Committee backs 'one-mile beach' call to action, asks city manager for implementation plan ahead of storm season
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Summary
The committee supported a citywide 'one-mile beach' operational call to action — a culture-from-the-top approach to activate staff across departments during floods and other high-demand moments — and asked the city manager to return with a phased implementation plan for July.
The Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee endorsed a proposal to create an all-hands, department-wide "one-mile beach" call to action to improve city responsiveness during floods, storms and other high-demand periods.
Commissioner Suarez described two recent emergency-like experiences—one involving flash flooding and stranded vehicles, and another with volunteers handing out sandbags—where he said available city staff could have been better mobilized to provide direct, practical help to residents. He said the intent is to set "culture from the top" so that roles outside of a department’s normal duties (for example, parking enforcement staff assisting with sandbag distribution or clearing drains) can be temporarily reprioritized during incidents.
City Manager Eric Carpenter supported the direction and committed city leadership to an implementation plan. "Everything is everyone's job. We are one city, one team," Carpenter said, adding that his leadership team is committed to making the program a priority and that staff has already begun cross-departmental talks with police and fire on how to protect residents and assets during flood events.
The committee asked the city manager to return to the July FERC meeting with an outline describing authorities, roles and a practical plan for storm-season activation. The item was shown to return to the July meeting with an implementation plan.