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Yelm’s Police Chief Rob Carlson had a busy afternoon on Tuesday, Feb. 11, as he spoke before the Yelm City Council twice to discuss the interlocal cooperative agreement for Thurston County Emergency Management Council and the city’s comprehensive emergency management plan.
The Yelm City Council unanimously authorized Mayor Joe DePinto to sign the interlocal cooperative agreement for Thurston County Emergency Management Council. Thurston County’s emergency management plan includes activities to mitigate, prepare for and recover from the effects of a disaster. Thurston County’s emergency plans can be viewed online at https://tinyurl.com/35wyucny.
“We already have a seat on that council, and I sit on it. It’s huge for us to be there,” Carlson told Yelm city councilors. “There’s no reason why we wouldn’t be. Basically, what we do is we work with cities within Thurston County and come together to talk about emergency management and how we can improve it. How we can mitigate it. It’s important that we’re on that committee.”
Thurston County emergency management will hold its Emergency Preparedness Expo on Saturday, Sept. 20, according to its website. For more information, contact Cherie Carey at cherie.carey@co.thurston.wa.us, or at 360-867-2827.
Carlson also spoke to council about the City of Yelm’s comprehensive emergency management plan (CEMP), which is a guide to city organizational behavior before, during and after a disaster occurs.
The plan develops and describes a program that defines who does what, when, where and how to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from the effects of a disaster.
CEMP has plans in place to recover from natural, technological and human-caused disasters. Carlson said the plan was recently submitted to the state and was graded at 90%.
“In 2019, that particular plan was graded at 72%. Basically, the 90% is an improvement of the things we needed to do differently in the 2019 plan,” Carlson said. “The 90% is obviously an upgrade to that, and we’re hoping to improve on that as we move forward.”
According to documents attached to the Yelm City Council meeting agenda, which can be viewed on page 44 at https://tinyurl.com/YelmCouncil, Yelm’s CEMP mission plan states, “It is the responsibility of the City of Yelm, with the assistance and support of its citizens, to protect the lives, property and economy of the community, and to take action to mitigate the effects of disasters. This comprehensive emergency management plan defines the cooperation of the different elements of the community to carry out preparedness and mitigation activities, respond to natural and man-made emergencies and disasters, and coordinate the recovery efforts for such events.”
In reference to the city’s CEMP plan being graded at 90% by the state, Councilor Brian Hess asked Carlson if there’s a plan in place to meet the improvements that need to be done.
“I know two of the improvements were resource management, as well as English second language and having interpreters,” Hess said. “Those are acquired through Thurston County or somebody else.”
Carlson responded, “As far as that 90% goes, if we don’t have the resources just because of our size — we have to have a plan for it just like you said. That’s how we fulfill the requirement.”
