Town council gets emergency response plan for its review

Jerry George vowed for several months that a draft La Conner Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan would be completed by year's end.

The town's Emergency Management Commission approved and sent the 36-page document to the town council at its Nov. 19 meeting.

It includes a risk assessment for potential natural disasters and spells out emergency response procedures, operations and communications policies.

Ironically, the hour-long session at Maple Hall was held just ahead of a bomb cyclone that hit the Puget Sound region.

George noted that a winter storm here several years ago snapped off a tree that crashed onto former emergency management commissioner Jim White's pickup truck. George's point was that disasters and emergencies can strike anyone anywhere and at any time.

Thus, the value of neighborhood mapping, the focus of most of the meeting.

Neighborhood mapping is designed to assist first responders in emergency situations.

"It identifies the special needs and specific skills of everyone in the neighborhood," said George. "While preparing for disaster responses, neighbors meet with one another and recover some of the closeness that was lost to COVID-19."

Several La Conner neighborhoods have begun the process. The hope is that it will be embraced throughout town.

"Our challenge at this point," said George, "is getting beyond 'Day One' and finding those people in each neighborhood who are willing to be proactive and serve as organizers.

"The mayor," George said, "is interested in getting the program on the road beyond where we are now."

George called neighborhood mapping, "an incredibly useful, effective tool that doesn't cost the Town a cent. And the people are prepared. A little preparation with a mapping program goes a long way toward making people safe."

George plans on making the rounds and evangelizing.

"I want to talk to the various service clubs and organizations about it," he said.

"The mayor has decided this is what I'll be doing a lot of this year," said George. "I couldn't be happier."

Next year individual emergency preparation will also be a focus. Public training workshops are planned, starting in February, with that month's Meet the Mayor program.

Commission Chair Doug Asbe will report on local emergency HAM radio capabilities when the commission meets on Dec. 5.

This was Brianna Wilson's first meeting as a commissioner. One vacancy remains.