Town of Princeton, MA
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
FY08 Ice Storm Public Meeting
March 4, 2009
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM. Present were Joe O’Brien and Alan Sentkowski. Chairman Raymond Dennehy was absent.
Joe explained the purpose of the meeting is to listen to comments and concerns from the public on how the ice storm was handled, what was done well and suggestions on how to improve. The town is fortunate to have the residents and employees who responded as well as they did during a storm of this magnitude.
PMLD Manager Jon Fitch, Fire Chief Ray Laporte and Police Chief Charlie Schmohl were present for the discussion.
Joe talked about how much the town is missing Town Administrator Dennis Rindone, who played a major role in the storm. He will be missed for a long time.
An emergency management team was pulled together and met daily during the storm and continues to meet. Communication was an issue with phone lines down. The Town Clerk is now collecting cell phone numbers. The Town is also looking at reverse 911 for cell phones. Radio station WTAG was an unofficial source of communication for the town impacted; however Princeton wasn’t aware of this until later into the storm.
Jon Fitch explained that PMLD is a separate town entity and has an elected Light Board. He invited the public to attend a meeting at any time. On December 11, 2008 at 10:00 pm the power went off. On December 15, 2008, power was brought along Mountain Road, which is the main trunk. A priority list was created based on how the lines are fed across the town to get as many people on as quickly as possible. The majority of the town was back on by 1:00 pm on December 24, 2008.
Fire Chief Ray Laporte received a notice that a State of Emergency was declared at 3:50 am on December 12, 2008. The roads were closed with trees down everywhere. Public safety was the priority. All roads were impacted on both sides. Debris management was a priority. Communications was an issue due to limited means to get the word out to everyone. A shelter was set up at Thomas Prince School. Volunteers were phenomenal.
Police Chief Charlie Schmohl explained the Police Department is the communication center for dispatch. Additional staff was added for the week. Safety and welfare checks were performed on senior citizens. The community pulled together to get streets open and provided a great deal of the support to the Police Department, PMLD, and the Highway Department.
Highway Department Manager Glenn Lyons and his crew worked tirelessly to keep things going and did a phenomenal job.
At 7:25 pm the meeting was opened for public comment.
Richard Baker, of Leominster Road said the Post Office did a great job and continued to deliver mail. He found WTAG communication confusing because there was nothing official. Alan explained Representative Lew Evangelidis is working to creating an official communication center for the state for future emergencies.
Dave Caperello, of Esty Road thanked the PMLD, the Highway Department and the Board for a job well done. The only issue was communication. Dave suggests a list of elderly residents be made available and paired up with someone to look out for them.
The Light Board is not on the town calendar or website.
Priscilla Foresteire, of Sterling Road suggests a flyer be sent in the PMLD bill informing the town of the shelter at TPS during an emergency.
Jon Fitch is working on a list of tips in an emergency to be sent to residents twice per year. It will include a list of where to go for communication, the location of the shelter and items to bring to the shelter.
TPS Principal Mary Cringan said she was amazed at the compassion of the community during the storm. She wants improve the shelter for families to include more activities and supervision for the kids. She expressed thanks to Ken Whitney for getting the generator. The Board thanked Mary for all her work at the shelter.
Brian Foley, of Mirik Road had nothing but positive experiences. Considering the devastation of the storm, the roads cleared within two days.
Rick Torres, of 121 Redemtion Rock Trail suggests finding a way to notify residents to safely keep gas on hand for generators. He also suggests a workshop on generators and how to drain a house system. Anyone running a sump pump should have a generator.
John Chalup, of 208 E. Princeton Road expressed his appreciation the town and felt everything went reasonably well.
Beverly Stewart, of Sam Cobb Lane had an issue with communication when calling the Town Hall for information. She suggests training for employees to know what questions to ask and what information to provide to the public.
The Board will look into having a central person as the emergency management person in town.
The public thanked the Board for their hard work.
A memorial service will be held for Dennis Rindone on March 15 at 2:00 pm at the Congregational Church.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 pm. All were in favor (2-0).
Respectfully Submitted,
__________________
Brenda Savoie
Administrative Secretary
| 
