If given the opportunity, I always enjoy recognizing young people who step out of their comfort zone in order to serve another individual or their community. Last week on Friday, we experienced over four inches of rainfall in a two-hour period. While my hope is that many of you made it through that storm with little or no damage, we did experience a number of streets that held the large amount of water until it could run off into the storm sewers. Our public works crew was out unclogging storm sewers on streets where rainfall was resulting in large bodies of standing water. In several instances, public works crews had to search for the storm sewers, in order to remove any debris that might have been blocking proper drainage of water.
While our crews are well trained to deal with situations such as this, two young men left their home while rain was still falling, in order to assist out public works crew in locating the storm sewers. As their mother Tricia related to me, the boys told their mom that they knew where all the drains were, and wanted to go out and assist our public works staff. So, in the pouring rain, Ovie, (10) and Rush, (7) Basalone took it upon themselves to assist our public works crew. On that day, each of these young men chose to leave the comfort of their home and assist our crews, and in effect serve their fellow residents. Ovie and Rush, on behalf of the City of Darien’s public works crew, our city staff and your fellow residents want you to know how much we appreciate your efforts, and your service to our community.
I have asked Ovie and Rush to attend our August 4 City Council meeting, where we will get an opportunity to thank them in person, and recognize their unselfish behavior.