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Tee Keeps Cool Amid Public Heat Over Storm

by Allan Appel | Feb 2, 2011 9:04 am

(16) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: City Hall

Allan Appel Photo A Matterhorn of snow is blocking Fountain Street buses.

Can you park on the odd side once Norton Street’s plowed?

An oil truck can’t get through to make deliveries on Pardee Street, and an ailing Spanish-only-speaking elderly woman is worried to the point of anxiety attack that an ambulance won’t be able to get through on Fulton to help her.

And oh, a representative of Simkins Industries is giving one of the drivers of a snow-filled trailer a hard time about dumping on the company’s East Street site.

These were four of approximately 100 calls within a single hour Tuesday as yet another series of storms hit New Haven. The calls were fielded—and will continued to be fielded Wednesday—by phone-answerers like Tee Kemp. They’re responding to cries of hazard, help, confusion, and complaint at the city’s underground-bunker Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at 200 Orange St..

One of five operators on duty Tuesday morning in a shift that will go from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Kemp is normally a staffer with the city’s prisoner re-entry initiative. She has a calm, professional manner, with an accent of friendliness, just right for the job at hand.

Tuesday she was armed with a caller complaint form, a list of streets highlighted in orange where parking is forbidden on the odd side, and streets in white where you can’t park, period. There’s also a new form to fill out today, a tally form to see what issues people are calling about.

Here’s how one of her busy hours went:

10:00 a.m. Kemp’s phone panel flickers green. A Grand Avenue resident is calling to report a snowbound and overflowing public garbage can on the sidewalk. Kemp records the caller’s name, address, and patiently reads the info back to the caller. She indicates it’ll be taken care of if perhaps not expeditiously given more pressing concerns.

That read-back appears to be important, making the caller feel he’s been listened to.

“When you explain the process, that we’re getting to those fallen people [those who have injured themselves on the ice], and those medical emergencies. Then we start [with issues such as the overflowing trash can],” Kemp says.

“If they’re really irate, we talk them down.”

10:10: A Norton Street resident asks: How come we can’t park on the odd side if it’s just cleared, especially if the even side is so full of snow it’s not parkable?

Kemp’s response: “There’s a ban in effect [on the odd, until further notice] ‘cause emergency personnel need to get through.”

She then suggests the caller park in a Board of Ed lot or ask a neighbor.

Kemp says she has encountered “no screamers and cursers, ‘cause I think I provide impeccable customer service!” She acknowledges that people are frustrated. But once you explain the process and people understand “there’s a system in place, they calm down.”

10:15: The Fountain Street resident calls about the huge bank of snow obstructing the bus route and asks for it to be removed. Kemp duly takes the info. “Is there anything else you want me to put down?” she asks.

Kemp fills out a form for each caller, provided it’s a complaint and not an information request. She and the other operators deposit the forms in a central box, where officials like public works chief John Prokop go through and triage the responses.

If it’s a real emergency, Kemp says, she walks the complaint sheet directly to Prokop’s hand or to Rick Fontana, the deputy director of operations for the city’s Office of Emergency Management. They’re all gathered in the emergency operations center.

In this instance Prokop receives a call that a car with New Jersey plates is sticking out obstructing a safe lane of traffic on Stanley Street going north to Ella Grasso Boulevard. Emergency vehicles wouldn’t be able to get through.

Prokop takes the report and walks it over to Sgt. John Haddad, a police supervisor. He then calls CCS (Central Coordinating Services) unit of the police and fire services and orders a tow.

City Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts says that the city has nine towing companies at the ready, each with a range of trucks that deal with big vehicles or small.

Haddad says the tow guys will likely address the Stanley Street obstruction in between 20 minutes and a half hour.

10: 46:Kemp fields a call from someone in Plainfield who would like to know about clearing her roof of snow.

It turns out that WTNH broadcast the EOC’s phone number statewide. As a result Kemp has to explain (and she does patiently)  how the caller should contact with her own town’s officials to get a recommendation for a snow removal company.

In the interim, Kemp’s seatmate, Felicia Green, who normally is John Prokop’s assistant at DPW, has fielded at least two calls from contractors, one as far away as Tennessee, offering snow removal services, for a fee.
10:47: Kemp fields a call from a Spanish-speaking woman in Fair Haven. “Can you take this?” she calls over to Kisha Rodriguez at the desk across the room (foreground in photo with fellow operator Shawn Brown). This is the caller anxious about access to medical personnel if her Fulton Street apartment is snow-blocked.

Rodriguez tells her to call 911 if there’s a medical emergency. She says the woman complains she called the EOC 13 times yesterday. Perhaps she didn’t get a Spanish-speaker; the city keeps one one duty at all times.

“I calmed her down and told her to be patient. She said ‘Gracias.’”

10:50: So far this hour, Kemp and other operators have fielded about 15 to 20 calls each. Kemp observes that now, with the third storm, citizens are getting it, and many are requesting that cars blocking the plows be towed.

Now Kemp is back from a bathroom break to field a caller from Gilbert Street who says a buried car is blocking her driveway. “I read back her information and asked if it’s accurate. She said, “Thank you. What’s your name?’ I said ‘Tee.’ Then she said, ‘Have a beautiful day.’”

No further information available on whether the trailer driver is able to dump his load of snow at the East Street site. Smuts also says that he had requested all 30 aldermen refrain from calling John Prokop, deputy public works chief Howard Weissberg, and city transit czar Jim Travers directly.

“A half hour spent talking to an alderman” has the potential to hamper the work of Prokop and the others, who are key to the EOC operations, said Smuts.

Instead, all calls from aldermen to ordinary citizens are being fielded through the central system—which means people like Tee Kemp.

The city’s Emergency Operations Center, which has been open 24/7 since Friday, will stop taking civilian calls at 203-946-8221 as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. Anyone with questions or concerns can call the police front desk at 203-946-6316.

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Comments

posted by: Andy O on February 2, 2011  9:21am

Hat’s off to Tirzah Kemp, the hardest working woman I know!

posted by: HewNaven?? on February 2, 2011  10:02am

Lots of respect for all these folks.

All the people that have been complaining about snow problems on their streets should be praising these folks (along with all the plowers) for actually working to resolve their issues. But generally, crusty curmudgeons don’t thank others for their help. They’d rather claim unlimited entitlement due to their taxpaying status. Of course, these petulant posters also hate to admit that the government cannot solve everything. It’s easier to hold the government responsible while simultaneously deeming them incompetent. Meanwhile, grassroots community solutions are left unexplored. It’s the perfect approach for the indolent citizen, the best of both worlds.

posted by: Brian R on February 2, 2011  10:06am

Three cheers for Tirzah!

posted by: Paul Wessel on February 2, 2011  10:11am

Tirzah’s awesome - we’re lucky to have her serving the people of New Haven (and Plainfield!)

posted by: al trimaine on February 2, 2011  10:52am

Glad to see these folks keeping things in perspective, and doing their job - quite well- to boot.  Can we switch these guys over to the tax office?  Imagine what this story would read like if it was those guys at New Haven Tax Collector’s office were the ones handeling these calls?  It would be tragically hysterical

posted by: Darnell on February 2, 2011  11:02am

@ Smuts,

Aldermen are not the problem here, the city’s response to the first three storms was. We are only responding to the calls and door knocks from our residents, who by the third storm were sick of the non-plowed streets and continually ringing and non answered city hall phones.

I am happy that you guys, after 4 straight storms, finally have a system in place to respond to the storms and to citizens, but don’t lay the blame of your lackluster response to aldermen making calls to the EOC.

posted by: Deborah M on February 2, 2011  11:34am

City Hall is very lucky (and smart) to have the most inspiring person many of us know on its side. Yay Tee!

posted by: robn on February 2, 2011  12:09pm

HEWNAVEN??

So let me get this straight…you’re complaining about complainers?

;]

Stay warm!

posted by: robn on February 2, 2011  12:15pm

You know…I was getting ready to just accept the Westboro Baptist Church line on our recent spate of inclemency…that God Hates librul New England…. but this latest snowstorm is stretching all the way from Texas to Maine… so scratch that theory.

46 days until spring.

posted by: Swatty on February 2, 2011  12:22pm

Great coverage! It seems like everyone should also realize that this type of professional service has been available for the last couple of weeks, and 24/7 at that.

City is doing a great job with limited resources and that first big snowstorm misstep.

Thanks Tirzah Kemp, John Prokop and all the hard working folks who are helping us all get through these snowy times.

posted by: HewNaven?? on February 2, 2011  2:10pm

HEWNAVEN??

So let me get this straight…you’re complaining about complainers?

;]

Stay warm!

Darn! I was hoping nobody would notice the inherent hypocrisy of my rant. Glad someone’s paying attention.

Cheers!

posted by: Hey Wait on February 2, 2011  5:45pm

Darnell:

So I take it that you were only concerned about the quality of snow plowing because you got calls and knocks at your door?  What did you wait until you got tired of your constituents calls before you said anything?

I didnt take anything that Smuts said to be blame on the alders so I wonder why you are taking it personal? Is it because you have nothing positive to add to the conversation? I am sure you were there at the eoc talking calls from residents, weren’t you? I am curious what alders where there if any at all?

posted by: Darnell on February 2, 2011  6:55pm

Hey Wait (AKA Admin Official):

I didn’t only become concerned about the quality of snow plowing because of calls (like the one from the elderly neighbor who I delivered milk to because she couldn’t get out), but because while going to get that milk, I got stuck on my own street in my 4x4, at 1:30 in the afternoon. I did become extremely concerned when I visited EVERY street in my ward, and only found TWO plowed.

I don’t define my service to the community by your definition, that is, sitting in the EOC with highly paid staff people all warm and cozy sipping coffee and answering telephones. I define my service by the smiles on my neighbors faces while assisting them with digging out Valley Place No. and So., which had not been plowed the previous two snow storms.

I have a lot positive to add to the conversation, which I have done on these pages, and will do at the hearing I requested to discuss the administration’s response, or lack thereof, to these storms.

Instead of asking whether or not me and my fellow alds were sitting around the EOC, perhaps you can tell us why you and your fellow EOC staffers weren’t out digging out Richmond Ave and Anderson St as highlighted in this story today (http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/what_about_us/).

You know how many alds were in the EOC, since you were sitting there trying to look important.

And to answer your question, no, I didn’t take Smuts’ message personally, but his message would have been unnecessary if the admin had done the job correctly in the first place.

posted by: Miss. Myra on February 3, 2011  3:37pm

Miss. T is by far the exception to the rule. City Hall did the right thing in hiring you. You rock “Lady T”!

posted by: To Darnell on February 4, 2011  9:07am

Actually, I called the EOC this past week and Rob Smuts DID pick up the phone, just as an FYI.

posted by: Darnell on February 4, 2011  5:58pm

@ To Darnell:

And??? What is your point? Wasn’t he doing what his highly paid salary demands he do?

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