Disasters and WRC Support for Towns
- Details
Dear Towns and WRC Commissioners:
Both before a disaster and after we strive to help towns through the response and recovery process. This is an overview of our role and who on our staff to contact about what. We’ve worked hard both within the region and with the state in the years since tropical storm Irene to put processes in place to help avoid confusion and duplication of effort. Unfortunately we’ve had multiple disasters since Irene that have helped us hone lines of communication and distribution of guidance, and build relationships with our staff so your emergency management directors, road foremen, town administrators and managers, and selectboard chairs know who to go to with questions. Because there’s constant change among selectboards, they may be less familiar with our role in support of towns.
Before disasters we assist towns with the development and updating of their annual local emergency management plans, through which towns lay out how they are going to respond during an emergency and who will do what. This latest event underscores the importance of these plans. We also convene the Regional Emergency Management Committee, which is a broad-based committee that promotes preparedness and planning for all hazards that may affect communities in the region, and it serves as an excellent networking opportunity for the region’s emergency response and support community. We assist towns with the development of their local hazard mitigation plans, taking steps to maximize state funding to match federal public assistance through the Emergency Relief and Assistance Fund, the development of flood hazard and river corridor bylaws and town plan elements, and floodplain administrator training.
During and after disasters we may be mobilized at the direction of the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) to serve as local liaisons, through which we collect damage and need information for situational awareness at both the regional and state level. You’re likely familiar with us reaching out to town points of contact to collect this information. We feed this information back to the SEOC through which it is distributed to the various emergency response functions and agencies. This process also helps negate requests for the same information by multiple agencies. Within our region, we have established a relationship and protocol with the VTrans districts and the ANR River Engineers to collect information they have about damage in towns, and vice versa, so as to reduce the need for towns to report the same information twice. During the recovery phase we may be asked to play a number of different roles, chief among them getting out information about the damage information collection process necessary for the state to determine if it can ask for a Federal Disaster Declaration, and, if declared, what resources are going to be made available, how to access those resources, and what rules and procedures apply. The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) takes the lead on business disaster situational awareness and recovery. Later in the recovery phase, we will often collaborate with BDCC on broader community recovery assistance.
Staff Points of Contact
- Alyssa Sabetto, Senior Emergency Planner: questions related to all things Vermont Emergency Management, FEMA, State Emergency Operations Center, the Regional Emergency Management Committee, and all related programs. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (802) 257-4547 x113
- Colin Bratton, Transportation Planner: questions related to all things transportation and VTrans. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (802) 257-4547 x109
- Margo Ghia, Natural Resources Planner: questions related to all things water and ANR. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (802) 257-4547 x116
- Jeff Nugent, Senior GIS Planner: all things mapping and GIS. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (802) 257-4547 x111
- Sue Westa, Associate Director Community Development and Brownfields Coordinator: all things related to community development and brownfields/contaminated sites. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (802) 257-4547 x108
Please let any of us know if you have any questions.
Chris Campany, Executive Director
