Danbury Mayor Bolsters City’s Communication With Former TV News Reporter

Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito was in the I-95 Studio on Thursday (9/29/22) to appear on the Ethan, Lou and Large Dave Morning Show.

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We covered a wide array of topics with Esposito but what stood out were some exciting announcements related to communication. The Mayor has added a PR specialist to his staff (we'll come back to that) and the City is launching a new website on Monday (10/3/22). This is what the Mayor had to say of the tech update.

"It's an all-around better, easier operation to get information about the City of Danbury."

I asked the Mayor specific questions about the program the city will be using, wondering if it was one that I was familiar with. I learned that this program was built specifically for municipality websites. The Mayor and his staff believe that the program's efficiency can speed up and improve their ability to inform residents.

We were also joined in-studio by two City Hall Staffers. The Mayor introduced us to Erin Henry, a Public Relations Specialist and Media expert. The Mayor had this to say of her role:

"Anything to do with impacting the city. With an emergency or a happening throughout the city, the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, the Health Department, and our emergency operations man Matt Cassavechia. And, Erin deal with them directly so if there is an issue where we need to notify the public, as soon as possible, Erin will be there. She's going to be a huge asset to us." 

Erin Henry - Public Relations Specialist for Emergency Management 

Henry has an impressive media background, most notably to TV viewers as a TV News reporter for WFSB under her maiden name Erin Edwards. .

I spoke with Erin Henry and asked when she started the job, if she's excited, and what she hopes to achieve. This is what she had to say:

"I started my new role earlier this month on September 7. I’ve worked telling stories in communities across CT for several years, and I’m excited now to be able to focus on one community.

My main goal is to establish a clear line of communication from the police, fire, emergency management and health departments to the people of Danbury so they can remain as informed as possible.

In addition, the city’s public safety departments do an incredible job of serving the people of Danbury, so I would like to shine a light on their achievements. In the short amount of time I’ve been here, it’s really stood out to me just how much they care for this city and how passionate they are about the people here. I think it’s important that those stories are told." 

The City has received criticism in the past for its delayed media response to emergency and media matters. In fairness, there is no keeping pace with social media "news", but this effort by the city to streamline communication should go a long way.

Henry's entrance will improve communication between City agencies and the public. She'll be working directly with the media in Danbury (we have too much), and her presence will relieve Kleinhans of certain duties, allowing him the time to focus on matters between the State of CT, and the Hat City.

John Kleinhans - Communication and Government Affairs Advisor 

Kleinhans is a political heavy-hitter in Hartford. Mayor Esposito raves about his work to me all the time. He's very tall and I call him Langerghans which is a very obscure Seinfeld reference.

You can listen to the communication/tech portion of our discussion with the Mayor below.

Listen to our full interview with Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito below. In it, we discussed the infamous loose Danbury Moose, a possible year two for San Gennaro and new business in Danbury.

I opened my Adobe software and installed the pictures of the Mayor and Erin Henry, to make a split-screen photo. I added two official photos that I have on file from the City of Danbury and this is how it came out.

So I switched it to this.

We talked about this on the Ethan, Lou & Large Dave Morning Show on Friday (9/30/22) as well.

That one looks far less disturbing.