Seasonal worker urges better municipal communication and clearer tsunami guidance

Kevin Laughlin, a seasonal worker, told the assembly that communication failures were causing real problems for workers trying to get to their jobs and for public understanding of emergency alerts.

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate," Laughlin said, describing late and poorly placed road-closure signage and inconsistent outreach to seasonal employees. He said workers often learn of closures by rumor and sometimes find notices oriented away from the direction they approach, causing confusion and delays.

On emergency preparedness, Laughlin said he and store employees had not observed recent tsunami-siren tests and that municipal evacuation guidance on the website did not give clear, actionable instructions. "There's no evacuation plan," he said of the brochure he reviewed; "I still don't know where to go."

Manager Deach and other assembly members acknowledged the concerns. Deach noted some outreach steps (public notices, visitor-department mailings) will be used for the upcoming road work and said staff would consider ways to improve employee-facing and visitor-facing notices. Assemblymembers suggested simple remedies — posting clearer signage, distributing a yearly handout for seasonal workers, and ensuring siren testing and evacuation-route guidance are usable for residents and visitors.

Next steps: staff indicated intent to expand outreach about road work and to consider improvements to public-notice and emergency-preparedness communications.