CCMinutes - 10/13/04 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Solin noted that the plan was on the City's Web site and public meetings had been held to gather input. Mr. Solin briefly noted some of the hazards that had been evaluated, which included floods, winter storms, landslides, and volcanic hazards. Mayor Torrey called for council comments and questions. Mr. Kelly expressed appreciation for the work done by Mr. Solin and for his effort in involving the City of Springfield. He said he had been looking at the Risk Services Web page and had noticed the link to the full plan, which he had then reviewed. His questions were based on that review. Mr. Kelly said it would be useful if the plan was clear about its relationship to the City's Emergency Plan and the section of the Eugene City Code related to emergencies and the declaration of emergencies. He suggested that the Emergency Plan was more focused on response/recovery to emergencies as opposed to management and mitigation, the focus of this plan. Mr. Solin concurred. He added that some communities blend the two efforts together, but Eugene staff decided to keep Eugene's Emergency Plan focused on the implementation of the incident command system and response/recovery actions. Mr. Kelly suggested the two plans be cross-referenced. Mr. Kelly asked for more information about the public meetings held in conjunction with the plan. Mr. Solin said the meetings were announced on the City's Web site and noticed to the media. Those meetings occurred the second week of September 2004, and he acknowledged they were very lightly attended. Mr. Kelly did not think there was anything controversial in the plan but he questioned the adequacy of the notice that occurred regarding the meetings. He determined from Mr. Solin that notice of the meetings had gone to many parties, including the neighborhood associations, the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, and Lane County Homebuilders. Mr. Solin concurred that the topic was not controversial. Mr. Kelly referred to the chapter in the plan on terrorism, which referred repeatedly to %co-terrorist," a phrase which many people objected to as propagandistic. He noted that it was also the only type of terrorism specifically called out in the plan, and suggested the reference be revised. Mr. Poling determined from Mr. Solin that counties as well as cities were doing similar plans. Mr. Solin said the City had worked with Lane County to determine the boundaries for the planning efforts. Ms. Nathanson shared Mr. Kelly's interest in knowing more about the public outreach associated with the plan, acknowledging that many would find such information dry. She asked if staff received any comments. Mr. Solin said the most useful comments staff received were from representatives of other public agencies, such as the staff responsible for wellhead protection at the Springfield Utility Board. He noted that Eugene Water & Electric Board staff had provided a critique of the information on power lines. Ms. Nathanson noted her continuing interest in the issue of adequate security for communications lines. She did not think the City had done enough to evaluate its risks as they regarded the inclusion of redundancy into systems and ensuring that switching stations were secured from disaster. She encouraged additional thought be given to that issue. Ms. Nathanson also thanked Mr. Solin for involving Springfield in the plan. She said that his efforts around the plan were an example of where the council needed to recognize the impact of the additional demands it frequently placed on the organization. She said staff was involved in normal work and responding to MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 13, 2004 Page 5 Work Session