City reviews continuity of operations plan; third-party audit prompts training push

City emergency management officials briefed the Public Safety Committee on the citywide Continuity of Operations (COOP) program, noting a recent third-party review and plans to expand training and exercises.

Travis Houston, deputy director of emergency management, described the purpose of a COOP plan as establishing a framework to reestablish essential services after a disruption. He said the program is governed by Administrative Directive 2-56 and that the program’s original COOP plans dated to 2012 with subsequent updates.

Houston said the city contracted IEM for a programmatic review—authorized by city council on April 10, 2024—to identify gaps and to help develop training materials and exercise templates. IEM’s deliverables were returned in February 2025 and shared with departments. “Our biggest takeaway is that we've got to have a more robust training and exercise program specific to these plans,” Houston said, noting turnover and the evolving technology environment as complicating factors.

Departments must maintain individual COOP annexes, identify mission-essential functions, establish lines of succession and perform annual updates, Houston said. He outlined next steps: a subcommittee of COOP coordinators is reviewing vendor recommendations, the administrative directive will be revised to incorporate improvements, and officials plan a citywide tabletop exercise likely in September or October after annual updates are completed.

Councilmembers thanked staff and asked about onboarding and whether recommendation language included orientation for those in lines of succession. Houston said the vendor recommended orientation awareness for those responsible for COOP roles, and the city will emphasize training so those people understand their roles early in employment.

Members requested the city prioritize an exercise timeline and to include unannounced testing scenarios where useful to evaluate readiness.