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Monona committee reviews draft emergency operations plan, delays recommendation for more feedback
Summary
City emergency manager presented a draft emergency operations plan that mixes a county template with local details; committee asked for more time and will seek additional feedback before recommending it to council.
Neil Stechschulte, the city’s emergency manager, presented a draft emergency operations plan at the Monona Public Safety Committee meeting on Jan. 22, 2025, and asked committee members for feedback on format, contact lists and distribution.
The plan is built from an earlier local document and a newer template provided by Dane County Emergency Management, Stechschulte said, and the city has merged elements of both. "One of the reasons we're getting this out to you is we're looking for feedback," he said.
Committee members and staff discussed practical details the plan must cover: staff checklists and assignments; equipment and contractor lists; maps and the appropriate secure handling of sensitive infrastructure data; distribution formats including PDF copies, flash drives and hard copies for staff; and a schedule for keeping the document current. Stechschulte said some map layers (community facilities and public-utilities infrastructure) would not appear in the public document for security reasons but would be available by reference.
The group discussed coordination with private-sector housing (hotels) and relief partners. Committee members noted the importance of formal agreements with hotels and said the American Red Cross is the city’s current contact for temporary sheltering and short-term accommodations. Stechschulte said the Red Cross typically decides the shelter footprint and local partners can support longer transitions.
Committee members raised communications topics the plan should address, including a role to monitor misinformation on social media and a clear public-information strategy. Stechschulte said the chief and the city’s public information staff would coordinate messages and that the plan anticipates standing up a joint information center for larger incidents to ensure a single, unified public message.
Rather than make a recommendation to the council immediately, committee members asked for time to circulate the draft and to collect feedback from a subject-matter contact named Larry. The committee agreed to revisit the plan at the next public safety meeting.
Members asked that the plan be maintained as a "living document" with more frequent updates than annually (quarterly reviews were suggested) for items that change rapidly, such as equipment lists and media contacts.
