Mayor Taps New Directors For 911, Elderly Services

Mayor Justin Elicker continued filling out City Hall’s top ranks, tapping two new department heads to lead the city’s 911 call center and its programming for elderly residents.

Elicker announced those latest appointments during a Monday afternoon press conference on the ground floor of City Hall.

The second-term mayor has picked Tomi Veale to serve as the city’s next acting director of the Department of Elderly Services. She will replace Migdalia Castro, whose appointment Elicker declined to renew earlier this year.

Elicker also announced that he has picked Kevin Stratton to serve as the city’s next director of Public Safety Communications (aka 911 call center). He will replace the recently retired George Peet. 

Monday’s personnel announcements come roughly a month and a half after Elicker picked new directors of City Plan, Fair Rent, and Labor Relations, as well as a new liaison to the Board of Alders.

Veale is currently the city’s program coordinator for the Youth@Work summer employment program. Elicker said that she previously served as acting youth services director for the city, and that she is also an adjunct sociology professor at Gateway Community College and the board chair for the local female mentoring program Phenomenal I Am. Her first day as acting elderly services director will be April 11.

While the city’s elderly services department may be small, Veale said during Monday’s presser, ​“we are going to be mighty” in terms of impact on the lives of New Haveners aged 55 years and up.

She said that the city’s three senior centers — East Shore, Dixwell, and Atwater — will reopen on April 4 after their latest pandemic-era hiatus. City Community Services Administrator Mehul Dalal said those three senior centers will each be open three days a week.

According to an email press release sent out by the mayor, Veale’s responsibilities as the head of the Department of Elderly Services will include supervising the city’s ​“community education, activities, programs and support services for senior residents to help them maintain independent and active lives. This includes case management and assistance referral services for residents with financial, medical, nutritional, legal and housing needs.”

“She’s experienced, dedicated, strategic, and, most of all, a passionate advocate for the interests of the people of New Haven,” Dalal said.

Stratton, meanwhile, is a New Haven resident, and most recently worked as the chief of staff for the chief of the Shelton Police Department. Before that, he worked for the state police for 23 years, rising the ranks from trooper to master sergeant. Elicker said he worked as an ​“executive officer” for the state police department, supervising 100 subordinates in all aspects of police work, including dispatchers assigned to various Public Safety Access Point (PSAP) locations.

His first day as the head of the city’s Public Safety Communications department will be March 28.

Elicker’s press release states that Stratton will oversee all aspects of New Haven’s 911 PSAP operations, including ​“coordinating, managing and participating in the activities of the telecommunications center and its personnel. This includes fire, police and ambulance responses.”

Stratton comes ​“from a family of firemen from the City of New Haven” and has served in law enforcement for 25 years, he said.

Asked for his past experiences addressing burnout among 911 dispatchers, Stratton stressed the importance of making ​“sure that they’re getting their breaks” and, if a dispatcher has to work a double shift, to ​“triage that and take a look and see if there’s anything you can do” as a supervisor.