.

Billy Raley, senior vice president of transmission and distribution oversight, has a home in Atlanta, which his web page had listed as his location until two weeks ago. It’s since been updated to Westbury. Public records show only his address in Atlanta. Raley's annual pay is $325,000, according to state records.

Carolyn MacKool, director of customer experience oversight, had listed Detroit as her home base on her web page until last week, when she changed it to Uniondale. Public records show she has a home in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan. Her annual pay is $215,000, records show.

Another top official, Mujib Lodhi, chief information officer, has worked for LIPA from Virginia, sources say. He lists Uniondale as his home base but public records list only his Fairfax, Virginia, home. His annual pay is $325,000, according to state records.

All of the executives will have met a requirement to have a residence of some type on Long Island by June, LIPA said. Lodhi was hired in 2018, Monroe in 2020, and Raley and MacKool in 2021.

People familiar with the LIPA-executive arrangements said they generated some internal grumbling, but little pressure to force the executives to permanently move here. Most have conducted or participated in meetings via Zoom and other conferencing programs, particularly during the pandemic

“They were all telecommuting,” said one former staffer who asked not to be named. LIPA, the person noted, has been upgrading its Uniondale office to accommodate temporary work spaces, as have many offices during COVID-19 restrictions.

LIPA also has no residency requirement for top PSEG officials, although a new requirement says PSEG officials cannot maintain second jobs at the New Jersey-based utility. Current PSEG Long Island president Dan Eichhorn has held a second, companywide customer post for the New Jersey utility. He’s scheduled to retire in April.

LIPA said the need to hire top talent off Long Island, and COVID-19 restrictions on office work, had led the utility to “extend the relocation grace period offered to potential employees.”

But “with the advent of effective COVID-19 vaccines, LIPA provided notifications last year that the relocation grace period had concluded, and relocations would need to be completed within the agreed-upon time frames.”

The utility stressed that all executives “are and have been reporting in-person for business operations on a regular basis throughout this period,” including those recruited off Long island.

Newsday in 2018 reported that most top PSEG officials were living in temporary housing or rental apartments on Long Island, and returning to New Jersey or elsewhere to permanent residences on weekends. Four of the five top PSEG officials, Newsday reported, maintained permanent residency in New Jersey, while living in temporary housing here.

Ashley Chauvin, PSEG-LI's director of corporate communications, who lives on Long Island, said in a statement, "Under the current circumstances, all PSEG Long Island executive leadership are on Long Island as needed."

Before the pandemic, she said, all the executives "had residences here on Long Island" of some sort, but office staff went remote after the pandemic hit "to protect the health and safety of employees, barring storm and other emergency response."

Either way, she said, "the PSEG Long Island executive leadership team has been and will continue to remain fully dedicated to PSEG Long Island and its customers."

At the time of the Newsday 2018 story, all top LIPA executives lived on Long Island, and the LIPA board has a requirement that each trustee lives or is a LIPA customer in the service territory.