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Council begins review of Emergency Operations Plan; flags communications, records and secondary‑site gaps
Summary
At a Jan. 21 work session, councilors reviewed a draft Emergency Operations Plan and raised concerns about communications redundancy (satellite phones, radios), lack of a vital‑records inventory and the need to identify a secondary site if City Hall is damaged.
The Westport City Council convened a work session immediately after its Jan. 21 special meeting to review a draft Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) prepared with assistance from plan writer Stacy Burr. Nicole Trenton walked the council through page‑specific items and asked for edits and clarifications by Feb. 6 so the plan could be considered at the March council meeting.
Councilors repeatedly noted a gap between the draft’s broad, professional language and Westport’s limited staff and equipment. Trenton read draft text that treats the EOP as "incident management" rather than a full comprehensive emergency management program; councilors asked whether the document should be scaled to Westport’s resources.
Major concerns raised included: communications redundancy (no city radio room or dedicated EOC equipment, no landline at city hall, unreliable cell service), preservation and inventory of vital records, and a lack of an identified secondary site for staff and council if city hall were damaged. The council discussed satellite phones, two‑way radios, and using locations such as the lodge or vault as contingent facilities; plan writer Stacy Burr recommended prioritizing a secondary site and noted it is critical if city hall is unavailable.
Councilors also discussed operational details such as a generator’s ability to power a modem/router for limited connectivity, the need for departmental standard operating procedures and continuity‑of‑operations documents, and how to document expense tracking for FEMA reimbursement in larger incidents. Trenton said she would collect council edits and return the revised draft and that she will attend an upcoming DEQ–county meeting relevant to related TMDL work.
What happens next: Edits to the draft EOP are due Feb. 6 to the plan writer; the council expects a revised draft and anticipates final consideration in March.
