Portsmouth staff review Basic Emergency Operations Plan ahead of council's next adoption

Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator Anna McCray told the Portsmouth City Council at its work session that the city's Basic Emergency Operations Plan is written from an all-hazards perspective and provides guidance for how city departments, partner agencies and community stakeholders should prepare for, respond to, recover from and mitigate large-scale incidents.

The plan's basic requirements, McCray said, are driven by state law. "We are required by state code under Section 44-1-46.19(e)" to have a locally adopted basic EOP and the plan "has to be adopted every four years," she said. The document is organized as four volumes: the basic EOP that will come to council for adoption, functional annexes addressing the eight FEMA community lifelines, hazard-specific annexes built on a THIRA/HVA process, and a volume of supporting plans and resources.

McCray described recent training and exercise activity. She said the city has conducted regional tabletop exercises— including a tabletop this summer with chief administrative officers on a mass-terrorism scenario and a school active-shooter tabletop in August— and that staff will execute a three-year exercise plan beginning in January with more EOC-level and functional exercises to test specific capabilities. The EOC location was given as 307 County Street, second floor.

Council members pressed staff on several operational points. Councilman Peter Ugel asked how often mass-casualty or related plans were exercised; McCray said exercises occur frequently, regionally and locally, and that a plan of stepped EOC exercises is in development. Councilwoman Elaine Thomas asked how continuity of government and department-level COOPs differ from emergency management; McCray said COOPs focus on continuity of government and department operations (for example, where an evacuated fire station would relocate) while the EOP coordinates multi-agency response and community lifelines.

On community engagement and volunteer response, McCray said staff plans to relaunch the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program in the first quarter of the coming calendar year and to train and exercise with partners. She reported the CERT mobile trailer remains in place with the department of social services partner and that staff will assess equipment readiness and seek stable funding from business partners and higher-education institutions, not only federal grants.

McCray also addressed cyber and communications continuity as part of the city's COOP planning. "What would the plan be if you didn't have access to email or cell phones?" she said, adding that IT and regional partners are participating in cyber exercises through the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.

Other operational notes provided during the discussion: staff said the city has a mass-casualty plan and practices reunification and family assistance center procedures with schools; the city recently completed a tabletop series on regional mass-terrorism; and the city expects to leverage regional events (notably VEIL 250 next summer) to test resource-sharing scenarios.

McCray closed by reiterating that the EOP is a living, flexible document that staff reviews annually and will present to council for formal adoption at the next council meeting. She invited council to continue to engage with constituents about preparedness, join exercises, and provide feedback on the plan.