It is understandable that Newtown residents would rather forget the inconveniences, spoiled food and meds, and the protracted time they may have gone without electricity following an August 4 tropical storm that hit the community.

But First Selectman Dan Rosenthal is hoping residents who were negatively impacted by what he has consistently described as an abysmal response from the Eversource electric utility will take the time to file their experiences in writing. Doing so, the first selectman said, will fortify a legal brief that was filed against the utility calling for the state’s Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURA) to demand Eversouce make changes to a response protocol that he said failed on three fronts.

“We want to make clear what is necessary based on Newtown’s experience,” he said, hoping residents will make their concerns known in writing before a series of PURA hearings on storm response scheduled in late October.

“First and foremost, we want to see PURA ordering Eversource to have crews staged to respond prior to any significant [forecasted] weather event,” Rosenthal said. “That way, if crews are on site as a storm passes, they may be able to more quickly assist responders.”

The first selectman described several situations following Tropical Storm Isaias where downed trees entangling wires created undue hazards for residents who faced safety issues, compounded by a lack of utility crews to cut power so fire and highway crews could do their jobs.

“I don’t think we had a dedicated utility crew to make-safe for days after the storm,” Rosenthal said, referring to the Eversource workers who ensure that downed wires aren’t live. He also hopes Eversource will reinstitute a community liaison program that had previously worked with municipal officials, and in Newtown’s case, occasionally stationed a company representative at Newtown’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

“We previously saw these liaisons getting timely and accurate communications to local officials, community leaders like me, and our emergency management team,” the first selectman said. “And thirdly, we want to see PURA assuring that outage reporting systems are enabled and also providing accurate information.”

Rosenthal said Newtown residents complained of getting dropped calls, and web or mobile reporting applications freezing up or not functioning as they attempted to report power outages and downed wires.

“That was compounded by residents not getting answers, or worse, getting false or incorrect information about restoration efforts,” he said. “We had cases where residents were notified that restoration crews had been dispatched, only to find they still had no power... some until days later.”

Newtown’s legal filing for immediate relief was made in partnership with Ridgefield and New Fairfield, whose communities and residents had similar experiences with the utility.

Although it could be some time before PURA is able to formally act on the legal brief, the agency is scheduled to begin an investigation on the Eversource storm response and has accepted the tri-town brief. Residents willing to share their Eversource-related experiences with PURA should e-mail pura.information@ct.gov — referencing Newtown as place of residence and docket number 20-08-03.

Residents are asked to keep their e-mails concise, to describe their personal experience, how long they were without power, and whether they had issues communicating with Eversource. Residents could also note whether their ability to travel in their neighborhood or elsewhere in town was hampered by roads blocked, fallen wires, and trees not attended to, and about lost medication and food in their refrigerator.

“My immediate concern is that this problem will happen all over again with the next major storm,” Rosenthal said. “From an immediate relief standpoint we’re vulnerable to another event until PURA acts to address these issues with Eversource.”

PURA has scheduled three upcoming public comment hearings for October 21, 22, and 23, at which time the public will have the opportunity to comment on Eversource and United Illuminating’s responses to Tropical Storm Isaias.