Town forum unleashes flood of ideas for communicating

Public safety in emergency situations was the talk of the town at the La Conner Retirement Inn Saturday morning.

The latest in a series of quarterly public forums coordinated by La Conner Town Council communications committee members MaryLee Chamberlain and Rick Dole focused on December's flood and proposed measures to mitigate future episodes.

The Dec. 27 flooding, a combination of factors – seasonal king tides, low barometric pressure, strong westerly winds and steady rainfall – struck rapidly that morning and resulted in nearly $2 million in damages here.

"I've lived here my entire life and live on the waterfront now," said Maureen Harlan, a forum leader, "and I've never seen anything like that before."

Town Planning Commission Chair Marna Hanneman, who served as a forum recorder, noted that she received phone calls from fellow residents asking what they should do.

"It's critical in this day and age that government can get accurate information to its citizens," Mayor Ramon Hayes stressed in opening the Jan. 21 session, which delved heavily into communications options in emergency situations.

A jigsaw approach, with the 50 participants – including Town Administrator Scott Thomas and Skagit County Assessor Danny Hagen – seated at six tables, was employed to brainstorm communications strategies going forward.

Among those most frequently proffered were:

• Including key information with monthly water bills.

• Installing a new community reader board to replace the one removed at Sixth and Morris street.

• Encouraging increased neighbor- to-neighbor communication.

• Establishing neighborhood watch programs.

• Developing an emergency checklist for residents and merchants.

• Instituting a siren, whistle or church bell system for a pending emergency notifications.

• Increasing utilization of local CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) members.

• Using multi-lingual messaging.

• Providing "OK" and "Need Help" signs to place in windows to alert first responders of their respective situations.

• Making use of phone trees, texting and other technology assets.

• Creating a community "Care Network."

Retirement Inn resident Jackie Smith suggested that regular emergency response drills be conducted at her facility, site of the forum.

"This has been a great opportunity to meet with your group," Hanneman told Retirement Inn residents. "We're very happy to have been able to come here today. Thank you, very much, for allowing us to be here. It's important that all our communities are heard."

La Connerite Gail Bruce facilitated.

"There has been some very good information shared here," Chamberlain said afterward, "and we really appreciate it."

Input from the forum, organizers said, will be compiled and made available publicly in report form.

Hagen said the forum was productive and an ideal model for future public meetings.

"We want to make sure," he insisted, "that this isn't a one-time event."