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Menlo Park outlines overhaul of emergency plan, cites earthquake as top risk and new community hubs
Summary
City staff told the council the Emergency Operations Plan is being rewritten and highlighted training of 381 staff, new backup communications, and solar‑powered community resilience hubs; staff called earthquake the primary near‑term threat while urging residents to sign up for SMC Alert.
Brandon Bond, Menlo Park’s Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, told the City Council on Feb. 10 that the city is rewriting its Emergency Operations Plan and has made several operational upgrades, including expanded staff training and new communications backups.
Bond said the plan — last edited in 2014 — is currently under review at the Assistant City Manager level and is expected back to the Council in June. He listed Municipal Code Chapter 2.44, the California Disaster Services Act and the National Incident Management System as the legal and policy frameworks guiding the rewrite and emphasized that the city relies on county and federal support only after local needs are declared and requested.
The presentation outlined concrete capacity gains. “We’ve conducted training over the last 18 months. 381 staff, full‑time and part‑time, have gone through disaster service worker training,” Bond said. He also reported Emergency Operations Center training for about 30 leaders who would fill EOC seats and described a full evacuation exercise at the Belhaven Community Campus that was completed in less than eight minutes.
On communications, Bond said upgrades include Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) priority calling and fixes to SMC Alert. Staff reported SMC Alert registration increased by about 10 percent after an outreach mailer. Bond described two tested mobile cellular‑on‑wheels kits that can cover about 500 devices over a roughly 1,000‑foot radius, with satellite backup, and said the city is partnering with the fire protection district to deploy solar‑powered Community Resilience Hubs offering power, satellite Wi‑Fi and device charging.
Council members asked how to prioritize hazards. Bond answered that earthquake is the most likely high‑impact event for Menlo Park while also cautioning that “there’s always that one that you didn’t think about.” He described efforts to catalog neighborhood vulnerabilities and noted regional programs such as Brace and Bolt for home retrofits, but said direct property assessments would need legal review.
Several council members pressed for more private‑public coordination with utilities and major employers; Bond pointed to recent coordination with Verizon and Cisco and the ability to use mobile vendor assets to stand up field operations. He also noted uncertainties in grant funding streams and said the city’s internal infrastructure (for example, HVAC and wiring in the 1970s‑era City Hall) remains a resilience concern.
Bond closed by urging residents to prepare at home and to sign up for SMC Alert; he directed listeners to Menlo Park’s preparedness webpage. The Council offered praise and took no binding action; staff indicated they will return with the revised Emergency Operations Plan in June and continue community outreach and training.
