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New regional emergency manager outlines outreach, alert system work for Kodiak region
Summary
The Kodiak Island Borough formally introduced Rich Gonzales as the region’s emergency management manager. Gonzales described outreach to village public safety officers, work on the hazard mitigation plan and steps to expand local alerting via IPAWS, and said he has been coordinating with local media and the Coast Guard.
Rich Gonzales formally introduced himself to the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly and described activities since starting the jointly funded Kodiak regional emergency management manager position on January 2, 2025.
“...I started on January 2, and been busy ever since hitting the ground running, trying to get some of the committees back up,” Gonzales said, listing regular situation reports and outreach to village public safety operations officers (VPSOs). He told the assembly he has attended state and federal emergency management conferences to build contacts and that state officials were “very happy and excited to see that this is a position now in Kodiak.”
Gonzales said he has been meeting with local broadcasters KMXT and KVOK and the Kodiak Daily Mirror to improve local emergency communications. He also said the borough recently submitted its IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert & Warning System) community plan to enable the borough to issue emergency alerts directly; he described work with KVOK on the community plan prior to sending it to the state.
Assembly members raised village‑level communication gaps observed during COVID and asked whether Gonzales had met rural villages in person. He said he had reached out by email and attended a rural forum where he was introduced, and that he was planning in‑person outreach to villages when travel opportunities arose.
On coordination with federal responders, Gonzales said he is working with U.S. Coast Guard emergency‑management personnel and the Coast Guard fire department on planning and communications. He also described training coordination with TEEX (the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service) and VPSO participation in a prior summer training session and said TEEX is scheduled to return this summer.
Gonzales’s remarks closed with commitments to continue expanding communications channels and to follow up on village siren repairs identified by assembly members.
