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Marin adopts county emergency communications annex and family‑assistance plan after tabletop tests
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Summary
The Board approved a Public Emergency Communications Annex and a Friends & Relatives/Family Assistance Center (FRC/FAC) annex to strengthen unified messaging, language access, family reunification and trauma‑informed services during disasters and mass incidents.
The Marin County Board of Supervisors voted April 7 to incorporate two new annexes into the county’s Emergency Operations Plan: a Public Emergency Communications Annex and a Friends & Relatives Center / Family Assistance Center (FRC/FAC) Annex.
Steven Torrance, director of Emergency Management, described the communications annex as a countywide framework to ensure one‑voice messaging, coordinated use of a Joint Information Center (JIC), multilingual outreach and clear public information officer responsibilities across jurisdictions. Torrance said the annex was road‑tested in tabletop exercises and real incidents (including King Tides and a CalFresh incident) and will be paired with an alert‑and‑warning annex to follow.
"This is the framework for how the county and all of our partner agencies are going to work together to not only advance communications, but to work together to make sure that we have one voice when we're communicating with the public during an incident," Torrance said.
The board also approved the FRC/FAC annex presented by Torrance and Amber Davis (Public Health Preparedness), describing a single location model to provide trauma‑informed behavioral health, family reunification, victim services, DMV/consular liaison and just‑in‑time document recovery during mass incidents. Davis said the model was exercised in a full‑scale drill involving more than 70 staff and multiple partner agencies; an external consultant rated Marin’s preparedness positively and recommended minor corrective actions.
Supervisors asked how the county would manage donations and trusted giving portals during incidents. Torrance said the county is working with the West Marin Fund to provide a trusted donation portal and is developing a donations management annex to triage physical goods and financial contributions.
Why it matters: The two annexes formalize coordination across departments and partner agencies, with an emphasis on accessible, multi‑lingual communications and trauma‑informed services for victims and families. Staff emphasized that these documents are operational tools to be localized by cities and towns.
What’s next: Staff will advance implementation with cities, towns and special districts, finalize the donations management annex and continue exercises to refine procedures. The board approved both annexes by voice vote.
