www.southingtoncitizen.com
Volume 19, Number 14
Friday, April 8, 2022
SOUTHINGTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
Study covers response, morale & stations By Jesse Buchanan Record-Journal staff
SOUTHINGTON — An extensive study of the town’s fire department shows committed department members and lean administration as well as inadequate fire stations, slowerthan-recommended response times and a complicated political authority structure.
Emergency Services Consulting International, a firm hired by the town, released its 260-page report March 28. It included 51 recommendations although consultants acknowledged it wouldn’t be possible for the fire department to implement them all. The company is working on a strategic plan to help guide improvements for future years.
Consultants gave an overview of the $77,000 plan during the March 28 Town Council meeting.
Response times
emergency response from the moment a 911 call is made to when firefighters arrive at a scene. The company also broke out response times to types of calls.
Both volunteer and career elements of the fire department struggled to meet national recommended response times.
Using the median response times, ESCI found career firefighters took twice as long to reach a fire as the six minutes and 20 seconds recom-
ESCI broke out different parts of
See Study, A2
Girl Scout cookie sales in the age of COVID By Nicole Zappone The Citizen
Rock Solid Alibi performs at Music on the Green in Southington in 2018. The concert series returns with a full lineup this year. File photo
Music on the Green returning this summer with full schedule By Lauren Sellew Record-Journal staff
SOUTHINGTON — Music on the Green will have a full 15 concerts this summer, bringing back crowd favorites and some new bands. The series will start on June 1, said Jerry Limmer, head coordi-
nator of Music on the Green. The lineup isn’t publicly available yet because the town’s Recreation Department is waiting to get contracts back from some of the bands. The concerts will be held Wednesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. on the town green. There will be a See Music, A3
PLAINVILLE — Started as a grassroots project in 1927, Girl Scout cookies have be- Brownie Troop 66046, pictured, easily hit its goal of selling 3,000 boxes of cookies this year. come an icon of American culture. bring this renewed girl-led was to sell 150 boxes, And while the pandemic which the second-grader innovation into the 2022 hampered cookie sales, Girl Scout Cookie Program. had no problem accomyoung scouts continued plishing. You may see cookies, but working hard to earn mon- there is really leadership Claire's mother, Melissa ey for troop activities. and adventure in each Sweeney, launched Troop box." "In 2021, Girl Scouts engi66046 two years ago. neered new ways to be suc- Deanna Porter's 5-year-old Soon after, however, cessful in their cookie busi- daughter Mia, a Daisy in COVID hit the U.S. "When nesses and still used their Troop 66051, quickly hit cookie funds to power awe- her goal of selling 500 box- that happened, we had to resort to virtual troop some experiences like es of cookies. “We had it meetings,” Sweeney said. camp, troop activities, and easy, as everyone in our But this year the troop was service projects in their family and our friends communities," interim wanted to buy cookies from able to return to in-person meetings and, at the time GSUSA CEO Judith Batty Mia,” Deanna Porter said. of this writing, had sold said back in January. For Claire Sweeney, a more than 3,000 boxes of "We're inspired by the remember of Brownie Troop cookies. silience and ingenuity of 66046, her goal this year our girls and can't wait to
See Girl Scouts, A3