Mayor Skibitsky Travels to Georgia to Share Lessons Learned from Hurricane Sandy

The following information appears on the Town of Westfield's website:

At the invitation of the Chatham County Emergency Management Agency for the State of Georgia, Mayor Skibitsky is conducting workshops and offering the keynote address at an emergency management hurricane planning and preparedness conference in Savannah, Georgia. Since much of the conference is focused on lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy, the emergency management agency reached out to Mayor Skibitsky after reading about his efforts before, during and after Hurricane Sandy in the national news media.

The conference organizers invited the Mayor and our Town Administrator to meet with Georgia emergency management officials to discuss communications strategies and, in particular, what steps were taken to keep Westfield residents informed under the dire circumstances, given the wide-spread power outages in the region. Discussions and presentations are focused on the multifaceted approach - from hand delivered notices, to the frequent use of Twitter, to the town-wide conference calls with local officials, state legislators, and representatives of PSE&G and the Board of Public Utilities. 

The Town’s participation in the Georgia Conference is at zero cost to the taxpayers. The Mayor agreed to participate not only as a means to share Westfield’s experience, but as another opportunity to review the Town’s efforts to ensure that we continue our efforts to be as prepared as possible for the next challenge that may come our way.

Lessons from Sandy inform Georgia hurricane season  Savannah Morning News - April 24, 2013