Council weighs emergency-manager position, committee to scope contracting and staffing options

Public-safety committee members framed emergency management as a growing statutory and operational responsibility that currently sits as one of several duties for staff. Fire Chief Derek Tolman noted the difficulty of having the fire chief act as both incident commander and emergency manager during major incidents, and he and city staff urged a clearer, dedicated role for emergency management.

City Manager Dave Larson said staff had estimated a market salary near $75–80K plus benefits (approximately $120,000 all-in), and councilors explored alternatives: (1) contract a consultant to update the emergency operations plan and establish procedures, (2) hire a part-time/project manager to do the upfront work and training, or (3) create a full-time emergency-manager FTE that could coordinate training, certifications and exercises. Public-safety committee members recommended contracting to get the plan updated as a first step, then returning to council with a costed recommendation on whether to fund a part-time or full-time position. Tolman and others emphasized in-city availability for incident response and mutual-aid arrangements with the county if staff cannot access the city during a wide-area event.

Next steps: the public-safety committee will develop dollar figures for contracting and part-time/full-time staffing options and report back during the budget process; staff also noted FEMA training and designation requirements that an emergency manager should meet.