Why did the head of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, Ken Feinberg, go to Orange Beach, instead of Pensacola? Because Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon called him and told him how screwed up the claims process is.
Feinberg’s reaction: “I said don’t you convey what they said, I ought to come and hear for myself.†He did come and brought 20 adjusters with him.
Kennon said that he called Feinberg after hearing that his constituents weren’t getting claims paid and those receiving checks were getting less than 50 percent of their claims. When he went by the Orange Beach claims office, he was given a toll-free number to call.
Kennon did a masterful job of running the town hall meeting. He asked business owners to come an hour earlier. He wanted to avoid the shouting and name-calling that had occurred at a similar meeting in Louisiana. He let people vent a little, but kept them focused on the issue at hand—how to improve the claims process and get people checks quicker.
It was the only town hall meeting that I ever attended that the mayor was so well known and comfortable with his audience that he didn’t feel compelled to introduce himself.
Orange Beach and the Gulf Coast are lucky to have him as one its voices and he definitely has Feinberg’s ear.