Kent Town Newsletter
Life has changed so much in an instant, and continues to each day, even each hour it seems. Please know we are working hard to keep our community safe and help our businesses through this uniquely challenging time.

The last four newsletters have been very focused on the COVID19 Pandemic guidance, and I've received so much positive feedback and suggestions. In recent days, I've also been hearing from many of you that you would like to get back to some more local Kent news and information and less CDC guidance and statistics.

I hear what you are saying and have much to share below. I am grateful for your feedback anytime!

Stay Well, Stay Home, Stay Safe.

Jean
Emergency Management
As you may already know, our Emergency Management Director and Deputy Emergency Management Director resigned their positions. I wish them both well in their future endeavors.

Because of the current emergency, I had to prioritize filling at least the EMD position as quickly as possible. A few weeks ago I was talking about the pandemic with David Becker, a colleague who had worked with Susie and John and the KVFD during the ice jams emergency a couple of years ago,and has been helping during the last few weeks. He has been extremely helpful bringing structure and focus to the many priorities. 
When I was informed Susie and John had resigned, I had to find a replacement who could come to the table quickly with communication, collaboration, cooperation, and organizational skills; emergency management experience and the skillset to navigate the complex and detailed landscape of the FEMA reimbursement process that is to come. David was an obvious choice. In his first 24 hours, he has already contacted our State emergency management partners and completed the paperwork enabling our Town to activate a Citizen Emergency Response Team. (more on that below!)

Some may question why I would appoint someone who does not live in town. It came down to three decisions:
  1. We are in the midst of a public health emergency. In the midst of the biggest emergency our community has ever faced, I could not appoint a person who needed time to train, build a network and get acclimated to a new role. For our community, we needed someone who already had that.
  2. This emergency is not geographically-focused. We are not experiencing a flood or other physical incident that would require a person working with emergency services at a scene.
  3. The technology is available to move to a virtual Emergency Operations Center (EOC). David has the technical knowledge, expertise and ability to manage planning, communications and operations virtually, which follows what the state and regional EOCs have done.

Please join me in welcoming David to our community - he is here for us!
Kent Citizen Emergency Response Team
call for volunteers!!
As mentioned earlier, Emergency Management is mobilizing CERT to be able to provide volunteer assistance in a number of ways, primary of which right now is home grocery delivery.
The Governor has relaxed the in-person training requirement for new CERT members, so all that is needed is an online training to enable anyone to become a CERT member and help our community!
All we need to get started is your name, email address and a phone number where we can contact you. Please click the button below to send your information
Do you have a roll of Tyvek you could donate?
There is a company out of West Haven that has retooled their machinery to be able to manufacture the isolation gowns EMS so desperately needs for response that are nationally unavailable. They have already donated some to KVFD, but have been inundated with requests. They have created a pattern and shared it us. We are looking into the possibility of making these - if you're a contractor and have a 4.5'x100' roll of standard Tyvek Homewrap to donate, please email Emergency Management.
Would you be interested in a weekly fresh farm share from the Connecticut Food Hub?
The Northwest Connecticut Regional Food Hub works with farmers all over northwest Connecticut picking up their fresh, locally grown produce and delivering it to happy wholesale customers (schools, grocery stores, and restaurants). We want to continue supporting our region’s farmers and getting fresh, healthy food to the region’s residents. Sadly, in this challenging environment in-person farmers markets are difficult to have and many restaurants are closed. So the Hub is launching a new drive-thru pick-up “farm share” service in your town hall parking lot.
At this point we need to see how many residents might be interested in this service. If you are interested, please go to:  www.nwctfoodhub.org/farm-share   ASAP if you would like to participate. No commitment needed at this time, they just want to gauge interest. They hope to begin offering weekly pick up the third week of April.
Please Stay Home to Stay Safe
There is a growing concern from public health officials that with the passage of time, the public is letting their guard down when it comes to social distancing. I've heard this anecdotally as well.
I cannot stress enough, it is the responsibility of every citizen to stay home and out of close contact with others. Please resist the temptation to:
  • invite friends over;
  • have company come visit;
  • go to the store multiple times a week.

As always, do not consume your healthcare guidance from social media. The reliable sources remain the same. They are:
Please share and encourage friends and family (near or far), and friends to subscribe.
or
Sign up by texting "KENT" TO 42828
visit our website: www.townofkentct.org