Saltville emergency communications committee seeks Everbridge outreach and NIMS training for town leaders

At the March 11 meeting Saltville’s Emergency Communications Committee summarized its first work plan and asked for council support to expand resident alerting and training.

Julie Loggins, who presented the committee report, said members identified gaps in timeliness, accuracy and completeness of town notifications and recommended establishing standard operating procedures, identifying multiple public information officers and producing communication flow charts for likely hazards. The committee detailed outreach steps, including flyers at council meetings, water-bill notices and brief registration help sessions so residents can sign up for Everbridge/Nixle alerts.

The committee also urged Mayor Cheri Fullen, council members and department heads to complete free FEMA NIMS (National Incident Management System) training, suggesting a six-month window to ensure leadership can use common incident protocols. Loggins said the sirens at the fire department are functional but activated manually and that the committee wants to clarify testing frequency and sheltering options; the high school is currently the only approved shelter, and the committee asked staff to consider adding the Wellness Center as an alternate shelter in future contract language.

Mayor Fullen and council members did not vote on a new policy at the meeting but asked staff to follow the committee’s action list and report back. The manager and public-safety officials were encouraged to include training and registration outreach in next steps as part of emergency-preparedness budgeting and communications planning.

The committee set actions for its next meeting: target hazards and situations, draft an outreach plan, identify PIOs and agree on measurable standards for alerts and follow-ups.