As published in the Record Journal on Saturday February 23, 2013
I couldn’t agree more with the topic, content, and sentiment that this letter writer had with their submission to the Record Journal
Editor: We have had the word from the expert on logistics. Logistic guys move things. In last Sunday’s paper, Steve Knight’s comments were about moving snow — the last snow storm. All about those public works snowplow drivers who in fact did work very hard for long periods of time with very little sleep. No one could (or possibly would) want to deny that or criticize their efforts to clear snow. They did the best they could with what they had. You could say different, but shame on you if you do. What is always missing from Knight’s constant explanatory defensive comments of the administration’s not-to-be-questioned behavior is what we could learn for the future — how the administration might serve the citizens of Wallingford a bit better or how in the future we could make Wallingford’s citizens safer.
Could we have offered more communication about roads to be plowed so people would not wonder if they had been forgotten? Other examples: How we could have informed all those who called the town hall or Public Works and got no one — those who were seeking information. How we might have had a telephone bank, a TV show, or internet communications to inform Wallingford residents and give them updates or an answering machine telling them when to call. We might learn how much we saved by not hiring contractors or we might have learned that we spent more than the $200,000 in overtime by not hiring contractors, or that the residents in town just wanted the roads and sidewalks plowed and that safety was more the issue. Maybe we could have had an Emergency Communication Center staffed by all the important agencies serving the community. Maybe we could have coordinated services to the elderly or the disabled.
Maybe we need a plan.
PATRICIA BENTLEY, WALLINGFORD
