James Island leaders push CERT sign-ups and reconstitute emergency preparedness committee

The James Island Intergovernmental Council on Wednesday urged residents to sign up for Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, described a local sandbag plan and announced steps to re-establish a standing emergency-preparedness committee for the island.

Mayor Lyon, speaking for the Town of James Island, said the town has added an emergency response department and is encouraging residents to complete the county CERT course. "So far, we have Melissa Flick, Mike Hemmer, Mike, James Hackett, and myself did it a couple weeks ago," she said, and asked residents to register because training slots "do fill up fast." She also told the council the town is storing sand and contracting debris removal: "We actually still have some, and we're lined up to get more. We have 20,000 sandbags, stashed away."

The council also heard from Mark Davis, the recently appointed fire chief for the James Island Public Service District, who described the effort to reconstitute the island's Emergency Preparedness Committee. "If you're familiar with what a local emergency planning committee is, that comes together to develop its plans for not only response ... but also how do we recover and reinstitute our normal services?" Davis said. He invited agencies, neighborhood groups and other partners to join a May meeting and to suggest agenda items.

Officials said the reconstituted committee will map response and recovery roles across municipal, county and school-district partners and aim to create contact lists and pre-arranged plans so agencies can act faster in a crisis. Davis emphasized relationship-building as a goal: "It's ... about building relationships. So if I have any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them." He also noted the committee will consolidate information about neighborhood CERT teams so incident commanders know which volunteer resources are available.

Council members discussed practical details for recruiting CERT volunteers and coordinating local events. Town staff said the county hosts the multi-day CERT classes (including prerequisite online coursework) and that the town will post registration links on its website and the community Nextdoor page. Officials said the town and county plan to coordinate sandbag distribution this season using a pre-arranged contractor and volunteers to serve residents, including elderly households who need assistance loading bags.

The discussion was framed as planning and outreach; no new regulations or binding intergovernmental agreements were adopted at the meeting. Officials asked interested agencies and neighborhood representatives to contact Chief Davis to be added to the meeting invite list and draft agenda.