Walla Walla County emergency management staff told commissioners on July 21 they have sought FEMA grant extensions for a planned Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and are evaluating alternate sites after the College Place option stalled.

City Manager Elizabeth Chamberlain offered the City Hall basement as a possible county EOC location; county staff and commissioners said the site warrants deeper technical review because the space is in a basement and the county needs answers about seismic risk, flood risk and other engineering issues. Staff also reiterated that any move would need to preserve secure access for dispatch and provide sufficient parking.

Why it matters: The county has congressional funding and FEMA grants tied to an EOC project but faces scheduling pressure to use or extend those allocations. Staff said approvals and engineering work are required quickly if a new location is to be eligible under the grant timeline.

Emergency notification systems
- Staff reviewed Everbridge and the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). Emergency Management reported the county uses opt-in notifications (citizen sign-up) for routine alerts and relies on IPAWS to issue area-wide, life-safety “go now” messages when incident commanders determine evacuation or immediate life-safety action is required.
- Limitations described: Staff said IPAWS connectivity and the authority to issue area-wide wireless emergency alerts require specific authorization and incident-level confirmation (a life-safety threshold). The board discussed whether earlier use of geofenced opt-in alerts could reach at-risk residents sooner; staff warned of “cry wolf” fatigue and said IPAWS-level broad alerts are reserved for incidents where the incident commander has declared a life-safety event.
- Redundancy and failure modes: Staff highlighted the need for layered alerting because towers, power and local infrastructure can be destroyed in a catastrophic flood or storm. They also noted ongoing regional testing of IPAWS and related satellite backup programs intended to improve reach when towers fail.

Action and next steps: No final EOC location decision was made. Commissioners asked staff to pursue engineering and flood/seismic assessments for the City Hall basement option, continue discussions with College Place about the stalled project, and proceed with grant-extension work with FEMA as needed.

Speakers quoted in this story were county emergency management staff and commissioners and reflect the public meeting record.