The Board of Selectmen (BOS) last week authorized some new infrastructure meant to help Madison better navigate future storms in reaction to widespread damage and disruption caused by Tropical Storm Isaias, as well as approving special appropriations amounting to just under $78,000 related to costs incurred during and the subsequent cleanup of the storm.

With most of those costs stemming from overtime and brush cleanup, First Selectman Peggy Lyons said she was confident that the town would receive a significant portion of that money reimbursed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The majority of expenses were driven by the Public Works Department, with $35,000 funding brush removal at the bulky waste site and about $13,000 in overtime.

The town’s charter requires town meeting approval for special appropriations exceeding $50,000 for any single department in a fiscal year—a limit that Public Works exceeded due to the storm.

Isaias, which roared through the state in early August, knocked out power for more than 70 percent of Madison residents and blockaded dozens roads with debris, taking several days to clean up.

Adding Infrastructure

One of the most frightening issues encountered during the storm was a total loss of Internet in the town’s Emergency Operations Center, an outage that lasted more than eight hours and hampered first responders’ ability to put out information, answer emergency messages, and communicate with Eversource, according to Emergency Manager Sam DeBurra.

To prevent this in the future, the BOS approved a new satellite dish and subscription, with a service cost of about $3,500 a year and a one-time installation fee of $6,000.

“It’s a lot of money to have it for ‘just in case,’ but when you need it, you need it,” DeBurra said.

Besides major storm events, DeBurra said town IT staff are exploring whether the infrastructure can be used in non-emergency situations. Additionally, the Madison Police Department will be able to use the dish if it loses its Internet service for any reason, according to DeBurra.

Though the BOS green-lighted the satellite dish with relatively little controversy, a proposal to subscribe to a new storm-tracking software system was subjected to significantly more scrutiny by the selectmen before being adopted.

That subscription will essentially expand the Emergency Management Department’s budget by $5,000 permanently, with Selectman Erin Duques questioning whether the appropriation might better be discussed as part of next year’s budget cycle, and others hoping for more details on the functionality of the new program.

Currently, the town uses what is essentially just a spreadsheet to track blocked roads and outages, according to Lyons. The new software, which is currently used by Guilford, allows the town to create an interactive map that can be shared with the public, can be used by both first responders and members of the public to upload pictures of damage or blockages, and automatically tracks GPS locations of these events, according to DeBurra.

The morning after Isaias hit, the Guilford Police Department shared a map of affected roads and damage that included information on the type of event and even an exact address, among other things.

In Madison, DeBurra said that emergency responders often had to re-route multiple times in a single trip because they did not have an up-to-date map of road blockages, and Lyons said the town was inundated by calls as people either tried to report incidents or sought information on outages and road safety.

With the new software, DeBurra said much of this information can be logged automatically, and can even notify power companies of an issue without having a town employee send a message or make a phonecall.

“In emergencies, losing power is also something that impacts the entire community and it hurts businesses, so [a faster response is] also a benefit to the community,” Lyons said.

DeBurra said he felt it was advisable to give emergency responders these new capabilities sooner rather than later, during a busier than usual hurricane season.

He also cited Guilford’s recommendation of the software. Guilford has used it in all its emergency departments for some time, which is something that Madison could later choose to do, at an increased cost.

“Guilford has had such success with this, they recommended it and it worked well for them in their storm. We just went with something that people had proven, basically,” DeBurra told the BOS.

As far as the direct costs, it was not immediately clear exactly how much of the $78,000 would be covered by FEMA. Guidelines available on FEMA’s website say that certain costs to towns, including debris removal and damage to public property, must be at least 75 percent reimbursed by the agency in the case of a declared disaster, which Isaias was.

All the special appropriations must still be approved by the Board of Finance; if so approved, the cleanup costs would then go to Town Meeting.