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Assistant police chief urges approval of coalition emergency plan to preserve FEMA aid eligibility
Summary
Assistant Police Chief presented the West Pierce Emergency Management Coalition’s planning work and warned that without the state- and FEMA-approved comprehensive emergency plan the city could lose eligibility for FEMA disaster assistance.
Assistant Police Chief (speaking to the Public Safety Advisory Committee) outlined the West Pierce Emergency Management Coalition’s five‑year emergency‑planning cycle and urged the committee to support completion and state/FEMA approval of the plans.
The coalition — a joint effort among Lakewood, University Place and West Pierce Fire — has created shared staffing and planning to cover about 100,000 residents, the chief said, and now provides full‑time personnel to write the required documents. “If we don’t have this approved, if a disaster happens in Lakewood, then we are not eligible for FEMA disaster assistance,” the assistant police chief said, stressing that both individual assistance for residents and public assistance for response costs depend on approved plans.
The presentation walked through the planning process: a threat and hazard identification and risk assessment; a stakeholder preparedness review; a hazard mitigation plan (a county plan with city annexes); and the comprehensive emergency management plan a city must maintain. The chief noted the coalition shortens duplication across neighboring cities and improves quality by pooling expertise.
Committee members asked how the public input and stakeholder assessments are gathered; the assistant police chief said outreach includes farmers markets and other public events and that the hazard mitigation process typically takes six to nine months and requires public participation. He emphasized continuity-of-operations and continuity-of-government planning for both businesses and city leadership as part of preparedness work.
The assistant police chief also described specific new hazards—such as the Amtrak high‑speed trains running through the city—that have altered local risk profiles and insurance impacts for residents. He urged committee members to promote public engagement and noted the coalition’s website (westpeersemergency.org) and outreach materials as resources for residents.
The committee did not take a formal vote on the coalition plan during the meeting; the presentation concluded with a plan to continue outreach and to include the coalition work in the committee’s materials for the upcoming city council packet.
