Community Corner

Town Council to Discuss Bevin Bell Fire

Special meeting to be held on Tuesday.

 

The East Hampton Town Council will hold a special meeting on Tuesday night to discuss the fire that destroyed the Bevin Bell Factory.

The council will provide an update and discuss which steps will be taken next. There also will be a discussion on first responder recognition.

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The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the high school library/media center.

With Sen. Richard Blumenthal by his side on Thursday, Matt Bevin, the owner of Bevin Bros. Manufacturing said he intended to rebuild.

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"There are too many hopes and dreams and possibilities tied up in this behind us to let it die," Bevin said. "We're not going to let it die."

Blumenthal pledged he would do everything he could to make it happen, adding, "We need to rally around this company because the employees need these jobs," Blumenthal said, "but more importantly America needs these bells."

Bevin and Doug Dilla, the owner of PSI Plus, which also was destroyed in the fire, said a temporary location had already been lined up and work had begun to get it ready, though the address would not be announced pending completion of the paperwork.

"We don't want these bells to be made in China. We want them made here in East Hampton," Blumenthal said. "We are going to form Team Belltown to make sure the bells are made right here."

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Bevin appreciated the Senator's support, saying the kind of commitment needed to rebuild would require the "collective effort of any and everybody and any and everything that is available at the local, state and federal level."

And, he said, it starts from scratch.

"The horrific loss we see here, there is no insurance coverage for the bulk of what we're looking at," he said. "This is not unique. We were insured for things that affect our employees - work stoppage, liability, workmen's comp. The fact is, though, this state is full of 19th-century buildings like this, some occupied, some not, that are literally uninsurable for the loss behind us, and for understandable reasons. No one wants to write a policy for a 19th-century building that's configured like this. That's no one's fault and there's not much truly that can be done about that, but the end result result when it goes is that little guys like us literally have to start from scratch, so your kind offer to basically form Team Belltown is critical because we need the resources of a community. We need more than a village."

Bevin said it took two or three days before he knew what he needed to do. Once he did, he said it was the first time he started smiling last week.

"The American way is that you get back up again," he said. "Bevins have been making bells on the land we're standing on for 180 years and I'm a Bevin. I'm standing here and I'm gong to make bells here."

To donate, leave a message, share a memory or for updates, go to www.keepthebellsinbelltown.com.


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