Sanbornton asking for 911 tape of flood call

Town officials are going to court to get copies of the 911 tape recordings made July 22, the night that a portion of Maple Circle was washed out and a car was nearly lost underwater in a culvert in a flash thunderstorm.

Selectboard Chairman Patsy Wells said that the town has filed a formal request with the Belknap County Superior Court to get the tape and all dispatch logs from that night.

After they are reviewed by town officials a public “debriefing” will be held with public safety officials, Wells said.

“We’ll construct a timeline to find out what happened when, then what protocols need to be revised, or where they weren’t followed.” A tentative date for the public meeting is Saturday, Aug 26, she said.

Since the harsh thunderstorm roared through the area that Saturday night, some residents of the lakeside area of town have been critical of the response of the police and fire department. Some neighbors who came to help out said no firefighters or police officers were seen for hours after the incident.

In public statements last week, leaders of the two departments defended their actions. Part of their defense was that the original 911 emergency call was simply for a “flooded basement, no personal injury”

Now Jim and Donna Groton, whose Maple Circle home was most damaged by the flash flood, are apparently preparing some legal action against the town, according to Town Administrator Bruce Kneuer. “The board has received a letter from Mr. Groton’s attorney,” Kneuer said Friday. “I can’t tell you what’s in it,” due to the need for legal confidentiality, he added.

Kneuer said since the July 26 selectmen’s meeting when Groton and other area residents raised concerns about the response of public safety officials, he has been spending much of his time trying to collect information that could be used in a public or private “debriefing” meeting.

Starting with the tape of the 911 call that Mrs. Groton made at 8:02 p.m. is a logical first step, he said. “It is important because it’s the official starting point for connection with functions of the town in cases like this. That’s where the fire and police department are first engaged by the public.

“So you start with that 8:02 call. But you find out what events preceded and followed the call, and what led up to it. You’re talking about connecting with citizens, officials… You may have as many as 20 individuals who have to be heard from to find out what happened to who and when. And what did Mr. ‘X’ know and did Mr. ‘Y’ know about it at the same time?”

One challenge will be to define what aspects of the situation can be discussed in public and what can’t, now that a legal issue is involved, Kneuer said. “That aspect of it, which is only one aspect of property damage… We’re not going into non-public session unless it’s for a legitimate reason, like litigation. But if we’re talking about how the various departments responded, that’s not non-public. The response of the various parts of the government management, that’s not confidential. And I’m trying to separate those aspects and deal with them accordingly.”

One avenue the town administrator is looking into is whether the police or fire departments had done their own independent reviews of the incident.

Police Chief Mark Barton was not available for comment Friday but Deputy Fire Chief Scott Taylor, who is co-leading the department while the search is on for a new fire chief, said his emergency crews always review their calls afterwards. He said he’s already given that information to the town and discussed it in public last week.

“But it’s really sad that a volunteer department got slammed (in public) like that,” Taylor said, referring to the recent selectmen’s meeting. “Yes, starting July 1 we’re paid per call, but it’s a voluntary show-up and it hurts to see them slammed.

“There’s no one ‘on duty,’” he added. “It’s based on the generosity of the membership to show up on any call. These are people who are giving and doing their best for the community. They do their best — and could we do better? Could we improve? Well, one of our goals is to strive to improve all the time.

“But it’s hard when people don’t seem to understand,” he concluded. “We don’t have any guarantee of when the town is going to get hit by something — who’s in town and who’s not around. But we always get somebody out there.”