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County emergency manager updates commissioners, seeks signatures for revised emergency operations plan
Summary
The county’s emergency management official briefed commissioners on organizational staffing, a streamlined emergency operations plan, completed THIRA work, polling-place security planning and cybersecurity grant priorities, and commissioners voted to accept the plan and sign a promulgation.
County emergency management staff provided a progress report on emergency preparedness and sought the commissioners’ support for an updated emergency operations plan (EOP).
The official reported assembling a leadership team that includes deputy director Randy Merkel and administrative assistant Amanda Smith, completing a THIRA that had been overdue and slimming the county EOP from 154 pages to roughly 40 pages to improve usability. The office has also drafted a polling-place security plan with the election board and plans training and exercise schedules to accompany the EOP.
Staff said they have applied for small local grants (RMC/Duke Energy roundups) and plan to pursue federal HSEEP grant funding ($150,000 is the referenced program cap) but that large equipment requests such as generators may be less competitive because neighboring districts recently received units. Cybersecurity was identified as a high-priority need following recent cyber incidents in other counties; staff said they are evaluating server and network hardening options in coordination with IT vendor partners.
The emergency-management official asked the board to sign a promulgation accepting the revised EOP; a motion to accept and sign the EOP was made and seconded, and the board approved the request. Staff also reported the county’s responsibility for a tornado siren at Cross Plains has been restored following a radio/communication fix; other community sirens remain the responsibility of local fire departments.
