Mayor Richard Thomas met with representatives of Con Edison on Tuesday to discuss how the utility can improve its storm-response capabilities.

March storms “Quinn” and “Riley” knocked out power to 11,000 Mount Vernon residents. The two-hour meeting focused on improving:

· The accuracy of outages and restoration times. Acknowledging the poor performance of its current software, Con Edison has undertaken an end-to-end review.

· Tree-cutting protocols between the city’s tree trimming crews and Con Ed’s power restoration teams.

· Outreach to seniors and the medically vulnerable, especially those on life support systems. Con Edison and the city are involved with education programs that include making sure the utility has customer profiles in place before storms hit.

· Communications in general and specifically between municipalities and the utility’s liaisons.

· Employing new technology like “smart” meters, which can automatically tell Con Edison if a customer has lost or regained power. Mount Vernon has 13,000 smart meters in place, 20 percent of the current total in Westchester.

Two takeaways from the meeting were commitments to explore how to “storm harden” the Doles Center and Armory and to conduct educational forums with groups ranging from the city’s seniors to its large industrial companies.

“This is all about improvement — creating better alignment and tightening communication,” said Mayor Thomas. “Now is the time to learn from the past and get ready for the next storm.”