2009 Accomplishments

Staff

Made the following changes:

• Hired a new Deputy Director and a new Americorps Vista intern
• Abrogated an Administrative Specialist II position due to budget cuts.

Facility

Improved the operational readiness of the Seattle Emergency Operations Center (EOC):

• Commenced development of position specific checklists for EOC positions.

Completed the EOC audio visual and information management system programming.

• Completed a wholesale redesign of WebEOC and provided training to  to hundreds of City department and external agency EOC representatives in its use.

Activations

• Managed, conducted and published After Action Reports on three significant events requiring activation.
• Continuation of Winter Storm Emergency from December 2008 (January 2009)
• Spring H1N1 Outbreak (March-April 2009)
• Heat Emergency (July 2009)

Training/Exercises

Participated or conducted eight tabletop exercises and three functional exercise.  The most significant exercises were:

• City-wide pandemic exercise September 14
• City-wide winter storm preparedness exercise October 15
• Interagency Biological Restoration tabletop October 7
• Naval Post Graduate exercise with TSA and other major transportation agencies December 2
• Tolt River Functional Exercise
• FEMA Sound Response Functional Exercise
• Two separate amateur radio emergency communication field exercises.
• Delivered training courses to both internal and external groups.  Assisted departments with the development of training programs covering disaster preparedness and emergency response.

Community Planning

Continued or completed work on a number of regional or City of Seattle specific plans. The most significant of these include:

• Received FEMA approval on the City of Seattle Hazard Mitigation Plan
• Updated several sections of the City’s Pandemic Influenza Plan based on H1N1 experience
• Completed the 2008 Winter Storm Corrective Action Plan
• Facilitated a day-long strategic planning workshop for the Strategic Work Group.
• Participated in planning and tabletop exercises associated with the Interagency Biological Restoration Demonstration project including the PATH/AWARE tools for senior official decision making support.
• Hosted a Mayor’s Fellow who researched post-disaster recovery policies and issues.
• All City Departments completed Continuity of Operations Plans.

Regional Collaboration

Strengthened ties with  regional, national, and international partners:

• Developed and implemented the organizational structure for the Puget Sound Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Program (RCPGP).
• Expanded participation to include an eighth county, Skagit County, as a member organization along with the existing seven counties and principal cities.
• Supported work on regional planning efforts and briefings surrounding the increased flood risk from the Howard Hansen dam.
• Developed and built region-wide support for Ham Radio UASI Grant Proposal – The proposal is to address an alternative system of getting 911 calls into dispatch centers using ham radio.
• Began State of Washington Capability Assessment Project
• Participated in UASI sponsored Regional Vulnerability Assessment
• Participating in the exchange of ideas and best practices with several cities in Japan through the Sister Cities Natural Disaster Preparedness Exchange Program.
• Hosted a meeting of the nation’s Big City Emergency Managers in October.

Community Preparedness

Expanded and increased outreach programs and activities:

• Launched new portals for public information and stakeholder information exchange.
• In partnership with King County’s OEM launched the Seattle OEM SharePoint site to provide a means for Seattle’s emergency management community to share documents, facilitate team efforts and manage work flow for planning and during activations.
• Developed and implemented the new OEM In-Web site to provide a platform for launching N-Cast streaming video, maintaining a central calendar of meetings and events and provide a means of posting alerts and situational reports.
• Designed, developed and implement a new public and internal-secure website for Seattle Auxiliary Communication Services (ACS) the volunteer amateur radio emergency communications team that supports the City of Seattle in times of emergency. 
• Launched a redesigned OEM public website. 

• Enhanced Community Preparedness.  OEM program surveys indicated:
• 86% of citizens reported as having basic disaster supplies (three days of food/water, flashlight, first aid kit, am/fm battery radio) kit. That compares to the national average of 50%.
• Seattle citizens increased their knowledge of local hazards and disaster preparedness by 25-35% over previous years.

• Leveraged the use of persons who would be familiar and trusted within their community.  Some examples include:
• 19 Somali women trained 300 throughout community
• STEP program: 12 at-risk teens taught 500+ elementary kids
• 250 seniors learned skills, built a personal emergency kit
• 1550 kits distributed at four food banks throughout Seattle
• Longer-established neighborhoods creating own community-level plans.
• Preparedness information was created in 14 languages and tailored toward non-literate populations.  Most notable is a preparedness DVD that is available on demand through the Seattle Channel and OEM website.
• On-going skills training, general preparedness/SNAP classes, SNAP Leadership Academy and Continuing Education workshops throughout city
• Provided assistance to community communication HUB projects in West Seattle, Queen Anne/Magnolia, Wallingford and most recently N.E. Seattle.

Grant Management

Directed or managed a number of grants for the benefit of the City of Seattle and the region.

• Awarded FEMA mitigation grant for the Post Alley Seismic Retrofit project.
• Three other grant applications are under review with State Emergency Management and FEMA.

Miscellaneous

• Hosted in the EOC the team of technicians that transitioned the City workforce to Office 2007 and Outlook.