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Emergency management commissioner urges more staff, stable grants and funding for public alerts
Summary
CEMA Commissioner Sarah Russell told the Budget Committee on May 6 that the City’s emergency management agency operates with a fraction of peer agencies’ budgets and requested additional staff, software and outreach funding to sustain preparedness, public alerts and grant programs.
Sarah Russell, commissioner of the City Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), told the Budget Committee on May 6 that CEMA operates at far lower staffing and budget levels than comparable agencies and asked the committee to consider requests for staff and operating funds to maintain public alerting, grant compliance and preparedness work.
Russell outlined a list of requested or proposed items for FY26: replenishing outreach and safety supplies (she requested $12,000 but was allocated $2,000 in the proposed budget), funding existing software licenses (about $7,000 for active licenses such as Salamander and other services), and adding personnel — a program coordinator, an executive assistant II and two additional emergency management specialists — intended to expand planning, continuity, exercise and municipal building safety work.
The commissioner said CEMA is the city’s public alert and warning authority and is overseeing…
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