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Fuss & O’Neill’s Newsletter
WHAT’S INSIDE Message from the President What’s New? Employee FOcus FOcus on The Future FOcus on Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program FOcus on Summer Safety FOcus on Brownfields Redevelopment EWeek
SUMMER 2021
Message from the President Though the calendar signaled a new year months ago, there’s something about summer that seems more like the beginning of something rather than the middle of it. Maybe I was supposed to be born in the southern hemisphere, but summer, to me, signals hope, opportunity, and excitement more than some ball dropping while everyone is cloaked under fiver layers of clothing. Or maybe this feeling is just amplified this year since it feels like we’re finally coming out of the darkness that was the pandemic. And I acknowledge that we still have a long way to go and everyone still needs to do their part and be safe, but the advent of summer seems particularly poignant this year. In years past, a cookout with family and friends or a trip to the beach were always things I looked forward to. Now I’m excited by just being able to plan for these events. Planning was something that was taken away from us, and the hope and anticipation that comes from planning are things I was starved for, and I wonder if others felt the same. Here in the office, planning for the future is an important thing that we do for our clients, whether it’s to make their community a desirable economic hub, to transform a onceblighted piece of land to new use, or to make buildings and infrastructure more resilient to the effects of climate change. You’ll read more about that herein. While we never stopped planning for our clients, our own personal planning, like everything else, was put on hold. This was a smaller consequence of the pandemic, but nonetheless an important one that I’m glad is coming back to us. As social creatures, we need things to look forward to – to know that we’ll be laughing and eating with others, creating shared experiences and memories, and to take back some of what was taken from us. I hope that you all have many upcoming plans, and that you all have a safe and enjoyable summer. - Kevin Grigg, PE CEO