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<br />88 <br />Page 1 <br /> <br />REPORT <br /> <br />To the Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From the City Manager <br /> <br />April 23, 2007 <br /> <br />Subject <br />City of Redwood City disaster preparedness status update. This is a follow-up to the <br />presentation to Council on November 22. 2004. <br /> <br />Recommendation <br />Continue to support City Staffs efforts to prepare the Redwood City Community for <br />response to and recovery from a natural or man made disaster. <br /> <br />Background <br />It was identified in 2003 that, over the course of the preceding ten years, the City of <br />Redwood City's ability to efficiently manage a significant incident within the city or a large <br />scale disaster affecting the region had deteriorated. Although Redwood City's Emergency <br />Operations Team was capable of working collaboratively toward supporting our community, <br />the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) was no longer current, our City-wide staff had not <br />remained trained and informed, and there were no risk-specific plans readily available to <br />use as guides during an actual emergency situation. <br /> <br />Per Redwood City's Municipal Code Section 10.5, the Fire Chief has the responsibility for <br />the operation of the EOC and serves as the Emergency Operations Manager. The <br />Municipal Code further mandates that the Emergency Operations Manager reports directly <br />to the City Manager, who serves as the Director of Emergency Services and is charged <br />with maintaining the City's disaster preparedness capability. The Fire Department is <br />responsible for the maintenance and updating of the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) <br />and facilitates the training of city staff to effectively function both in the EOC and in the field <br />during the course of an incident. <br /> <br />A great deal of progress was made in a short period of time with limited resources. After <br />identifying some of our immediate needs, we embarked on an Emergency Operations <br />Center (EOC) rebuild and proceeded to update several components of the EOC. These <br />improvements included the rebuilding of five work stations, as well as updating signage <br />and reference documents for each work station. Communication capabilities were <br />significantly enhanced with the acquisition of cell phones, radios and new computers. We <br />also acquired and implemented a telephone emergency alert system (CodeRED) as a <br />means to notify community members as well as city employees of a disaster in progress or <br />an anticipated emergency. In addition, we have the ability to utilize San Mateo County <br />OES's two community alert systems (ROAM and TENS) which provide us the means to <br />notify neighborhoods outside city limits. This will greatly improve our response to flooding <br /> <br />Page 1 of 4 <br />