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Glynn County emergency management says community-engagement goals met, plans more exercises and CERT expansion
Summary
Emergency-management officials told commissioners they exceeded a target for community engagement, run more multi-agency exercises than planned and aim to expand CERT classes, write new evacuation and COOP plans, and preserve FEMA/GEMA disaster-match eligibility.
Glynn County Director of Emergency Management Andy Leonza reported to commissioners that the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) has exceeded several outreach and exercise goals and is moving into a planning-and-exercise phase for new evacuation and continuity plans.
“We chose a goal of 30 based on last year… we’ve exceeded this goal to 34,” Andy Leonza said, describing community engagement activities and public training carried out through the year. Leonza said EMA expects to reach roughly 40 community engagements by year end as staff teach programs such as Stop the Bleed and expand outreach to houses of worship and neighborhoods.
Leonza said the county has implemented at least five multi-agency exercises this year, with another scheduled; he said a full staffing level would support about six exercises annually and that next year’s planning includes a multi-exercise “Her Ex week” that could count as multiple exercises. The EMA leader said exercises are submitted to state review and that compliance with FEMA and GEMA planning standards has been a priority to preserve disaster-match reimbursement eligibility.
CERT training (Community Emergency Response Team) was another focus. Leonza said the county is offering several eight-week CERT classes this year — city, island and neighborhood courses — and expects to continue offering multiple classes annually, with plans to register and orient volunteers who complete CERT training. He said volunteers who completed CERT and other training had already offered assistance for points of distribution, sheltering and disaster volunteer centers.
Leonza said his office is drafting an evacuation/reentry plan and a continuity-of-operations (COOP) plan and that many plans created in year one will move into an exercise and refinement stage in year two. Commissioners praised EMA for the storm response last week and noted the importance of an after-action report and continued improvement.
Leaders emphasized that meeting FEMA/GEMA planning requirements helps the county secure an extra 2.5% in reimbursement should a federal disaster declaration be needed, and officials said they would continue quarterly reviews of goals and exercise schedules.
