Moses Okokuro

At the Everett City Council meeting on Monday, April 13, 2026, Moses Okokuro, identified himself as a National Grid Electric employee based on Smith Street in Malden, opened his remarks with, “Hi. Good evening, councilors,” and, “My name is Moses Okokuro.” He spoke in connection with work on Second Street and related streets, confirming that “there will be additional poles along Second Street.”

Okokuro clarified the purpose of the new poles. He said they are “not primarily… for the street lights,” but are instead part of reliability upgrades and the installation of switching equipment. Referring to the broader project area, he explained that the poles would serve “reliability purposes” and support “new switching equipment… along Second Street and all the way into Boston Street and Third Street.” He also added, “If you just add something to what Sebastian said, we’re actually doing what we call double pole construction. So the existing poles will also still suffice. We run those feeders on that cable, but the new poles are just needed, you know, for switching purposes, reliability.”

During the discussion, he indicated that National Grid would look into lighting-related requests, but the central explanation remained that the work was driven by infrastructure and system reliability needs rather than street lighting. He further noted that the company’s planners continually review projected load and service needs, saying, “our planners are doing constant review… for future growth as, you know, the customers keep expanding. So we have plans to cater to that.”

Okokuro did not cast any votes during the meeting, and no motions were recorded under his name. In response to the council’s discussion, he addressed questions about the purpose of the poles and reaffirmed that the project was a “double pole construction” effort intended to support switching and reliability while leaving the existing poles in place. He also stated, “We have 10 speakers,” reporting the number of public speakers scheduled.