Councilors Seek Consistent Plan for Storm Communications

New policies under consideration by the Braintree Town Council would formalize a briefing system between the council and mayor during and after storms and establish a primary point of contact for emergency information.

Councilor-at-Large Sean Powers presented his ideas earlier this week during a meeting of the Committee on Ordinance & Rules, which he chairs. The details are still being worked out, but committee members said they agreed communication among the mayor's office, the council and residents is important during harsh winter storms.

"Our DPW crews operated in extremely challenging conditions [last year] and did a great job," Powers said. "This isn't mean to be adversarial to the mayor's office."

Powers suggested that Mayor Joseph Sullivan appoint a single person – himself or someone else – to be the point of contact for councilors when they have questions and concerns from residents during and after storms. He also said that briefings to all the councilors from the mayor's office at intervals throughout a storm would be valuable.

Councilor John Mullaney said he has never had a problem getting in touch with Sullivan during storms, and that he likes being able to text the mayor when residents contact him with issues. 

"The responsiveness that I've gotten has been very good," Mullaney said.

Powers said that he has had mixed success reaching out to the mayor during storms and would like to see a council-wide policy in place.

District 6 Councilor Paul "Dan" Clifford said he agreed, but suggested a layer of communication so that there are alternatives in case the point person is not available or cannot address an issue.

"We have some some gaps in our escalation processes," Clifford said.

Sullivan, in a follow-up interview, said "the buck stops and the storm stops with me."

He said he was surprised by the committee's efforts and had not seen the proposal discussed Monday night. That said, Sullivan said he is open to being as responsive as possible.

"I think we did a pretty god job [last winter]," he said. "Can we improve? Sure.”

He said he had no problem regularly briefing the council, but would need flexibility in terms of the timeline because of the unpredictability of storms. Sullivan said he will work with the council on their policy, but that the bottom line is the town needs to "focus on clearing the streets as quickly and safely as possible."

As part of that effort, and to improve communication among town agencies, Sullivan and Police Chief Russell Jenkins have a command center in place during emergencies at the police station. It includes police, fire, ambulance, DPW and BELD personnel.

“It’s all hands on deck," Sullivan said.