Hooper emergency-preparedness volunteers urge city support for trailer, outreach and Everbridge enrollment

Dave Harris, Hooper’s emergency-preparedness specialist, told the City Council the volunteer team has acquired an emergency-response trailer and is working to outfit it, but needs city support for storage, racking, outreach and enrollment in county emergency systems.

Harris said the trailer — described in some county materials as a “mass casualty” trailer — will be stocked over time and that volunteers have already collected items from county PPE distributions. “We are ready to start putting the racks in,” he said, adding that the trailer currently sits behind a resident’s house and “we'd like to have it in an enclosure.”

The volunteers emphasized spending and procurement limits. Harris noted the city’s procurement policy requires council approval for purchases above $5,000 and said outfitting could be spread out to stay below that threshold. “We...are ready to start putting the racks in,” he said. Council staff confirmed purchases under $5,000 could likely be handled administratively, while larger buys should return to the council for approval.

Harris raised two operational issues: storage/access and a county-managed alert system. On storage, he asked council members to consider indoor space in municipal buildings to protect the trailer from weather and to ensure multiple people can access it. On alerts, he described Everbridge, a county critical-event management platform introduced in July, and said Hooper is not enrolled. “I can't do it because it has to be an employee...we're not part of this, as far as I know,” Harris said, and asked staff to follow up with county emergency management about joining the system.

Volunteers asked for help with public outreach, including putting emergency-preparedness materials and meeting notices on the city website. Monica and other volunteers said they are promoting CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training and other short trainings like CPR and AED classes to build local capacity. Harris and volunteers said FEMA-certified in-person CERT training has scheduling limits and that some training will need residents to travel to county locations; they proposed promoting online CERT resources and local CPR/AED sessions as interim steps.

Harris described the group's approach to create a concise local emergency plan (7–10 pages with an appendix) and to keep community-facing materials short and usable rather than lengthy binders. He asked for “attention” rather than large new resources — requesting that the city formally back the volunteers' effort with website visibility and coordination with marketing and staff.

Council members and staff responded with operational guidance: city staff said they can accept receipts for small purchases and can work with volunteers to post content on the city webpage; staff also identified Morgan (city staff) as the procurement contact and said the city does not pay sales tax on purchases.

Why it matters: Hooper’s volunteer emergency-preparedness team says it has basic equipment and an organized plan but needs city support for logistics, visibility and formal enrollment in county systems to ensure the city and residents can be reached and assisted in a large-scale event.

Volunteers requested follow-up on three items: confirmation of a storage location for the trailer, written guidance on allowable purchasing thresholds and a staff contact to coordinate Everbridge enrollment and website postings. Council staff said they would follow up with the named contacts and the county emergency manager.

“...we are not, prepared to do something like that if it was widespread,” Harris said, describing the city’s current readiness for a large-scale emergency and why the trailer and trained volunteers are needed.

Ending: Council members thanked Harris and the volunteer team. The council did not take a formal vote on funding or policy at the meeting; volunteers and staff agreed to follow up on storage, procurement procedures for racking, website posting and county Everbridge enrollment.