Page 36 - North Haven Magazine Issue 15 Autumn 2020

A Message From

It almost seemed like a bad dream.

At 4:03 pm on Thursday, August 27th, I looked out the window of my office at town hall
and I saw the dark and ominous storm clouds gathering in rapid fashion as the brick
building at town hall seemed to slightly sway with the high velocity winds that were
accelerating into a tornado.
Michael J. Freda
My mind immediately went into an emergency management mode, forecasting and
planning as to how we were going to help our residents who were faced with a second First Selectman
major storm within 24 days.

In the aftermath of the tornado, I toured the entire town and saw the tremendous devastation. Homes were badly damaged,
utility poles were snapped like twigs, power lines were down and were strewn all over our roadways, while over 40% of our
town was out of power. From Thursday, throughout the weekend, and into Monday morning we were working closely with
the UI and we were in a power restoration mindset.

Although we in town government have no ability to restore power, the UI worked very closely with myself, our Fire Chief and
emergency management personnel. The UI President was personally calling me during those 4 days and he offered a high
level of resources to help us, including bringing in utility crews from Maine and Canada.

During those difficult days, we had to clear 56 roadways that were impassable, the UI installed new poles and they also
reassembled twisted power lines. Transformers were also rebuilt and replaced. Power was eventually restored in 3-4 days.

After the first storm in early August, I had committed to our residents that we would pick up that storm debris at curbside,
and then after the tornado on the 27th, I committed to helping our residents by pick up the tornado storm damage which is
massive.

As I write to each of you here in this article, we are now 2 weeks into our storm pickup and I estimate that it will take another
6 weeks for us to complete this process. I have authorized overtime for our outstanding public works department who are
not only keeping sanitation and recycling services on time, but they are working also working diligently to hit every street
and house in town who has storm debris placed in the front of their home.

We also have a location on Powder Metal Road here in town where our residents can bring that debris free of charge and
we will pay to have that debris removed from that particular site.

As we move forward with this comprehensive and massive endeavor, it is each of you that I am most concerned about in
trying to help you.

This process of storm debris pickup will take some time for us to complete and it will be very costly to the town. I know how
much each and every one of you have gone through this year while facing so many obstacles and facing so much change
in your daily lives with the pandemic, the great uncertainly, and the multiple storms we have experienced in 2020.

On a personal note, this government and I will always be here for you to help you and to support you.

This will continue to be a personal commitment that I make to each and every one of you for as long as I am your First
Selectman here in North Haven. I care about each and every one of you.
Sincerely,
Michael Freda

18 Church Street • 203-239-5321 • www.northhaven-ct.gov