Never one to mince words in response to critics, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti conveyed a more conciliatory tone at an Aldermen’s meeting Feb. 14 while discussing the city’s response to the Blizzard of 2013.
“There’s nothing perfect about the running of a city, a government,” he said. “Our goal is always to strive for efficiency. When you have to shift gears under different circumstances, you do that the best you can.”
The snow storm hit New England Feb. 8 and Feb. 9. The snow was still being carted away as of Feb. 19.
The mayor’s remarks came during a discussion of cleanup costs associated with the storm — still to be determined — for which Aldermen approved $40,000 Feb. 14 to cover any overages.
Beyond the question of how much the storm cost the city in dollars: can Shelton do better in the future to respond to such a crisis?
Lauretti said officials will be having discussions about the storm’s impact in the coming weeks.
While the mayor said the city’s response wasn’t perfect, he took issue with the criticism by pointing out the blizzard’s severity, a refrain among officials throughout the area.
“It’s easy to sit and say ‘Hey, you should be doing this and you should be doing that,’ but when 38 inches of snow falls in a 10-hour period, a hundred-year event, according to the National Weather Service, you’re dealing with a whole different set of rules,” Lauretti said. “The reactions are very different that one has to take to try to accomplish all the things that our public wants and needs.”
“The contractors and the city employees performed admirably, in my opinion,” he said later.
Many residents commenting on the Valley Indy’s Facebook page in the days after the storm expressed frustration at the lack of information coming from City Hall and the long wait to have roads cleared.
On the other hand, many also pointed out the city’s low taxes compared to nearby municipalities, and pointed out that those towns and cities didn’t exactly have spotless roads either.
Only one person spoke up to criticize the blizzard response during the public portion of Thursday’s meeting: Eric Fine, a 20-year Shelton resident, who said he’s “frustrated and angry” with city officials.
He conceded the city has low taxes, but said he didn’t want to see Shelton have to cut back on services in the longterm as the price of necessities like fuel, electricity, and insurance inevitably rise.
“Me, as a resident, would much prefer to pay a gradual increase in taxes to make sure our needs are being addressed, as opposed to digging a big hole that we’re going to have to climb out of someday,” said Fine, who now works for a company that sells communications equipments to municipalities and commercial clients.
He also took issue with the fact that a number of city officials with emergency responsibilities are in part-time roles, as well as the city’s efforts to keep people informed.
“I was really taken aback by the lack of communication that we were receiving as citizens of this town from the management as far as what was going on and how long it was going to take to get the roads open,” Fine said.
“In this day and age, with the technologies that are available to us through the Internet, reverse 911, and the cable networks, the information flow should be seamless to those of us who are sitting at home trying to figure out what our next moves are going to be based on what we’re dealing with at home and the accessibility we have to get out of our homes,” he went on.
See the video below for Fine’s full comments.
Cleanup Costs
Aldermen Thursday approved spending up to $40,000 from the city’s contingency fund to cover any cost overages associated with cleanup from last week’s blizzard.
Lauretti said officials haven’t yet determined the total price of cleaning up after the storm — a cleanup that is still going on.
“It’s hard to zero in on a specific dollar amount as to the cost of this storm,” Lauretti said. “We’ve had removal operations from last Friday to today, 24 hours a day. And there’s a lot of expenses incurred, from outside private contractors, to rental equipment, to just buying coffee and food for these guys for these guys that couldn’t get anything because places were not open.”
“$40,000 I think will do it,” Lauretti said later. “If it’s more, and it very well may be more, we meet in another couples of weeks, we’ll accommodate it then.”
Answering a question from Alderman John Papa, who asked whether the city could eventually be reimbursed by FEMA, Lauretti said yes, but that they would have to wait, perhaps until next year, to actually receive the funds.
“I want to make sure that everything is in place to get these people paid,” Lauretti said. “The accounting will be forthcoming.”
Aldermen unanimously approved the request.