Waterford — The town’s new emergency management director began his job in the throes of a pandemic.

Steve Sinagra, who spent 31 years with Groton Town police, retiring as a captain, said the transition wasn’t too shocking. His last day with Groton was April 4, and he started with his new role in Waterford two days later.

“I was working in the middle of a pandemic in my previous job,” Sinagra said. “The town of Groton recently eliminated the emergency management director position and the emergency communications supervisor position, so those tasks fell on the police department.”

Sinagra said that during the last two years, and in the midst of the pandemic, he was overseeing the dispatch center in Groton. The chief of police is the emergency management director in town, but duties were being shared among administrators such as Sinagra.

The career

During his tenure in law enforcement, which he began in the late-1980s at age 22 with Groton, Sinagra has worked in a variety of roles but lately, he’s tended toward administrative duties.

“When you gain emergency experience, you deal with different things all the time, life and death stuff,” Sinagra said. “So when you’re sitting in an office managing those situations, you take out that imminent threat to yourself, and you’re able to think clearly and make decisions easier.”

Groton Town Police Chief Louis Fusaro elaborated on Sinagra’s time at the regional dispatch center, where he handled dispatch duties and company emergency management jobs. Fusaro said Sinagra gained a better understanding of working with partner agencies, such as fire services and EMS, in the last two to three years that complement his new post in Waterford well.

Sinagra was a patrol officer in Groton for about 13 years, a sergeant for about five and a half, a lieutenant for five and a half and a captain for eight. He said the different hats he’s worn have resulted from his constant desire to learn, and because “public service and law enforcement is a career for me, it isn’t just a job.”

“There are always people who will be there for the paycheck,” Sinagra said. “They’ll punch in, punch out and do as little as possible, but I was interested in a career, so I signed up for every chance, took advantage of training opportunities and learned all I could to advance my career.”

It was Sinagra’s summer job at Rocky Neck State Park, where he worked for the then state Department of Environmental Protection, that piqued his interest in police work. He was 18.

The job

According to Sinagra, being an emergency management director means being prepared for the unexpected — whether that’s natural disasters, manmade disasters, blizzards, hurricanes or an accident at the Millstone Nuclear Power Station — and becoming intimately acquainted with the details of planning for the worst.

“If you have a location where you need to evacuate people from, is it handicapped-accessible so people can get off the curb and onto the bus?” Sinagra asked. The emergency management director coordinates other departments in town during emergencies, as well.

As for the present challenge of COVID-19, Sinagra credited First Selectman Rob Brule for steps he’s taken in enforcing social distancing. Waterford is one of the few, and was one of the first, towns in the region to shut down all of its parks and recreation areas. Sinagra said every town is distinct, but Waterford proved ahead of the curve with this measure.

“There are some issues in a couple of the nursing homes, but you would expect that given the close living quarters of those places,” he said.

Waterford currently has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in New London County, with 99 confirmed out of the county’s 473 as of Saturday. Director of Health for the Ledge Light Health District Stephen Mansfield said the majority of the cases are in long-term health care facilities.

On Tuesday, Brule posted on Facebook about the death of a fourth Waterford resident due to the coronavirus.

Sinagra’s wife, Justine, a nurse at L+M Hospital, said the Sinagra household is hyper-aware of the threat of COVID-19.

“Normally, being a nurse as long as I’ve been, it’s like breathing, you don’t even think about it, you just go in and do your job,” Sinagra said. “Now you have to be aware of everything. I was watching something where people were going to the Capitol and begging to open the state — they have no idea how bad this is right now and how bad it’s going to get.”

Work hard, play hard

Sinagra made sure to praise his wife for her work on the front line of the pandemic.

“Everybody is now recognizing who the true heroes are,” Sinagra said. “We have firefighters and EMS and police officers who are doing the job every day. My wife has worked every day. She’s been a big supporter of mine throughout my life, she’s dealt with the shift work, she’s also on the front lines. She’s doing the difficult work of the pandemic.”

The married couple have owned four dogs together — they like to rescue — and according to Justine, she and the soft-spoken Sinagra play as hard as they work.

"We take frequent vacations, he plays hockey, and we love sports,” Justine said. “We’re Boston fans all the way. We have a lot of fun. We have a boat. He has a jet ski. He plays golf. We have a great dog that we rescued, his name is Max. We have a lot of laughs; I feel very blessed that I met Steve. We’ll be married 26 years next month, and we’ve been together 28 years.”

At the moment, the Sinagras don’t really discuss work when they’re home because “it’s draining, physically, mentally, emotionally,” Justine said.

From Justine’s account, Steve seems to be an even-keeled man. She said she’s never heard him cuss, and he rarely gets angry. The two are connected in many ways: they’re both one of seven children, and, Justine said, they both have a strong work ethic.

Fusaro agreed with Justine about Steve’s businesslike demeanor.

“He’s a quiet professional,” Fusaro said. “He’s thoughtful, he’s a diligent worker, he’s committed to his organization, he was a staple here for a long time. He thinks about things, he doesn’t fly off the handle, he’s very deliberate in his actions, and he doesn’t look for fanfare. He goes about his job in a way that is quiet but thorough and thoughtful.”

Fusaro repeatedly said he expects Sinagra to succeed in Waterford.

“On a personal note, I’ve worked with him for the last five years now,” Fusaro said. “I came into this organization, and he had been here for quite some time, and he taught me a lot about the job I’m doing. He helped me along, and I’m sure the people of Waterford will see the same thing.”

s.spinella@theday.com