MEMORANDUM


TO: City Council

FROM: David J. Deutsch, City Manager

SUBJECT: Emergency Preparedness Update

DATE: October 23, 2008

This memorandum serves to describe the City’s efforts in the area of emergency preparedness and provides an update to the last presentation to Council in November 2007. During the October 27, 2008 Worksession, staff will review the City’s progress on emergency preparedness, expand upon the bulleted items below, and will be prepared for discussion of the issues.

Communication

• Alert Bowie

This service was offered to the public in late 2006. To date, 1,644 users have signed up (almost double since our last meeting in November 2007) to receive text messages from the City via email and on their cell phone or other electronic device. Over the last 12 months, approximately 25 alerts have been issued about severe weather, major road closings due to traffic accidents, traffic signal outages, crime alerts and electrical outages. An Alert Bowie sign-up booth was set up at National Night Out in August. The sign-up information is distributed widely during emergency preparedness presentations, homeowners association meetings, and is on the City’s website.

Earlier this month the service was expanded to include informational messages sent to registered email accounts. To date, more than 300 residents have signed on to receive these Bowie E-News emails. Current offerings include the following subjects:

• WeatherBug.

Several employees are now signed on to this subscriber service that provides immediate information via electronic device about localized storms. This alert system then allows us to send immediate text messages to our employees and subscribers.

Business Community, Civic Groups, and Special Populations

• Outreach
Staff has met, and will continue to meet, with representatives of local businesses, tenant associations, and other community groups to dispense information and answer questions about emergency preparedness. Examples of such meetings include:

• On August 5 we manned a display at National Night Out. Over 100 Vials of Life were distributed and over 200 flyers about Alert Bowie were handed out.

• On September 10 we gave a presentation at the Bowie American Legion. Discussions are ongoing about how to best utilize that facility should it be needed during an emergency.

• On September 14 we gave two presentations at the Christian Community Presbyterian Church. Their emergency team has offered to “adopt” a local senior living area so that they can provide assistance to them during an emergency.

• On September 27 we gave three presentations during the St. Matthew’s Emergency Preparedness Seminar. Our handouts included a list of Resident Responsibilities during emergencies, a list of Pet Friendly Hotels and Motels, and Alert Bowie information.

• On October 14 we hosted an emergency preparedness training class for the Bowie Childcare Providers. Guest speakers from the Capitol Heights Volunteer Fire Department spoke about residential fire prevention and a representative from Washington Gas gave a demonstration on natural gas safety.

• On October 2 we participated in the information fair for seniors at the City’s Senior Center.

Exercises/Training

• Training
Staff members regularly attend training classes, seminars, and conferences related to the many facets of emergency preparedness. Ideas, real-world experiences and plans
are in turn discussed and shared with other staff members and integrated into the City’s website, outreach material, and operational plans and actions.

Since last November, staff members have attended training and seminars at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG), Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), Prince George’s County Health Department, and other local, County, State, and Federal presentations and exercises.

An internal tabletop exercise is being planned for City staff. This exercise will give senior staff and supervisors an opportunity to interact in a controlled environment to a hypothetical event. A critique of the response to the event will be held in an effort to identify strengths and weaknesses to the response.

• The Bowie Volunteer Fire Department (BVFD) promotes local emergency preparedness and has been an advisor to staff about preparedness, response, and incident command.

• In their first annual report to City Council in September 2007, the Public Safety Committee recommended that the City sponsor Community Emergency Response Team training (CERT). Since that time, the City has participated in and helped coordinate the training and organization of more than 60 new CERT members in the community.

Emergency Plan

• The City Emergency Plan has been rewritten. A public version will be available soon on the City’s website. This plan was designed to answer those questions about emergency preparedness and response that are frequently asked by residents. The plan is formatted so that additions and new material can be easily added. For those residents without the internet, hard copies of the plan (or specific sections) can be obtained from the City’s Emergency Management Resources Coordinator. An internal version, with additional annexes and appendixes germane to City operations, will be distributed to employees.

• Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
Staff has developed a standard form for City units that are tasked with response operations. Designed to be user-friendly, it delineates the command structure, contact numbers, tasks, and other information that are vital to an effective response. While City staff members often have years, in some instances decades, of institutional history and experience, the response plans are not always outlined in a form that would be easily understood if responsibility was transferred to a new supervisor or employee. Documenting current processes and procedures is ongoing and will enable the City government to have a continuity of operations should a catastrophe or illness disable certain employees.

Shelters

• The Prince George’s Office of Emergency Management is the agency primarily responsible for shelters in the County. The decision to open a County shelter is made based on the type of emergency, the location, the number of individuals affected by it, and the probable duration of the emergency. The County has agreements with M-NCPPC and the School System to use their facilities as shelters if the need arises.

• The City has conducted two shelter management classes in conjunction with the American Red Cross. We now have a substantial list of staff and resident volunteers that we can call upon if the need arises to open a shelter.

• The Bowie Childcare Providers group has also been trained in shelter procedures. Their training took place at City Hall and was provided by the Save the Children, Domestic Emergencies Unit. This non-profit group provides training for the care of children during emergencies and disasters. The Save the Children group donated a substantial amount of child shelter supplies to the City for use should we have to open a cooling/warming center.

Working with Other Agencies

• Staff Outreach
Staff has continued to promote a positive and proactive working relationship with other emergency management officials in our area. Since November 2007, staff has met with the County’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM), Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), Bowie Volunteer Fire Department, American Red Cross, District of Columbia Emergency Management Agency (DCEMA), County Public Schools Security officers, and Bowie State University Public Safety officials. In addition, meetings and discussions have been held with the St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church Disaster Team and the Bowie Civil Air Patrol, as well as other agencies that provide first responder and support services to incidents. These relationships have proved beneficial and led to training exercises, best practices discussions, and a better understanding of available local resources.

Equipment/Supplies Acquisition

• Shelter Supplies. The Adopted FY09 Budget provides for the continuing acquisition of some limited, basic shelter supplies such as cots, water, and blankets. These items are inventoried and stored at City Hall in the Emergency Management Resources Coordinator’s office.

• The BVFD has donated a fully functional generator/lighting vehicle to the City for use in emergency management. It has a 30-foot extendable light tower and two attached swivel light banks, a diesel-powered generator, and numerous storage bins for equipment and supplies (such as CERT team supplies).

• The BVFD has utilized their mobile kitchen response unit on several occasions this year. The unit, refurbished with funds from the City, is available to respond to incidents and events where emergency personnel are working and where other food, water, and refreshment supplies are not available. The unit is available to respond to areas where City employees and volunteers (CERT) may be working as first responders.

Volunteers

• We continue to recruit and coordinate volunteers in the City. We now have a citizen coordinator for the CERT groups in the City. The CERT groups and staff meet on a regular basis with the BVFD representatives, faith-based emergency response volunteers, Bowie Childcare Providers, and County representatives. Hands-on training and informative lectures are regularly scheduled.

Summary

The position of Emergency Management Resources Coordinator was established in the FY 2007 Budget. Publicity, especially in the form of newspaper articles and our website, spurred an increased interest in the community about emergency preparedness and has been beneficial in establishing relationships with community organizations.

Staff will continue to enhance the state of preparedness for employees, residents, and businesses in the City through continuing education, training, and relationship building. Clearly, the recent training in the area of emergency management, networking with external entities, and the policy of after-incident critiques will enable the City to better respond to incidents. The ideas and questions brought forward by Council, citizens, and the Public Safety Committee have spurred actions that have benefited the City. A tremendous amount of information has been learned and an equally tremendous amount of effort to distribute information has been made. Staff will continue to seek out grants and partnerships with entities in the emergency management arena. Staff will continue to provide timely updates to Council and is always available for questions and comments from the Council or residents.


DJD/AC

Attachment: City of Bowie Emergency Plan (pdf file - 53 pages)