In this lesson, you will learn about establishing a planning team for creation of the public works agency-specific plan. You will learn the key players that should be on the public works planning team as well as some of the stakeholders who should be involved. You will be introduced to the information that will need to be gathered in order for the planning team to complete the initial tasks in the emergency planning process.

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Identify potential planning team members.
• Identify the information that must be gathered by the planning team.
• List the initial tasks for the planning team.

The first step in emergency planning is establishing the core planning team and identifying stakeholders. Emergency planning needs to be a team effort due to the required coordination between many different community agencies and organizations, and the different levels of government involved.

Depending on the type of emergency, different kinds of expertise and response capabilities are required. By involving individuals at different levels of various agencies and organizations, you have the opportunity to ensure that all perspectives and resources are considered during the emergency planning process.

Public works personnel who are recommended as members of the core planning team include functional supervisors, engineers, and individuals from various functions such as utilities, roads and bridges, and sanitation.

In addition to being involved in the creation of the public works agency-specific plan, these individuals can contribute needed information to the community-wide plan.

Public works personnel can provide:

• Knowledge about the jurisdiction’s road and utility infrastructure
• Specialized personnel and equipment resources
• Information about the agency’s in-house capabilities
• Knowledge of the public works role in the Incident Command System (ICS)

Potential key players from outside the public works agency include personnel from the agencies and organizations shown on the graphics. These other agencies may assist in the community-wide plan and in the public works agency-specific plan.

Building Inspection

Emergency Medical Services

Fire Services

Law Enforcement

Local Businesses

Finance and Procurement

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Building Inspection Services

Building Inspection Services can provide:

• Knowledge about building codes
• Information about construction standards
• Guidance about the inspection process
• Information about and support for damage assessment
• Knowledge about how Building Inspection Services interacts with the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and incident command

Emergency Medical Services

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) can provide:

• Knowledge about emergency medical treatment requirements for a variety of situations
• Information about treatment facility capabilities
• Specialized personnel and equipment resources
• Knowledge about how EMS interacts with the EOC and incident command

Fire Services

Fire Services can provide:

• Information about fire department capabilities, procedures, on-scene safety requirements, hazardous materials response requirements, and search-and-rescue techniques
• Knowledge about the jurisdiction’s fire-related risks
• Specialized personnel and equipment resources
• Knowledge of the Incident Command System (ICS)
• Knowledge about how Fire Services interacts with the EOC and incident command  

Law Enforcement Services

Law Enforcement can provide:

• Information about police department capabilities, procedures, on-scene safety requirements, local laws and ordinances, explosive ordnance disposal methods, and specialized response requirements such as perimeter control and evacuation procedures
• Knowledge about the prevention and protection strategies for the jurisdiction
• Knowledge about fusion centers and intelligence and security strategies for the jurisdiction
• Specialized personnel and equipment resources
• Knowledge of the law enforcement role in the Incident Command System (ICS)
• Knowledge about how Law Enforcement interacts with the EOC and incident command  

Local Businesses

Local businesses and industry representatives can provide:

• Information about specific business or industry capabilities
• Information about hazardous materials that are produced, stored, and/or transported in or through the community
• Facility response plans (to be integrated with the community’s Emergency Operations Plan)
• Knowledge about specialized facilities, personnel, and equipment resources that could be used in an emergency

Finance and Procurement

Jurisdiction finance and procurement agencies can provide:

• Knowledge about current funding appropriations
• Available fund balances
• Availability of borrowing capacity
• Legally defensible procurement procedures
• Required documentation for all of the above
• Knowledge about how Finance and Procurement interacts with the EOC and incident command

In addition to the core members of the public works planning team, stakeholders from other agencies should also be included in the planning process for both the community-wide plan and the public works agency-specific plan. Some potential stakeholders are shown on the graphics.

Private or Local Utilities

Emergency Manager

Department of Health 

Department of Transportation

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Private or Local Utilities

Private or local utility representatives can provide:

• Information about utility capabilities
• Knowledge about utility infrastructures
• Knowledge about specialized personnel and equipment resources that could be used in an emergency
• Information about existing or needed mutual aid or MOUs
• Knowledge about how utilities interacts with the EOC and incident command

Emergency Managers

Emergency Managers (EMs) can provide:

• Plans or strategies for the activation of an EOC
• Knowledge about all-hazard planning techniques
• Knowledge about the interaction of the tactical, operational, and strategic response levels
• Knowledge about the prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery strategies for the jurisdiction
• Knowledge about existing mitigation, emergency, continuity, and recovery plans

Department of Health

The Department of Health can provide:

• Records of morbidity and mortality
• Governance/regulatory oversight of disaster-related activity such as debris management
• Knowledge about the jurisdiction’s surge capacity
• Understanding of the special medical needs of the community
• Knowledge about historic infectious disease and syndromic surveillance
• Knowledge about infectious disease sampling procedures
• Knowledge about how the Department of Health interacts with the EOC and incident command

Department of Transportation

The Department of Transportation, and other corresponding state agencies, can provide:

• Knowledge about the jurisdiction’s road and storm drainage infrastructure
• Knowledge about the area’s transportation resources
• Familiarity with the key local transportation providers
• Specialized personnel resources
• Cost estimates and specifications for reconstruction
• Knowledge about how the department/agency interacts with the EOC and incident command

Determining goals and objectives is the second step in the planning process. This involves gathering information to include in the public works plan, identifying a mission statement, and establishing expectations.

When gathering information to include in the public works agency-specific plan, the team should take many things into consideration. The plan should correlate with the community-wide emergency plan as well as other existing plans, such as a Hazard Mitigation Plan or a Floodplain Management Plan.

Risk and vulnerability assessments from your community can also provide information that will be useful when planning for emergencies. These assessments can help you determine what resources you have available and what resources you might need to get from elsewhere.

Conducting and maintaining an inventory of goods and supplies (for example, the number of signal heads) will also help your agency plan for emergencies.

When gathering information, you should also determine the geographical boundaries that will be served as a part of your plan. Within those boundaries, jurisdictional responsibilities, as well as functional roles and responsibilities should be assigned. This may require redefinition of roles. For example, a smaller city might allow the county to handle procurement or debris management because the county can get better prices than the city or have more staff available.

As a part of determining the goals and objectives, your planning team should identify the mission statement. A good mission statement should be an accurate and realistic summary of your group. Keeping it succinct and relevant helps individuals within the group remember the mission statement and why they are working together.

An example of a public works mission statement for a planning team could be: Complete the preparation, approval, and maintenance process for a public works emergency management plan.

The emergency plan should establish expectations for participants, including the frequency of meetings so that everyone participating can have a voice in establishing the schedule.

Participation by all stakeholders is vital to a successful planning process. When all parties contribute, it leads to more effective operations and impacts the ability for effective response and recovery actions. Accountability should also be outlined in the emergency plan.

The third step in the planning process is determining roles and responsibilities. As a part of this, the public works planning team should define agency jurisdiction, examine community characteristics, and assign administrative planning assignments.

When developing the plan, it is important to determine which responsibilities will fall to the public works agency. The following considerations will help to determine the public works jurisdiction before an event occurs.

Consider which of these services are municipal, county, tribal, or private.

• Water
• Sewer
• Electric
• Waste management

Consider which of these items are maintained locally or by the state.

• Streets
• Bridges
• Traffic signals

Kenneth Miller, Director of Public Works (retired), Village of Mundelein, IL:

Most major disaster or emergency events will require public works involvement at some level. It is important to start building and enriching the close partnerships and working relationships that are likely to be included in your emergency planning and potential responses.

Be a willing resource within your organization as needed. This will prepare you for any significant multidisciplinary response that’s required in the future. By doing so, you get comfortable with those that you’re working with; you get comfortable with those you haven’t normally worked with. It begins to improve the communications and cooperation and coordination efforts in order to have a successful event.

Make sure you have an emergency plan, not only for the staff of your community, but also for the families of the staff of your community. It is vitally important that those who are responding to emergencies and disasters have comfort in knowing that their families have a plan, that they will follow the plan, and that they will know what to do until communications can be established. Don’t let your family be the only one that you’re not taking care of.

Kürt Blomquist, Public Works Director, City of Keene, NH:

It’s always been critical to bring the right people to the table and understand who does what and when. In 2005, city of Keene, we had over forty percent of our downtown flooded under four to six feet of water. Prior to that, I had a great opportunity with our emergency management director and, through exercises, we knew who we needed to have in our emergency operation center.

Ahead of time, we had coordinated with our local utility electrical company, plus transportation companies, American Red Cross, and even internally we recognized that we needed our finance staff there, we needed our IT folks to keep our systems running.

All those decisions that we made ahead really helped us in getting through that time. It was critical for the decisions and the timeliness and I can’t say more about how that key planning ahead of time will bear well for folks as they are having to address issues in their own communities.

John Pennington, Director, Department of Emergency Management, Snohomish County, WA:

It’s probably most important to understand what’s in your backyard and sometimes underneath in your community, regular neighborhoods.

So many times emergency managers or public works officials, those people in charge of response and recovery, forget that there’s more than just earthquakes or tornadoes or hurricanes. And risk and vulnerability assessments have that ability to expose those other issues out there such as natural gas pipelines—things that you don’t think about until they rupture. So, they become very valuable and a very useful tool for really anyone in any jurisdiction.

It’s important to know which areas of the community are likely to be hit harder by a hazard event. Using information gathered during hazard analysis, you can determine areas that may need specific or additional public works resources whether due to population or geography.

Some individuals may have additional needs before, during, and after an incident in functional areas, including maintaining independence, communication, transportation, supervision, and medical care. These functional needs populations include individuals who may be more vulnerable because of immobility or their inability to take protective action, such as children or the elderly. Other populations that you should be aware of when planning include non-English speakers, mobile home residents, and the transportation-disadvantaged.

Geographic considerations that need to be planned for could include flood-prone areas, areas prone to landslides, substandard construction, or even remote areas that could become isolated due to a hazard event.

As a part of determining roles and responsibilities, the planning team should establish administrative planning assignments. You should decide things such as who will write the emergency plan, who will lead the meetings, who will review the plan, and who will develop training and exercises.

Collaboration and cooperation among all participating stakeholders is important. When assigning roles, be sure to select individuals within the public works agency who will facilitate the teamwork needed to be successful.

In the fourth step of the planning process, you will plan training and exercise opportunities. Exercising is a critical step in ensuring that all stakeholders understand their responsibilities and are familiar with the plan, so it is important to consider training opportunities ahead of time.

The emergency management agency and public works should work together to develop and participate in training and exercises, so they are able to coordinate well when responding to and recovering from an event.

There should be community-wide training and exercises as well as those conducted by the public works agency.

In this lesson, you learned who should be included on the planning team. These members include key members of the public works agency as well as community and other agency stakeholders.

You also learned the information that should be gathered by the planning team, including available and needed resources, inventory of the goods and supplies, functional roles and responsibilities, and other necessary information.

You learned that the initial tasks for the planning team include identifying the mission, establishing expectations, defining agency jurisdiction and demographics, and assigning the administrative planning assignments.