City Council Special Meeting · Monday, September 11, 2023 · City Council Digest

2. CLOSED SESSION

The purpose of this special meeting is to allow the City Council to recess into Executive Session to discuss Pending/Potential Litigation per RCW take approximately 45 minutes. Please note, Executive Sessions are closed to the public. Action, if needed, would occur during the open session of a Regular Council meeting

1866 segments .txt ↗

0:01 ↗ foreign

0:04 ↗ welcome everyone I council president

0:06 ↗ Walsh called the September 11th

0:08 ↗ Committee of the whole meeting to order

0:10 ↗ at 6 32 p.m Deputy council president

0:13 ↗ Hall has an excused absence this evening

0:16 ↗ please note there will be a special city

0:18 ↗ council meeting at 7 15 PM or

0:21 ↗ immediately following the committee of

0:23 ↗ the whole meeting whichever is later the

0:25 ↗ purpose of that meeting is for the city

0:27 ↗ council to hold a closed session the

0:29 ↗ same virtual WebEx meeting will be used

0:30 ↗ for both meetings

0:32 ↗ there are multiple public comment

0:35 ↗ opportunities at tonight's meeting

0:37 ↗ there's a general public comment

0:39 ↗ opportunity at the beginning of the

0:41 ↗ meeting or you can make comments after

0:43 ↗ the presentation and Council question

0:45 ↗ and answer period on tonight's agenda

0:48 ↗ items

0:51 ↗ um

0:51 ↗ members the public May address council

0:53 ↗ at this time in person or virtually

0:54 ↗ those who signed up in advance will to

0:57 ↗ make comments will be called on first if

0:59 ↗ you're joining us virtually and would

1:01 ↗ like to make comments you can raise your

1:03 ↗ hand by on the phone pressing star three

1:06 ↗ on computer or smartphone look for the

1:08 ↗ hand icon or send the host a chat

1:11 ↗ message

1:13 ↗ and if you're in the room and did not

1:15 ↗ sign up I'll ask for other speakers

1:17 ↗ before closing this portion of the

1:19 ↗ meeting

1:19 ↗ I will wait a moment see if anybody

1:21 ↗ wishes to raise their hand do you have

1:24 ↗ anybody who signed up or is indicating

1:26 ↗ nobody has signed up in the room and we

1:28 ↗ actually don't have any members of the

1:29 ↗ public with us virtually tonight at this

1:31 ↗ time

1:32 ↗ fantastic

1:34 ↗ so

1:35 ↗ um at this point

1:37 ↗ reminder

1:38 ↗ we love it when you write to us we'll

1:40 ↗ take written comments any day

1:43 ↗ emails at city council

1:46 ↗ issaquah.gov but in the meantime I think

1:49 ↗ we will get on to our agenda

1:52 ↗ and so tonight's agenda

1:56 ↗ um we just did public comment we're

1:58 ↗ going to start with our one and only

2:00 ↗ item on the agenda id1511 Emergency

2:03 ↗ Management program updates presented by

2:06 ↗ Jared Snyder our emergency manager and

2:10 ↗ Catherine Robinson Eastside fire and

2:12 ↗ rescue emergency coordinator and

2:14 ↗ Wildfire mitigation

2:16 ↗ come on up thank you

2:23 ↗ and Jared if you would press the button

2:26 ↗ so that you light up there we go I can

2:28 ↗ hear you thanks okay everyone everyone

2:29 ↗ can hear me all right thank you okay

2:31 ↗ well hello everyone it's a pleasure

2:34 ↗ again to see you I was here about a

2:36 ↗ month and a half ago giving you a brief

2:37 ↗ update on just what we were planning for

2:40 ↗ emergency management but it's exciting

2:41 ↗ that I get to be here again and have the

2:43 ↗ opportunity to go a little bit more in

2:45 ↗ depth it's also a very fitting day uh

2:48 ↗ for this presentation as we look back 22

2:51 ↗ years ago onto the tragedy that was 9 11

2:53 ↗ and just remember

2:56 ↗ just uh the loss that we had as a

2:58 ↗ country so A fitting day but much has

3:02 ↗ already happened in this month and a

3:04 ↗ half since I've seen you we've had Smoky

3:06 ↗ days we've had some heat nationally

3:09 ↗ we've had some devastating wildfires and

3:12 ↗ as our own mares actually in Morocco

3:14 ↗ um you know and the sad earthquake

3:17 ↗ that's occurred there we're just

3:18 ↗ reminded it feels like constantly of

3:21 ↗ emergencies and disasters and the role

3:23 ↗ that they play uh just in our in our

3:26 ↗ modern world so with that I do

3:29 ↗ appreciate again this time to talk about

3:31 ↗ Emergency Management

3:33 ↗ so what I'm specifically asking from you

3:36 ↗ today is to provide some direction and

3:38 ↗ feedback on the Emergency Management

3:40 ↗ program

3:41 ↗ as you know it's been a little while

3:44 ↗ since we've had an emergency manager

3:46 ↗ back in this role there's been some

3:48 ↗ great work that was done in the interim

3:49 ↗ with Autumn and Gene and a few others

3:52 ↗ but it's an exciting time for the

3:54 ↗ program because we get to set a course

3:55 ↗ not only for the remainder this year but

3:57 ↗ the next year and then really looking

3:59 ↗ further ahead for multiple years for

4:02 ↗ what we can do with the Emergency

4:04 ↗ Management program so I just thank you

4:07 ↗ for your opportunity for your comments

4:09 ↗ and for really relaying any information

4:10 ↗ that you might have heard from the

4:12 ↗ public it's it's all very much

4:13 ↗ appreciated

4:15 ↗ so with that the first thing I want to

4:17 ↗ do is set the stage disasters in

4:20 ↗ Washington and nationally are on the

4:22 ↗ rise you can see this graph here the top

4:25 ↗ portion of it you can see an increase in

4:28 ↗ federally declared disasters what a

4:30 ↗ federally declared disaster is is

4:32 ↗ essentially a damage threshold that's

4:34 ↗ met to issue a presidential Declaration

4:38 ↗ of disaster and the top part of the

4:40 ↗ graph like I said you can see how

4:41 ↗ they're on the rise we've had a couple

4:43 ↗ years where you know there hasn't been

4:45 ↗ too many But ultimately disasters in

4:48 ↗ Washington are increasing are increasing

4:50 ↗ the bottom part of this graphic that you

4:53 ↗ see here you can see the type it has or

4:56 ↗ where these disasters are being declared

4:57 ↗ for and fire severe storm and flood are

5:01 ↗ all on the rise now that's important

5:04 ↗ because those hazards in particular are

5:07 ↗ climate driven hazards as we're all

5:09 ↗ aware climate change impacts the

5:12 ↗ severity and the frequency of these

5:15 ↗ types of natural disasters that we have

5:17 ↗ what you see in front of you are some

5:19 ↗ numbers given by a by King County and

5:22 ↗ the University of Washington under a low

5:24 ↗ greenhouse gas emission scenario which

5:27 ↗ is 4.5 it's the more conservative of the

5:30 ↗ two scenarios that are given and what

5:32 ↗ we're looking at specifically for

5:33 ↗ Issaquah these numbers are are for

5:35 ↗ Issaquah is summer temperatures with an

5:38 ↗ average increase of 5.5 degrees

5:41 ↗ 0.88 inches less of water in the summer

5:44 ↗ an increase of 9 totaling 20 extreme

5:47 ↗ fire danger days and then 14.6 heavier

5:51 ↗ rainfall events in Issaquah so all this

5:54 ↗ means is that yes disasters they are

5:57 ↗ here to stay they're here with us

5:59 ↗ they're going to increase in severity

6:00 ↗ it's a good time to be talking about it

6:03 ↗ it's always a good time to be talking

6:05 ↗ about disasters because they are here to

6:07 ↗ stay like I said

6:09 ↗ so with that let's take a look at is

6:11 ↗ squat's hazards we have two major

6:14 ↗ categories of Hazards natural hazards

6:16 ↗ and human cause hazards within natural

6:19 ↗ hazards we have earthquake volcano

6:22 ↗ Landslide Wildfire flood and severe

6:26 ↗ weather severe weather is just kind of a

6:28 ↗ catch-all for um you know things like

6:30 ↗ ice heat high wind storms things like

6:33 ↗ that

6:34 ↗ volcano we don't have any active

6:36 ↗ volcanoes that would you know impact

6:38 ↗ this squad in terms of you know lava

6:40 ↗ flow or anything like that that's more

6:41 ↗ like the tephra and the ash that we're

6:42 ↗ concerned about there right for human

6:45 ↗ caused hazards we're looking at

6:46 ↗ hazardous materials so whether it's a

6:48 ↗ release of some dangerous chemical that

6:51 ↗ creates a toxic plume a health incident

6:53 ↗ such as a kova 19 terrorism cyber

6:57 ↗ incident and Dam failure if you're

6:59 ↗ wondering where the dams are in Nisswa

7:01 ↗ stormwater ponds if they're a certain

7:03 ↗ size they're actually classified as a

7:05 ↗ dam and so we do have some of those

7:07 ↗ within the cities some of which we own

7:10 ↗ and maintain

7:13 ↗ one further distinction I want to make

7:16 ↗ on our hazards is just the types of

7:19 ↗ hazards that we have the scale of

7:20 ↗ hazards that we have on the left you see

7:22 ↗ the Cascadia subduction zone on the

7:25 ↗ right you see the bolt Creek Fire now

7:27 ↗ the reason I'm bringing up these two

7:29 ↗ different scenarios is because they look

7:31 ↗ quite different in terms of government

7:33 ↗ response and Community resilience and

7:35 ↗ what we need to do when it comes to

7:37 ↗ responding to them so diving in a little

7:40 ↗ bit deeper on the left for the Cascadia

7:41 ↗ subduction zone that earthquake we'll

7:44 ↗ talk a little bit more about it later

7:45 ↗ but it impacts Northern California

7:47 ↗ Oregon Washington and parts of BC

7:50 ↗ the Bull Creek Fire was an instant where

7:52 ↗ it just impacted one town so in the case

7:54 ↗ of a Cascadia earthquake there's going

7:57 ↗ to be a higher premium and much more

7:59 ↗ scarcity of resources and Regional

8:01 ↗ assets that we could take advantage of

8:03 ↗ there's going to be a lag time between

8:05 ↗ government response as you know many of

8:08 ↗ our responders our victims also within

8:11 ↗ an incident of that scale and two I just

8:13 ↗ want to really highlight that these are

8:15 ↗ the types of incidents that the

8:16 ↗ community needs to be prepared for and

8:18 ↗ resilient for as there is that lag and

8:21 ↗ Lurch in between when we can get running

8:23 ↗ fully operational to provide the level

8:25 ↗ of service that we hope to for the Bull

8:28 ↗ Creek Fire incidents like that there or

8:31 ↗ for that incident there was many

8:33 ↗ Regional assets available the county

8:35 ↗ Support was there State support was

8:36 ↗ there all for a relatively small town a

8:39 ↗ skycomish and that's a perfect example

8:41 ↗ of you know if we had a smaller Regional

8:43 ↗ type incident within Issaquah we kind of

8:45 ↗ expect a similar level of having those

8:47 ↗ Regional assets available so there's

8:49 ↗ that distinction is important and I want

8:51 ↗ you to just kind of keep it in your mind

8:53 ↗ as we talk about our hazards and about

8:55 ↗ the actions that we plan to take moving

8:58 ↗ forward in this presentation

9:01 ↗ so we're now moving into a point where I

9:03 ↗ want to talk about the four big hazards

9:05 ↗ that I'm really interested in and that

9:07 ↗ our program is going to be focused on

9:09 ↗ flooding comes as no surprise to the

9:12 ↗ city council everyone is well aware of

9:14 ↗ the Creek and its potential flood

9:16 ↗ and impact our residents the spring and

9:18 ↗ the fall are particularly times when

9:20 ↗ flooding is worse what you see in front

9:23 ↗ of you that the blue is what we call the

9:26 ↗ Hundred Year floodplain and the Orange

9:29 ↗ is what we call the 500 year floodplain

9:31 ↗ what that means essentially for the 100

9:32 ↗ Year floodplain is that there's a one

9:34 ↗ percent chance of that flood occurring

9:36 ↗ every year 500 is one of 500. now you

9:40 ↗ might be thinking those odds are kind of

9:41 ↗ low but that can be deceiving for

9:43 ↗ example one town in Mississippi had two

9:47 ↗ 100-year floods occur back to back and a

9:50 ↗ third one that almost met that threshold

9:53 ↗ in the span of four years so when it

9:55 ↗ comes to probability we know that you

9:57 ↗ know lightning can strike twice that you

10:00 ↗ know that one percent chance can happen

10:01 ↗ multiple times so that's just something

10:05 ↗ to be aware of that these Maps can be a

10:07 ↗ little misleading especially the name

10:09 ↗ when we communicate with uh with the

10:12 ↗ public in the community it's it's a

10:13 ↗ little bit misleading

10:16 ↗ all right

10:17 ↗ next up is landslides is seen some

10:21 ↗ landslides in the past fortunately

10:23 ↗ relatively small landslides we see in

10:25 ↗ front of you is a map of known Landslide

10:28 ↗ areas one small caveat to landslides

10:31 ↗ it's the data is sometimes a little

10:34 ↗ tricky

10:36 ↗ um better studies are always coming out

10:39 ↗ to help us better understand how much

10:41 ↗ confidence we have in these mapped

10:42 ↗ Landslide areas there's really three

10:45 ↗ types of landslides that we are aware of

10:48 ↗ one is a deep seated Landslide this

10:50 ↗ happens well below the root level of

10:52 ↗ trees and vegetation they can sometimes

10:55 ↗ remain in place for years decades even

10:58 ↗ centuries without movement they're kind

11:01 ↗ of the most mysterious if you will of

11:03 ↗ landslides it's hard to predict when

11:05 ↗ they will go or what causes them what we

11:07 ↗ do know is that they typically tend to

11:09 ↗ be secondary hazards things like heavy

11:11 ↗ precipitation events or large-scale

11:13 ↗ earthquakes

11:15 ↗ two other types of landslides that we

11:17 ↗ are thinking about is debris flows now

11:20 ↗ typically what this looks like is a mass

11:22 ↗ of vegetation and soil and other earthy

11:25 ↗ material moving down a ravine typically

11:28 ↗ where we're seeing these around the

11:30 ↗ country's post Wildfire for example that

11:33 ↗ bolt Creek fire image that I just showed

11:35 ↗ you before the weather service and that

11:37 ↗ Community up in skycomish are constantly

11:39 ↗ monitoring if there is a rain event that

11:43 ↗ meets that threshold because that would

11:45 ↗ mean that a lot of that Woody debris

11:47 ↗ would come actually down into the

11:49 ↗ community so another type of landslide

11:52 ↗ to be aware of the last one is a shallow

11:54 ↗ Landslide and this is really driven by

11:56 ↗ the removal of vegetation they only

11:58 ↗ happen really in the first few feet of

12:00 ↗ the ground and they tend to be a much

12:03 ↗ more minor in Impact

12:06 ↗ I should also say that a better

12:08 ↗ Landslide mapping is hopefully on the

12:10 ↗ way soon I think the last study that was

12:12 ↗ done was done in 2018 by the state so

12:16 ↗ we're looking for more information there

12:20 ↗ now this map this Council has seen a lot

12:22 ↗ and I want to recognize that so this is

12:26 ↗ the Wild and urban interface or the wui

12:28 ↗ as you all know it

12:30 ↗ um one misleading element of this map

12:32 ↗ that we'd like to point out is that the

12:33 ↗ red areas are actually not the highest

12:35 ↗ risk areas it's actually the orange

12:37 ↗ areas because those are the areas that

12:40 ↗ are developed but also but up to

12:42 ↗ undeveloped land and large swaths

12:45 ↗ forested area with that being said

12:47 ↗ Issaquah one of the wonderful things

12:49 ↗ about it is that it has these wonderful

12:51 ↗ hills and mountains and beautiful

12:53 ↗ landscapes Wildfire is certainly

12:56 ↗ something that we're thinking more about

12:57 ↗ in our program I'm going to be

12:59 ↗ addressing it all throughout this

13:01 ↗ presentation as well as cat a little bit

13:04 ↗ later she has some slides from Eastside

13:06 ↗ fire and rescue that will talk about

13:08 ↗ some Community protective actions but

13:10 ↗ one other thing I wanted to talk about

13:12 ↗ before we move on from this map is again

13:15 ↗ that this is not a true risk map we are

13:18 ↗ still trying to understand Western in

13:20 ↗ Washington's risk when it comes to

13:22 ↗ Wildfire one thing we do know is that

13:24 ↗ our risk does not remain to the same

13:26 ↗ height as other areas of the West like

13:28 ↗ California Nevada Utah you name it as

13:33 ↗ climate change intensifies and increases

13:34 ↗ you know our risk is increasing and it's

13:38 ↗ good that we are taking the actions that

13:40 ↗ we are taking now as we begin to really

13:43 ↗ delve into Wildfire planning and

13:44 ↗ Community resilience

13:48 ↗ all right the last one is earthquakes

13:50 ↗ and we talked a little bit about the

13:51 ↗ Cascadia subduction zone there's really

13:54 ↗ three flavors of earthquakes that we

13:56 ↗ have within our region the subduction

13:59 ↗ zone is where the one if you could play

14:01 ↗ it meets the Pacific Plate and you know

14:03 ↗ the plates will actually one will rise

14:06 ↗ over the other and create this

14:07 ↗ large-scale 9.0 magnitude earthquake for

14:10 ↗ that region I previously described the

14:12 ↗ good news is that our shaking velocity

14:15 ↗ will not be that of a 9.0 it'll be

14:18 ↗ somewhere closer I think around 7.5 but

14:21 ↗ the duration is also the tricky part of

14:24 ↗ the Cascadia subduction zone it'll be

14:26 ↗ it'll be minutes of shaking which is

14:28 ↗ something obviously that you know we as

14:30 ↗ a region are are very concerned about

14:32 ↗ again also too for the scarcity of those

14:34 ↗ resources and just the wide scale impact

14:37 ↗ of an event like this

14:39 ↗ the lines that you see on this map are

14:41 ↗ actually from the Seattle fault Zone the

14:44 ↗ Seattle fault is a shallow earthquake

14:47 ↗ that's actually coincidentally the same

14:49 ↗ type of earthquake that's just impacted

14:51 ↗ in Morocco it is around 7.0 type

14:55 ↗ earthquake fault FEMA estimates that

14:57 ↗ this will actually be our most impactful

14:59 ↗ earthquake as the Seattle fault Zone in

15:02 ↗ terms of property damage and loss of

15:04 ↗ life so it's one that we're certainly

15:07 ↗ interested in it's recurrence interval

15:09 ↗ is somewhere around every 1200 years but

15:12 ↗ again the geology on it is a little

15:14 ↗ uncertain we're still trying to

15:15 ↗ understand more about that fault but

15:17 ↗ those lines that you see in our map is

15:19 ↗ driven from that fault Zone

15:22 ↗ the last type of earthquake or steep

15:24 ↗ earthquakes and that is what the

15:26 ↗ initiality earthquake was

15:28 ↗ again our scenario looks actually around

15:30 ↗ somewhere around seven typically deep

15:33 ↗ earthquakes tend to be a little bit less

15:35 ↗ impactful than the other two types

15:38 ↗ one other element of the map that I want

15:39 ↗ to draw your attention to is the red

15:42 ↗ area which is the liquefaction the

15:46 ↗ liquefaction areas and essentially what

15:47 ↗ that is is a phenomena where kind of

15:51 ↗ certain types of soil kind of liquefy

15:54 ↗ during that extreme shaking they tend to

15:56 ↗ not be life-threatening it's not a

15:59 ↗ life-threatening ordeal but what it does

16:01 ↗ do is cause a lot of damage obviously

16:03 ↗ because foundations rely on the ground

16:06 ↗ being firm so as no surprise the river

16:10 ↗ valley the creek Valley is that area

16:12 ↗ where we have that type of material that

16:15 ↗ is more prone to liquefaction

16:19 ↗ all right

16:20 ↗ we're through the scary part of the

16:23 ↗ presentation now we get to talk about

16:26 ↗ what we're gonna do as a community so

16:28 ↗ thank you for uh thank you for bearing

16:31 ↗ with me through that my intention is not

16:35 ↗ to scare with this presentation it's to

16:37 ↗ inform and frankly

16:39 ↗ um it excites me because it shows that

16:41 ↗ we got a lot to do and we can do a lot

16:44 ↗ to lower our risk and so as a reminder

16:47 ↗ there's really three types of things

16:49 ↗ that we are focusing or three categories

16:51 ↗ that we're focusing our efforts here as

16:53 ↗ an emergency management program we are

16:55 ↗ focusing on operational Readiness risk

16:58 ↗ reduction and Community resilience so

17:00 ↗ I'll be spending a little bit of time

17:01 ↗ talking about each of those three major

17:02 ↗ categories talking about what we're

17:04 ↗ going to do as a city and who we're

17:07 ↗ really partnering with to accomplish

17:08 ↗ these goals

17:10 ↗ so operational Readiness so the

17:13 ↗ overarching statement for this is

17:14 ↗ ensuring that the city is ready to

17:15 ↗ respond to emergencies small and large

17:18 ↗ so talking about that scale right the

17:20 ↗ small scale we're ready for in the large

17:21 ↗ scale we're ready for

17:23 ↗ so first any response starts with plants

17:26 ↗ so the comprehensive emergency

17:28 ↗ management plan is the guidebook for how

17:31 ↗ and who does what in an in a disaster or

17:35 ↗ emergency so we first have to start

17:37 ↗ there and make some updates to the CMP

17:39 ↗ and make sure that it's up to par it has

17:42 ↗ all the necessary authorities ironed out

17:45 ↗ roles and responsibilities so that'll be

17:48 ↗ the first thing that this program will

17:50 ↗ be focusing on

17:51 ↗ after that plan has been finalized the

17:54 ↗ Emergency Operations Center guide is the

17:56 ↗ next big piece and the next big plan up

17:58 ↗ for review so historically Public Works

18:02 ↗ has mostly held Emergency Management and

18:05 ↗ the operation of the Emergency

18:06 ↗ Operations Center within that department

18:09 ↗ we are in the process of getting more

18:12 ↗ City departments involved more staff

18:13 ↗ involved I'll talk about that a little

18:15 ↗ bit more

18:16 ↗ but the emergency the Emergency

18:17 ↗ Operations Center guide is what is the

18:20 ↗ document that describes how we go about

18:23 ↗ actually running the EOC I should take

18:25 ↗ one step back the EOC is where we

18:28 ↗ coordinate any emergency and disaster so

18:30 ↗ we're going to go through we're going to

18:31 ↗ refresh that plan we're going to make

18:33 ↗ sure it meets the needs of our city that

18:35 ↗ is flexible and scalable for those small

18:37 ↗ scale and large-scale incidents

18:40 ↗ next comes the training and exercise

18:42 ↗ plan and it's just like it sounds that's

18:45 ↗ what we use to monitor how we are doing

18:48 ↗ as a city in our in our exercises in

18:51 ↗ response it identifies standardized

18:53 ↗ training that employees will need to

18:55 ↗ take to be operating within the

18:57 ↗ Emergency Operations Center it's a

18:59 ↗ crucial document to measure how we're

19:01 ↗ doing at any moment in time

19:03 ↗ so after the plans have been ironed out

19:05 ↗ we will train on those plans so our

19:09 ↗ first train our first training is

19:11 ↗ planned around Q2 of next year don't

19:14 ↗ tell the city staff but we're likely

19:16 ↗ going to train for a wildfire yeah it's

19:20 ↗ important they don't know but you know

19:22 ↗ as that is a emerging Hazard and

19:25 ↗ something that you know it's very

19:26 ↗ obvious that the community

19:28 ↗ cares about and that we care about as a

19:31 ↗ city it's essential that we have

19:32 ↗ exercises around that and that we

19:35 ↗ practice and that what we've planned

19:38 ↗ so that UFC training will involve as

19:42 ↗ many staff as we can get from tons of

19:44 ↗ from or from all the Departments that we

19:46 ↗ can because an incident like this that

19:48 ↗ will be in the scenario it will be

19:50 ↗ impactful for Issaquah and so

19:52 ↗ departments that have not typically

19:53 ↗ participated will hopefully be brought

19:56 ↗ in and we hope to make new Staff feel

19:59 ↗ comfortable working with an Emergency

20:01 ↗ Operations Center

20:03 ↗ so with that there's one more piece to

20:05 ↗ operational Readiness that I want to

20:07 ↗ talk about and that's uh kind of these

20:09 ↗ event specific or incident specific

20:11 ↗ plans so what you see in front of you is

20:14 ↗ our draft Wildfire evacuation routes now

20:17 ↗ you may be wondering why they're draft

20:19 ↗ well that's because any plan like this

20:22 ↗ if it's not exercised evaluated or

20:25 ↗ refined it's it's not done essentially

20:29 ↗ and so these plans have not been

20:31 ↗ exercised today so this will be

20:33 ↗ something that we get to exercise in

20:35 ↗ something like that training but these

20:37 ↗ plans are important to show that we are

20:40 ↗ thinking about not only Wildfire but all

20:42 ↗ of our hazards that could impact the

20:44 ↗ area and I've quickly learned already

20:47 ↗ the value of bringing these plans out I

20:50 ↗ had the pleasure of going to Providence

20:51 ↗ Point on Friday to give a presentation

20:54 ↗ with many of the same people in the room

20:56 ↗ it was a it was a great presentation

20:58 ↗ there was probably about 80 people

20:59 ↗ standing room only and back into the

21:02 ↗ kitchen it was really well received and

21:04 ↗ and it was a great talk but something

21:06 ↗ that came up was they took a look at

21:08 ↗ these draft Wildfire evacuation routes

21:10 ↗ in that community and they said you know

21:13 ↗ us people in the Forest Village which is

21:15 ↗ part of Providence point across Jacobs

21:17 ↗ Creek they have their own evacuation

21:19 ↗ route identified that actually cuts

21:22 ↗ through some forced area that wasn't

21:24 ↗ identified on this plan so the reason I

21:27 ↗ bring that up is just to show the

21:29 ↗ importance of bringing these types of

21:31 ↗ plans out to the community to train on

21:33 ↗ them to vet them and to refine them

21:36 ↗ ultimately so more on this to come

21:39 ↗ you'll hopefully see yeah much more

21:42 ↗ around the specific topic of evacuation

21:50 ↗ yeah I had had a question a couple

21:52 ↗ months ago about you have a number of

21:55 ↗ places where you have these emergency

21:56 ↗ secondary routes out like Talus I'd

21:59 ↗ asked about Forest rim and about the

22:02 ↗ possibility there's an Old Forest Road

22:04 ↗ and whether we would consider looking at

22:07 ↗ developing a secondary route off of the

22:10 ↗ mountain or off of forest Rim such that

22:13 ↗ if uh Mountainside or Mountain Park

22:17 ↗ if that you know that's had erosion

22:20 ↗ issues in the past where it's been close

22:22 ↗ to being closed okay and uh I was

22:25 ↗ wondering what if anything was done with

22:27 ↗ my uh quest to take a look at that that

22:30 ↗ Old Forest Road that actually it's a

22:31 ↗ it's an air it's an interest of mine

22:33 ↗ because it runs adjacent to the edge of

22:34 ↗ my property yeah absolutely no and I

22:37 ↗ think that's a that's another great

22:38 ↗ example of something you know that we

22:40 ↗ can certainly incorporate into future

22:42 ↗ versions of this uh draft Wildfire

22:44 ↗ evacuation route we have uh this is

22:47 ↗ jumping ahead a little bit but we have

22:49 ↗ the community Wildfire protection plan

22:51 ↗ uh planning effort underway that's led

22:53 ↗ by Eastside fire and rescue and that is

22:55 ↗ a perfect type of action that is

22:57 ↗ identified that you are identifying that

22:59 ↗ we can do as a result of that planning

23:01 ↗ is to actually take a look at that road

23:03 ↗ to understand its viability understand

23:05 ↗ you know the is there anything impeding

23:07 ↗ potential egress out of there already

23:10 ↗ and ultimately if it uh if it is viable

23:14 ↗ we should certainly identify it on the

23:16 ↗ map so well I I did ask from the Deus a

23:19 ↗ few months ago okay okay

23:22 ↗ yes so currently nothing has happened

23:24 ↗ with that yet but I'll be sure to make

23:26 ↗ sure that something does in future

23:28 ↗ versions I think it's important there's

23:29 ↗ there's enough folks up there and

23:31 ↗ because there's only one way currently

23:33 ↗ one way down off the mountain and

23:34 ↗ because it's already

23:36 ↗ prone to risks you know if like I said

23:38 ↗ it had erosion issue a few years ago

23:40 ↗ that was almost closed and they had sort

23:42 ↗ of emergency uh work to keep the road

23:44 ↗ open so it's it's not beyond the realm

23:47 ↗ of possibility that it wouldn't take

23:48 ↗ even a particularly bad disaster just a

23:51 ↗ bad

23:52 ↗ um winter you know and then having

23:55 ↗ another way out of forest Rim would be

23:57 ↗ really important to the residents yeah

23:59 ↗ thank you for making me aware of that

24:00 ↗ again and we're bringing that up I

24:02 ↗ appreciate that

24:03 ↗ another question councilman Bernie

24:05 ↗ Michelle

24:06 ↗ okay I hope I'm not repeating council

24:09 ↗ member Mart's a question but you know we

24:11 ↗ hear from the people in the highlands

24:13 ↗ and we and and also in tell us that well

24:15 ↗ there's only one way out of the

24:17 ↗ Highlands and it's a dangerous situation

24:20 ↗ we hear that from Telus too and I notice

24:22 ↗ on the map that you've got some

24:24 ↗ alternates uh routes marked in red

24:28 ↗ emergency

24:30 ↗ um do we know how those would get open

24:31 ↗ if it was a sudden emergency and are the

24:36 ↗ people in the highlands and also in Taos

24:37 ↗ aware of these alternate routes and and

24:40 ↗ how to get out if they had to get out

24:43 ↗ yes so it's my understanding that you

24:45 ↗ sci-fi and rescue has keys to these

24:48 ↗ Bowlers into these areas that can open

24:49 ↗ up those Gates as well as some select

24:51 ↗ community members within each of those

24:53 ↗ neighborhoods now that that's a perfect

24:55 ↗ example though of a capability that

24:57 ↗ hasn't been tested yet

25:00 ↗ um and that's why I'm personally excited

25:01 ↗ to test something like this to ensure

25:03 ↗ that that does happen and that does

25:05 ↗ occur it's a great question and it's not

25:08 ↗ one yet that I'm I'm comfortable with So

25:12 ↗ yeah thank you for re-identifying that

25:19 ↗ thank you

25:21 ↗ all right moving on to the second major

25:23 ↗ category risk reduction and this is

25:25 ↗ essentially working to prove the ways

25:27 ↗ that we lessen the risk of Any Given

25:30 ↗ Hazard within Issaquah

25:33 ↗ so

25:34 ↗ um this plan that you see in front of

25:35 ↗ you the King County Hazard mitigation

25:37 ↗ plan is truly The Guiding document for

25:40 ↗ long-term projects that we take within

25:43 ↗ not only the county but the city we have

25:45 ↗ a specific Annex to this plan that we

25:48 ↗ can identify the actions that we want to

25:50 ↗ take and invest into to lower our risk

25:54 ↗ so the update for this plan starts later

25:56 ↗ this year we will certainly be taking

25:59 ↗ part of it I'll be coming back to you

26:01 ↗ all

26:02 ↗ um for approval on it and for your

26:04 ↗ review and as I said this is our chance

26:07 ↗ though within this document to identify

26:09 ↗ those things that we can do for our

26:12 ↗ community that will truly reduce the the

26:14 ↗ loss of life and property so I think

26:17 ↗ it's a great opportunity for us all to

26:19 ↗ already be thinking about these things

26:20 ↗ that we know from our community

26:23 ↗ um that you know they would like to see

26:25 ↗ these areas that are reoccurring problem

26:27 ↗ areas if we can do something to reduce

26:29 ↗ our risk in the long term that is value

26:31 ↗ added to our community and that's a

26:34 ↗ opportunity where we can identify those

26:36 ↗ within that plan

26:40 ↗ um we're not waiting for that plan we

26:42 ↗ already got

26:43 ↗ um efforts underway I've referenced one

26:45 ↗ of them the community Wildfire

26:47 ↗ protection plan uh that cat Robinson

26:50 ↗ here that's joining us today is leading

26:52 ↗ up is squash partaking in it and this

26:55 ↗ community Wildfire protection plan is

26:57 ↗ again this was opportunity to talk about

27:00 ↗ some of these hard questions about

27:02 ↗ evacuation you know about like the

27:04 ↗ identification of secondary routes about

27:07 ↗ the status and the um and the quality of

27:11 ↗ those roads about our plans to talk

27:13 ↗ about home resilience right so what are

27:16 ↗ the actions that you can take on your

27:18 ↗ property or that your neighborhood or

27:20 ↗ Community can take to lower the risk of

27:22 ↗ wildfire I know that there's been some

27:24 ↗ conversation too just about things like

27:27 ↗ metal roofs and HOAs and the guidance

27:30 ↗ around those and this is really a

27:32 ↗ perfect opportunity for those

27:33 ↗ neighborhoods to have those

27:34 ↗ conversations to determine if they feel

27:37 ↗ as if their risk reaches a level that

27:39 ↗ they want to consider taught taking some

27:42 ↗ of these actions so the cwpp the

27:45 ↗ community Wildfire protection plan is

27:46 ↗ truly again an opportunity to have some

27:48 ↗ of these conversations with the

27:50 ↗ community with the city and you know

27:52 ↗ with our partners

27:54 ↗ one other element is a critical

27:56 ↗ infrastructure that we get to identify

27:58 ↗ so um Wally actually sent an article

28:01 ↗ this morning to automate myself about an

28:04 ↗ individual in the grade fire over in

28:06 ↗ Spokane who drove into the fire to turn

28:09 ↗ on the community well so that they could

28:11 ↗ pump water into fire tankers to fight

28:14 ↗ the Wildfire there and fire flow and the

28:18 ↗ access to water comes as no surprise is

28:20 ↗ essential to fighting Wildfire but

28:23 ↗ having that but it got me thinking about

28:25 ↗ in Nisswa you know what is our fire flow

28:28 ↗ situation look like right do we need a

28:30 ↗ harrowing act you know from an

28:32 ↗ individual to go turn on something like

28:33 ↗ a pump station and you know again this

28:36 ↗ plan is the perfect time to talk about

28:38 ↗ these things and to fully understand our

28:40 ↗ risk and what we need to do as a city to

28:44 ↗ better protect ourselves from Wildfire

28:46 ↗ one other major area that we're already

28:49 ↗ working on is energy resilience power

28:51 ↗ outages are common within Nisswa and

28:54 ↗ they are impactful we have applied for

28:57 ↗ grant funding to upgrade the generator

28:59 ↗ at City Hall from a 300 kilowatt to a

29:02 ↗ 500 kilowatt generator to fully service

29:04 ↗ that building in the case of a power

29:06 ↗ outage we are trying to take advantage

29:08 ↗ of a Federal grant that is a 75 percent

29:11 ↗ Federal share 25 local so more to come

29:14 ↗ on that soon and then two resilience

29:17 ↗ hubs are currently are underway is quad

29:20 ↗ got a grant to look at identifying an

29:23 ↗ area that can be used as a resilience

29:25 ↗ Hub if you're unaware of what a

29:27 ↗ resilience Hub is that's a localized

29:29 ↗ area typically powered by Green energy

29:31 ↗ that can serve as a community meeting

29:33 ↗ place resource center and information

29:36 ↗ consolidation

29:39 ↗ location for communities and in our

29:42 ↗ residents to go to in the case of

29:44 ↗ emergency to receive information and and

29:46 ↗ how so more to come on that that's as a

29:49 ↗ result of Stacy and her team's good work

29:51 ↗ Stacey MC industry

29:54 ↗ so

29:55 ↗ if you can't tell I'm a little excited

29:57 ↗ about grant opportunities and about

29:59 ↗ these risk reduction efforts I I truly

30:02 ↗ see the potential for Issaquah to have

30:05 ↗ some large projects the reason why I

30:08 ↗ don't feel like that is overly

30:09 ↗ optimistic is because we are seeing

30:11 ↗ other communities around the United

30:14 ↗ States have large projects funded

30:17 ↗ whether it be vertical evacuation

30:19 ↗ shelters on in Washington or microgrids

30:23 ↗ in Chicago

30:24 ↗ 42 million dollars for Wildfire risk

30:27 ↗ reduction work in Sonoma there are big

30:31 ↗ projects that are getting funded at a

30:32 ↗ federal level and there has never been

30:35 ↗ this much Federal grant money so I do

30:38 ↗ want to take seriously the opportunities

30:40 ↗ that we have to dream to think about

30:43 ↗ these big projects and hopefully take

30:45 ↗ advantage of them and compete in some of

30:47 ↗ these Federal grant rounds to to make a

30:49 ↗ meaningful impact for our residents

30:53 ↗ with that being said there's a few of

30:55 ↗ the few of the major grants listed here

30:57 ↗ on the slide but really there's so many

30:59 ↗ more available too

31:03 ↗ all right now on to the final and third

31:06 ↗ element of the Emergency Management

31:08 ↗ program and that's a community

31:09 ↗ resilience and where we're going to

31:11 ↗ prove the ways that we inform and

31:13 ↗ prepare the community for disasters

31:15 ↗ so there's really three major takeaways

31:18 ↗ that we would like the community to have

31:20 ↗ that's one sign up for emergency alerts

31:23 ↗ two build an emergency kit and then

31:26 ↗ three have a plan for you and your

31:28 ↗ family

31:29 ↗ so we've already had some public

31:32 ↗ education and communication already

31:34 ↗ underway about Wildfire you may have

31:37 ↗ seen from the city Twitter account that

31:39 ↗ we've made some tweets trying to raise

31:41 ↗ the awareness around wildfire and about

31:43 ↗ the potential risk in Issaquah more is

31:47 ↗ planned for September as it is National

31:49 ↗ preparedness month we are doing a few a

31:53 ↗ few special things one of which is we're

31:55 ↗ going to create a new video highlighting

31:58 ↗ actually myself kind of introducing

31:59 ↗ myself to the community as the emergency

32:01 ↗ manager talking about those three

32:03 ↗ priorities we're going to do an ad buy

32:06 ↗ for alert King County I'll talk a little

32:08 ↗ bit more about that and then three we're

32:10 ↗ actually going to hang this Banner that

32:11 ↗ you see at the bottom of the slide

32:13 ↗ disasters don't wait make your plan

32:15 ↗ today over Front Street so it's already

32:17 ↗ completed and we're going to get that

32:19 ↗ hung

32:20 ↗ so we are excited about those current

32:24 ↗ um about those current efforts underway

32:26 ↗ one other thing I did want to mention

32:28 ↗ before I move on from this slide is that

32:30 ↗ you know we know that disasters don't

32:33 ↗ impact our community equitably we know

32:35 ↗ that disasters do hit certain

32:37 ↗ populations harder than others and so as

32:41 ↗ a rule of thumb we want to spend about

32:42 ↗ 80 percent of our time trying to reach

32:45 ↗ the most 20 vulnerable of our population

32:47 ↗ so that means you know that we're going

32:50 ↗ to try to have more intentional inroads

32:52 ↗ and get more services to you know

32:54 ↗ communities that we haven't typically

32:55 ↗ done so in the past so that will be an

32:58 ↗ overarching theme that you'll see not

33:00 ↗ only in community resilience but also

33:01 ↗ for our risk reduction work it's it's

33:03 ↗ important to note that yes that disaster

33:05 ↗ is due indeed you know have uneven

33:08 ↗ impacts on on our communities and that

33:10 ↗ we are privy to that

33:13 ↗ all right alert King County so last time

33:17 ↗ I was here I talked a little bit about

33:19 ↗ alert King County

33:21 ↗ um what you see on your screen too here

33:24 ↗ is a two A-frames that we've actually

33:25 ↗ developed these are actually uh posters

33:27 ↗ that will go into those A-frames that

33:29 ↗ are at community events as well one of

33:31 ↗ them has a issaquah's wildfire country

33:33 ↗ and as disasters don't wait but those

33:35 ↗ hyperlinks take you to sign up for alert

33:37 ↗ King County and you know while we're

33:39 ↗ here I just want to remind everyone that

33:41 ↗ lurking county is our local emergency

33:44 ↗ alert system that is the best way that

33:46 ↗ people can receive notification about

33:48 ↗ anything happening within the town of

33:51 ↗ Issaquah you can get it via email text

33:54 ↗ tdd and Voice or phone call the eight

33:59 ↗ languages that we can communicate in is

34:01 ↗ English Arabic French Spanish Portuguese

34:04 ↗ Mandarin Japanese Korean and Russian

34:06 ↗ last time was here too also it was

34:08 ↗ brought up about Wildfire evacuation

34:11 ↗ notices and about you know the ability

34:13 ↗ to communicate those we've since

34:15 ↗ actually already pre-translated a

34:17 ↗ message about Wildfire evacuation into

34:20 ↗ the those languages the message reads uh

34:23 ↗ there is a wildfire in your neighborhood

34:25 ↗ evacuate immediately go to squaw.gov for

34:28 ↗ more information so that's already been

34:30 ↗ translated that's pre-loaded into code

34:32 ↗ red which is which is great news and I

34:35 ↗ thank you for that suggestion the last

34:36 ↗ time I was here

34:38 ↗ um one thing I do want to highlight is

34:40 ↗ the sign ups for alert King County so

34:42 ↗ again when I was here I said we had

34:44 ↗ about a thousand residents signed up I'm

34:46 ↗ happy to report that we have about a

34:48 ↗ thousand two hundred now signed up over

34:50 ↗ the course of uh the efforts of our

34:52 ↗ Communications team we've seen a pretty

34:54 ↗ sizable increase given that the system

34:55 ↗ has been around for 10 years you know uh

34:58 ↗ 200 more people signing up in that time

35:01 ↗ span is good that's a good thing I think

35:03 ↗ that's a sizable increase we'd obviously

35:06 ↗ like to see many more

35:07 ↗ one other thing is that I would like to

35:10 ↗ say that we have the ability to reach so

35:12 ↗ many more residents within isqua code

35:14 ↗ red while we have 1200 signups it has 16

35:19 ↗ 000 other contacts already within the

35:21 ↗ system those 16 000 contacts come from

35:23 ↗ publicly available resources such as the

35:26 ↗ phone book so totaling that we have

35:29 ↗ about 17 000 people within that system

35:32 ↗ but code but alert King County isn't the

35:35 ↗ only emergency alert tool that we have

35:36 ↗ there's two other systems wireless

35:39 ↗ emergency alerts you're probably

35:41 ↗ familiar with that system via Amber

35:44 ↗ Alerts if you receive Amber Alert

35:46 ↗ notices on your phone that is the

35:49 ↗ wireless emergency alert system so King

35:51 ↗ County manages that system for us if we

35:54 ↗ want to send a message through we we go

35:57 ↗ through them but Issaquah has the

35:59 ↗ ability to send those notices as well

36:02 ↗ community members need to have those

36:05 ↗ alerts enabled on their phone one of the

36:07 ↗ benefits of that technology resource or

36:10 ↗ that solution as well too is that we can

36:12 ↗ actually have Travelers or non-residents

36:16 ↗ receive those notifications to it works

36:18 ↗ as a geofence around an area so anyone

36:21 ↗ within that geofence we're traveling

36:23 ↗ through that geofence we'll get that

36:25 ↗ alert

36:26 ↗ those messages can also be spent be

36:29 ↗ spent in be sent in English and Spanish

36:31 ↗ excuse me

36:33 ↗ one other tool that we have available is

36:35 ↗ the emergency alert system and that is

36:37 ↗ commonly known as like the three-tone

36:39 ↗ radio message that you've also probably

36:41 ↗ heard now that system is also managed by

36:44 ↗ King County it's used sparingly because

36:47 ↗ whenever an alert is sent over that

36:50 ↗ technology solution it hits Seven

36:52 ↗ Counties that message plays in a very

36:54 ↗ wide radius and so it can create some

36:57 ↗ confusion you know for the other

36:59 ↗ impacted areas but in a life safety

37:01 ↗ event you know it's something that could

37:03 ↗ be sent

37:04 ↗ so I wanted to take a moment and just

37:06 ↗ kind of talk about more of our tools

37:07 ↗ because it's not just alert King County

37:10 ↗ right we have much more at our disposal

37:12 ↗ and much more ways among other

37:14 ↗ traditional methods like Twitter or you

37:18 ↗ know even door-to-door notification that

37:20 ↗ an event is happening so it's not just

37:23 ↗ those 1200 residents I've opted in that

37:25 ↗ would receive notification we we can

37:27 ↗ reach more than that

37:31 ↗ all right preparedness kits oh was there

37:34 ↗ a question oh sorry no okay

37:35 ↗ uh preparedness kits so here's another

37:38 ↗ one of our priority areas

37:40 ↗ um not this September but next September

37:42 ↗ we're hoping to partner uh to bring

37:44 ↗ preparedness kits to some of those most

37:46 ↗ vulnerable in our community if we have

37:48 ↗ charge one thing that we've heard before

37:49 ↗ from folks when we're trying to bring

37:52 ↗ these preparedness kits is you know

37:53 ↗ every day is an emergency for some

37:56 ↗ individuals right they're living you

37:58 ↗ know paycheck to paycheck you know they

38:00 ↗ can't set aside the funds to build their

38:02 ↗ own preparedness kit so there is grant

38:05 ↗ funding and resources available and even

38:07 ↗ Partnerships that we could try to get or

38:09 ↗ try to take advantage of to get these

38:11 ↗ preparedness kits into the hands of

38:13 ↗ those most vulnerable 20 of our

38:15 ↗ population more to come on that next

38:17 ↗ September

38:18 ↗ for all residents though we're also

38:20 ↗ pursuing uh to get discounted rates and

38:23 ↗ prices for ready-made disaster kits next

38:26 ↗ September working with some of the more

38:28 ↗ major and established preparedness kit

38:30 ↗ vendors there's there's quite a few of

38:32 ↗ them so we'll try to explore those

38:33 ↗ Partnerships too to ensure that yes all

38:36 ↗ city of issquare residents have the

38:38 ↗ opportunity to take advantage and I get

38:40 ↗ it prepared in this kit

38:44 ↗ all right uh volunteer support groups so

38:47 ↗ I'm joined today uh by Bob Otis and

38:50 ↗ Bruce Wendt from Issaquah cert who some

38:53 ↗ of you may know as two of our

38:55 ↗ instructors but also as our cert council

38:58 ↗ president and long-standing uh cert

39:00 ↗ members and and board members I'm very

39:04 ↗ happy to have them in Issaquah it was

39:07 ↗ actually one of the main reasons why I

39:08 ↗ wanted to come here as an emergency

39:09 ↗ manager it really showed me that the

39:12 ↗ community took emergencies and disaster

39:14 ↗ series and I'm happy to say that escort

39:16 ↗ has the most robust cert that I've I've

39:20 ↗ seen personally so it's a great program

39:23 ↗ here it's great to have their

39:25 ↗ partnership

39:26 ↗ we want to continue to promote and

39:29 ↗ support that program because truly in

39:31 ↗ those large-scale incidents your

39:33 ↗ neighbor might be the one who saves you

39:35 ↗ and there's no better way to have that

39:38 ↗ to have them be able to do that to go

39:40 ↗ through a cert class and so I'm very

39:42 ↗ happy to have them here very happy to

39:44 ↗ have their partnership to that effect we

39:46 ↗ want to find new ways to involve them to

39:48 ↗ ensure that our certs stay engaged with

39:51 ↗ a program that they feel valued and

39:53 ↗ utilized so one such way is I know this

39:56 ↗ has happened in the past but the rapid

39:58 ↗ impact survey is an exercise that is

40:01 ↗ coming up in a couple weeks I believe

40:02 ↗ they just had their training this last

40:05 ↗ weekend for it but really what this is

40:07 ↗ is volunteers assessing damage to key

40:10 ↗ pieces of Issaquah infrastructure post

40:13 ↗ earthquake or another impactful disaster

40:16 ↗ and so that's a great way to just show

40:18 ↗ how our volunteer groups our Force

40:19 ↗ multiplier how we partner with them and

40:22 ↗ that you know we're looking for similar

40:24 ↗ opportunities like that to use them and

40:26 ↗ I know they've also done sandbagging and

40:28 ↗ flood events and we're going to continue

40:30 ↗ to utilize them for events but I would

40:33 ↗ also be remiss to mention that you know

40:35 ↗ sir isn't the only volunteer agency that

40:38 ↗ we have or support group that we have we

40:40 ↗ also have icast which helps us with

40:42 ↗ emergency communication during an event

40:45 ↗ when all other lines of communication

40:46 ↗ are down so we have a great volunteer

40:49 ↗ group support here in Issaquah and we

40:51 ↗ continue to support them as they support

40:54 ↗ us

40:56 ↗ and so lastly Outreach events and you

40:59 ↗ know some of you may have seen me at

41:00 ↗ National Night Out I know I saw some of

41:02 ↗ you uh those events are great ways to

41:04 ↗ just hear from the community to give

41:07 ↗ them an opportunity to talk to me about

41:09 ↗ what they're seeing and vice versa

41:11 ↗ better ways to prepare and so among

41:14 ↗ National Night Out like I said I was at

41:16 ↗ Providence Point last Friday and then

41:18 ↗ we're at Talus tomorrow for that annual

41:21 ↗ HOA meeting salmon days and then we have

41:23 ↗ another one at Timber Ridge coming up in

41:25 ↗ October so all those touch points with

41:27 ↗ the community are great and we continue

41:29 ↗ or we plan to continue to have those out

41:32 ↗ in the community and are currently

41:33 ↗ looking for more ways you know to get to

41:35 ↗ some areas or to some folks that we've

41:37 ↗ never talked to before so that'll

41:39 ↗ continue to be part of our program

41:41 ↗ with that Emergency Management is a team

41:45 ↗ sport there's one emergency manager in

41:48 ↗ our city but everyone plays a role in

41:51 ↗ emergency management and as I've said

41:53 ↗ before with sir we have great

41:54 ↗ Partnerships and we are also fortunate

41:57 ↗ to have someone like Kat Robinson from

42:00 ↗ Eastside fire and rescue who is already

42:03 ↗ working within our community doing

42:04 ↗ Wildfire risk reduction work so I'm

42:07 ↗ gonna invite Kat up now to take the

42:09 ↗ podium

42:10 ↗ uh to talk a little bit about that

42:12 ↗ program

42:17 ↗ hi everyone thanks Jared

42:20 ↗ um that's so

42:22 ↗ Jared's been saying a lot of great stuff

42:25 ↗ and I'm so excited that he's here and he

42:28 ↗ is the emergency manager for the City of

42:30 ↗ Issaquah because he really brings a lot

42:32 ↗ of enthusiasm to the position and so

42:34 ↗ much great experience and so we're very

42:37 ↗ excited to partner with the City of

42:39 ↗ Issaquah as we do with all of our

42:41 ↗ partner all of our partners in our

42:43 ↗ service area

42:45 ↗ so to speak a little bit I love what you

42:48 ↗ just said about Partnerships and

42:49 ↗ everyone plays a role because that's

42:51 ↗ really true

42:53 ↗ often those of us in Emergency

42:55 ↗ Management get you know kind of like

42:58 ↗ well you're kind of the Doom and Gloom

42:59 ↗ you're sort of Bringing Down the room

43:02 ↗ um you're a bit of the sky is falling

43:04 ↗ Chicken Little type you know we're just

43:06 ↗ sort of that Grim person at the table

43:08 ↗ that says well you know how that could

43:10 ↗ go wrong

43:11 ↗ XYZ you know here's here's all the ways

43:13 ↗ that I could go wrong but there's a

43:16 ↗ bright side to that and the way I always

43:19 ↗ like to put it and some people have

43:20 ↗ heard this a dozen times so apologies if

43:22 ↗ you have but what I find makes Emergency

43:25 ↗ Management very accessible to people is

43:27 ↗ to describe us like event planners

43:30 ↗ um only we don't plan for weddings and

43:32 ↗ parties we plan for bad days and our job

43:35 ↗ is to think about all those great things

43:37 ↗ that the city is doing or our region is

43:40 ↗ doing and think that's great but also

43:43 ↗ how could it go wrong and if it does

43:45 ↗ what do we need to have in place to make

43:47 ↗ it better to be stronger resilient

43:50 ↗ communities and so that's that's our job

43:52 ↗ and that's how we we think about the

43:55 ↗ world is how can we solve these problems

43:59 ↗ before they happen how can we mitigate

44:01 ↗ the worst of it

44:02 ↗ So to that end my name again is Kat

44:05 ↗ Robinson I'm the Wildfire mitigation

44:07 ↗ specialist and emergency coordinator

44:09 ↗ with Eastside fire and rescue our

44:12 ↗ emergency manager Andrew Stevens is he's

44:15 ↗ up there called in right now so he's

44:17 ↗ listening and our job really is the

44:21 ↗ Emergency Management division for

44:23 ↗ eastside fire and rescue which has a

44:25 ↗ pretty large service area but Issaquah

44:28 ↗ is one of our partners is to be a force

44:30 ↗ multiplier for you so like like Jared

44:33 ↗ was speaking to about the

44:35 ↗ the operational Readiness the community

44:37 ↗ resilience the risk reduction they're

44:40 ↗ doing they're he's working on EOC of

44:43 ↗ training he's working on support and

44:45 ↗ training exercises we're here to partner

44:48 ↗ on those and provide supporting a

44:51 ↗ supporting layer uh to all of the work

44:54 ↗ that he's doing and in some cases I'm

44:57 ↗ reaching out to him and Andrew's

44:58 ↗ reaching out to him to speak about a

45:00 ↗ little hell what do you think of this

45:01 ↗ how about we do that in other cases he's

45:03 ↗ reaching out to us and saying hey I'm

45:05 ↗ doing this can you guys play a role and

45:07 ↗ by doing so we we strengthen you know

45:11 ↗ between the two we become stronger than

45:13 ↗ the sum of our parts

45:15 ↗ I said that correctly I think I did so

45:18 ↗ that's what I really uh like about this

45:21 ↗ partnership and I'm very excited to be a

45:24 ↗ part of it

45:25 ↗ um like Jared mentioned earlier

45:26 ↗ disasters often come in twos so you get

45:29 ↗ a wildfire and then later you get the

45:31 ↗ accompanying landslides and flooding

45:34 ↗ that can result because of the damage

45:36 ↗ the Wildfire caused so planning

45:39 ↗ for Complex events becomes something

45:42 ↗ that we have to think through in the in

45:43 ↗ the long term and how do these uh how do

45:46 ↗ these

45:47 ↗ disasters impact our community both now

45:51 ↗ and down the road

45:53 ↗ so toward that end our role at Eastside

45:55 ↗ fire and rescue is to build capacity in

45:58 ↗ our regions for All Phases of disaster

46:00 ↗ management that includes the planning

46:02 ↗ preparation and mitigation before an

46:04 ↗ event

46:05 ↗ the response during an event and to be

46:08 ↗ there throughout the recovery of that

46:09 ↗ event and you can see on screen there's

46:12 ↗ a variety of different roles that we

46:13 ↗ play EOC and Incident Management

46:16 ↗ training and exercise is a big one

46:18 ↗ emergency planning community outreach

46:20 ↗ and then my particular focus is on

46:22 ↗ Wildfire mitigation

46:25 ↗ was it

46:28 ↗ all right

46:30 ↗ So to that end what I'm working on and

46:33 ↗ Jared already alluded to it

46:36 ↗ is the community Wildfire protection

46:39 ↗ plan

46:42 ↗ and I guess

46:45 ↗ nope it's not going to show what I'm

46:47 ↗ going so that's okay I'll talk through

46:48 ↗ it so the community Wildfire protection

46:52 ↗ plan really focuses a great deal on

46:55 ↗ collaboration with our partners uh it's

46:57 ↗ not written in a vacuum it's not written

46:59 ↗ in an office by ourselves it's done in

47:02 ↗ conjunction with the community and at

47:05 ↗ multiple levels so we're looking to talk

47:08 ↗ to you at the council level to talk to

47:10 ↗ city government planning Emergency

47:11 ↗ Management Public Works Etc and then get

47:15 ↗ into the community as well so and that

47:17 ↗ includes our our Service Groups but also

47:20 ↗ our HOAs and our faith-based groups and

47:24 ↗ our you know our 4-H groups in in some

47:27 ↗ cases you know anybody who has a

47:29 ↗ dedicated interest in this community

47:31 ↗ should have a seat at the table for the

47:34 ↗ cwpp and what we find is there's a lot

47:37 ↗ of intersection in our concerns and our

47:39 ↗ priorities

47:40 ↗ and through those discussions we

47:42 ↗ identify what are our highest areas of

47:44 ↗ risk and what are our highest priorities

47:47 ↗ for mitigating those risks and then the

47:50 ↗ plan seeks to identify those projects

47:53 ↗ see those projects to completion in

47:56 ↗ partnership with our service area

47:58 ↗ partners and then move forward reassess

48:02 ↗ and then move forward with what are the

48:03 ↗ next steps

48:05 ↗ So to that end one of the primary goals

48:09 ↗ of the plan we've already launched and

48:12 ↗ that is our Wildfire risk assessment

48:15 ↗ program

48:16 ↗ and so that's something that we launched

48:19 ↗ at the end of July

48:21 ↗ and what it involves is

48:23 ↗ any member of our service area can reach

48:26 ↗ out and request a wildfire risk

48:28 ↗ assessment so come out to your home we

48:31 ↗ evaluate the area around the home so you

48:33 ↗ can see in the picture here

48:35 ↗ this home didn't burn down in a massive

48:37 ↗ Wildfire why there are a number of

48:40 ↗ things that you can do around your home

48:42 ↗ surprisingly simple things that can

48:45 ↗ greatly reduce the ignition potential of

48:47 ↗ your home and greatly increase the

48:50 ↗ chances that your home will remain safe

48:52 ↗ during a wildfire we all saw that during

48:56 ↗ the Maui Wildfire we saw the picture of

48:59 ↗ the one home that didn't burn and

49:01 ↗ you know the homeowners whether

49:04 ↗ intentionally or not through the work

49:06 ↗ that they did on their home they they

49:08 ↗ did what's called home hardening and

49:10 ↗ they created a resilient home that was

49:12 ↗ able to withstand the Embers and the

49:14 ↗ flames

49:15 ↗ surrounding it

49:17 ↗ so

49:19 ↗ um Jared earlier mentioned a goal of

49:22 ↗ creating a focusing on emergency prep of

49:25 ↗ creating kits and alerts part of what I

49:28 ↗ do when I go to do these surveys is I

49:31 ↗ bring a number of preparedness materials

49:33 ↗ and I give that to the homeowner as well

49:35 ↗ and walk them through those steps how to

49:37 ↗ plan how to prepare how to put together

49:40 ↗ a kit and we focus on evacuation as well

49:43 ↗ so one of the mitigation measures that a

49:46 ↗ homeowner can receive actually every

49:48 ↗ homeowner receives when I do these

49:52 ↗ surveys is to

49:55 ↗ create and think through an emergency

49:57 ↗ evacuation plan I get a lot of people

50:00 ↗ asking me well how am I going to get out

50:02 ↗ in a wildfire

50:04 ↗ and

50:06 ↗ you know these are the roads you have so

50:08 ↗ those are those are your routes so let's

50:10 ↗ think through that how is that going to

50:12 ↗ work if you only have one that's that's

50:15 ↗ going to be challenging so let's think

50:16 ↗ through that one of the most

50:18 ↗ important ways is to pay very close

50:20 ↗ attention to those alerts so that in the

50:23 ↗ event that there is an alert don't wait

50:26 ↗ until the last moment to go just go

50:29 ↗ you can always come back if it's safe

50:31 ↗ but once it gets too dangerous to leave

50:33 ↗ now you've you've reduced your options

50:36 ↗ the other option is to plan for

50:38 ↗ Sheltering in place and that's something

50:40 ↗ that that we're working on how we want

50:43 ↗ to talk through with people and make

50:45 ↗ sure that they have an alternate plan in

50:47 ↗ place

50:48 ↗ so I could go on and on but I don't want

50:51 ↗ to take a lot of your thunder away from

50:54 ↗ you

50:55 ↗ well we actually have a question council

50:58 ↗ member March

51:00 ↗ that that education

51:03 ↗ Sheltering in place is the point where

51:06 ↗ that's basically the last of a series of

51:10 ↗ decreasing or increasingly dire options

51:13 ↗ right like you're part of that education

51:16 ↗ for homeowners is going to be you don't

51:18 ↗ want to get to the point where your

51:19 ↗ option is to shelter in place I I live

51:22 ↗ at the end of a 300 foot driveway my

51:24 ↗ whole property is critical slope I can't

51:26 ↗ take down any trees and they're like

51:28 ↗ yeah you don't want to be anywhere near

51:30 ↗ there if there's a fire on the mountain

51:32 ↗ you want to get down and out because you

51:34 ↗ won't be able to do anything for your

51:35 ↗ property and you do not want to shelter

51:37 ↗ in place in those situations so that

51:39 ↗ kind of education for folks is is really

51:42 ↗ I mean I'm lucky enough to have been

51:44 ↗ able to talk to

51:46 ↗ fire chief about it for you know for my

51:48 ↗ property but most homeowners don't have

51:50 ↗ that so getting getting that information

51:52 ↗ out particularly on for all of us that

51:54 ↗ live adjacent to Open Spaces right I

51:57 ↗ mean anybody on squawk Mountain anybody

51:59 ↗ on Cougar Mountain anybody on Tiger

52:01 ↗ Mountain needs to understand what will

52:04 ↗ happen if there's a fire and how

52:06 ↗ critical it'll be get out

52:09 ↗ um

52:10 ↗ while you can right absolutely I hear

52:13 ↗ that it just raises the

52:15 ↗ gives me goosebumps because you don't

52:17 ↗ want to ever have that be your your best

52:19 ↗ up

52:20 ↗ and I agree it's not your first choice

52:22 ↗ what I'm trying to give people what I

52:25 ↗ always try to give people when I do

52:27 ↗ preparedness work with them around

52:29 ↗ emergency uh response is

52:33 ↗ creating a toolkit and sometimes they're

52:36 ↗ not going to leave and that will be

52:38 ↗ their only option so thinking through

52:41 ↗ all of those ends and thinking through

52:43 ↗ in advance gives them that information

52:45 ↗ in advance to say

52:47 ↗ this is not the best place to leave

52:49 ↗ myself so I should leave early and

52:51 ↗ hopefully that informs their decision

52:53 ↗ making to you know give them a little

52:55 ↗ extra push out the door but you're

52:57 ↗ absolutely right it's it's uh

53:00 ↗ it's a balance for sure

53:05 ↗ so Jared I think the next slide is all

53:09 ↗ about

53:10 ↗ questions and Direction needed right yes

53:16 ↗ yes you're correct

53:18 ↗ so

53:19 ↗ feedback time

53:22 ↗ excellent so I'm going to look to

53:24 ↗ council see if we have any questions

53:25 ↗ then we'll get public comment and then

53:27 ↗ we can provide a direction and feedback

53:30 ↗ so any questions from Council that we're

53:34 ↗ going to ask during

53:37 ↗ I need to look over my notes because I

53:39 ↗ know I have full email

53:42 ↗ everybody else

53:45 ↗ um I will get into it uh

53:48 ↗ I know part of

53:51 ↗ part of each of those steps of Readiness

53:55 ↗ and preparedness and response is

53:58 ↗ communication and so you've talked a lot

54:01 ↗ about what you're doing for

54:03 ↗ communication

54:05 ↗ to get people to sign up for alerts and

54:07 ↗ communicate about how they can become

54:10 ↗ prepared

54:11 ↗ do

54:13 ↗ I'd like to know more about whether

54:15 ↗ public information officers or something

54:18 ↗ like that would be a good solution for

54:21 ↗ the City of Issaquah I know Bellevue

54:23 ↗ uses them extensively did when they had

54:25 ↗ the landslides and so what our ability

54:29 ↗ to respond in the case of emergencies is

54:34 ↗ for communications

54:36 ↗ yeah that's a great question and I it's

54:38 ↗ my understanding that we do have trained

54:40 ↗ pios within the City of Issaquah many of

54:44 ↗ them are communication staff I think is

54:47 ↗ there four four Autumn four of you three

54:50 ↗ okay that are trained as pios when we do

54:54 ↗ have an emergency they do put on that

54:56 ↗ hat and that service that joint

54:58 ↗ information system and help to push any

55:00 ↗ emergent information out that being said

55:03 ↗ we could always use more so anyone yeah

55:07 ↗ if they're City staff that are

55:08 ↗ interested in the training it's free

55:10 ↗ it's available but to your point yes

55:12 ↗ absolutely information during an

55:14 ↗ incident is essential

55:18 ↗ I think I'm going to leave my my Quinn's

55:20 ↗ there and provide through feedback so at

55:23 ↗ this point we have an opportunity for

55:25 ↗ public comment so if we've got anybody

55:27 ↗ in the audience or online who is

55:31 ↗ indicating an interest to speak I'll

55:33 ↗ just pause for a moment and see if

55:35 ↗ anybody's interested

55:40 ↗ go ahead up introduce yourself go ahead

55:43 ↗ and press the button on there thank you

55:45 ↗ hi I'm Bruce Wayne

55:47 ↗ I've been a certain structure since

55:52 ↗ 2007 I think I came into the program

55:56 ↗ because of this lady here

55:58 ↗ she was her one of our original certs

56:00 ↗ here um when the program originally

56:04 ↗ started but not to take a lot of time

56:06 ↗ about that

56:08 ↗ the takeaway I want you to to have

56:10 ↗ tonight and we're talking about

56:12 ↗ evacuation it's one of the things we

56:14 ↗ talk about in our class

56:16 ↗ and my emphasis is be sure you have

56:20 ↗ gasoline in your car

56:23 ↗ ever never let your car go below a half

56:26 ↗ a tank because if you need to get out of

56:28 ↗ here

56:29 ↗ you if you don't have enough gas your

56:32 ↗ car is going to get pushed over the side

56:33 ↗ and you're not going anywhere

56:36 ↗ try and remember some of those pictures

56:39 ↗ from the Florida hurricanes people going

56:41 ↗ up I-95 running out of gas

56:46 ↗ and I know the big pushes for electric

56:48 ↗ vehicles but when you run out of

56:50 ↗ electricity you ain't going anyplace so

56:53 ↗ kind of maybe get a hybrid if you can so

56:56 ↗ anyway just want to bring that up the uh

56:59 ↗ thanks autumn autumn came through our

57:02 ↗ class

57:03 ↗ Victoria the mayor's been through our

57:06 ↗ class so we really appreciate

57:08 ↗ support that the city has provided over

57:11 ↗ the last gosh I don't know 15 17 years

57:16 ↗ gas up your car and shelter in place

57:19 ↗ isn't always because you have a fire

57:21 ↗ fire okay it could be some chemical uh

57:24 ↗ uh event or whatever so we also talk

57:28 ↗ about Sheltering in place because of

57:30 ↗ those events all right thanks

57:35 ↗ thank you very much on that

57:38 ↗ um anybody online into getting a desire

57:40 ↗ to speak no we have one member of the

57:42 ↗ public online but they're not indicating

57:44 ↗ a desire to speak

57:46 ↗ great so at this time we get feedback

57:51 ↗ um anybody want to start us off

57:56 ↗ okay councilmember hunt

57:59 ↗ thank you I really appreciate all of the

58:02 ↗ proactive planning that has gone into

58:04 ↗ this presentation and so the work that

58:06 ↗ you've done for the city also with

58:08 ↗ Eastside fire and rescue and with our

58:10 ↗ First Responders I

58:13 ↗ um have two sort of categories of

58:16 ↗ comments as far as general direction

58:20 ↗ one is that I think we have a lot of

58:25 ↗ plans in place for public works and the

58:27 ↗ police and Eastside fire and rescue and

58:28 ↗ I am sure that all of those agencies

58:30 ↗ will respond

58:32 ↗ um uh very quickly and effectively I do

58:35 ↗ think we have more work to do in terms

58:37 ↗ of the community awareness and Community

58:39 ↗ response we have many communities that

58:41 ↗ could be could become isolated or could

58:45 ↗ it could really be one of those

58:46 ↗ situations where your neighbors are the

58:48 ↗ first ones that are able to help in a in

58:50 ↗ a disaster because of the layout of our

58:53 ↗ city and the

58:56 ↗ um the topography and the amount of

59:00 ↗ Wildland interface that we have so for

59:03 ↗ those reasons I do think getting more

59:05 ↗ people signed up is important I realize

59:08 ↗ we have information but it sounds like

59:10 ↗ if it's

59:11 ↗ um you know we have about a thousand

59:12 ↗ people and growing on alert and that is

59:16 ↗ excellent

59:17 ↗ um I think probably some of those olds

59:19 ↗ from the phone books that might not be

59:21 ↗ up to date you know the way that people

59:23 ↗ are are getting their information

59:25 ↗ anymore so really getting people's most

59:27 ↗ up-to-date contact information and

59:29 ↗ making sure that we are reaching people

59:31 ↗ in multiple languages all of those

59:32 ↗ things I think are really important also

59:35 ↗ to that and as was mentioned I I did

59:38 ↗ participate in the cert program part of

59:40 ↗ why I was able to do that I do work

59:43 ↗ during the day and I'm a mom and I'm on

59:45 ↗ Council and part of why I was able to do

59:46 ↗ the cert program was uh coming out of

59:49 ↗ covid there was a hybrid option where a

59:51 ↗ lot of the training was done online

59:54 ↗ and then there was a practical portion

59:58 ↗ as well so I think just making sure that

1:00:00 ↗ we have

1:00:01 ↗ options for folks that want to know the

1:00:03 ↗ basics or they want to know they can get

1:00:06 ↗ a backpack and they want to know how to

1:00:07 ↗ use the items in the backpack the

1:00:09 ↗ tourniquet some whatever it's determined

1:00:11 ↗ to be the most important basic things

1:00:13 ↗ that you could get information out to

1:00:15 ↗ people I think those kind of lower

1:00:17 ↗ barrier

1:00:18 ↗ uh exercises to help more people be a

1:00:23 ↗ little bit ready would be would be

1:00:25 ↗ excellent and I also think

1:00:27 ↗ the evacuation routes was probably one

1:00:29 ↗ of the very important pieces of that

1:00:31 ↗ information

1:00:33 ↗ I like the idea of the backpack and I

1:00:35 ↗ think you know with that if we could

1:00:36 ↗ have a little bit of information so that

1:00:39 ↗ people could

1:00:40 ↗ um be ready with that information in the

1:00:43 ↗ case of an emergency that would be

1:00:45 ↗ excellent

1:00:46 ↗ my second

1:00:48 ↗ uh redirection which you didn't touch on

1:00:52 ↗ you touched on that you would you're

1:00:54 ↗ going to be reaching out to HOAs and and

1:00:56 ↗ various Community organizations but I am

1:00:59 ↗ aware of at least one restriction that

1:01:02 ↗ an HOA which is the talus HOA has on

1:01:05 ↗ home hardening which is that you

1:01:07 ↗ actually aren't allowed to put a metal

1:01:09 ↗ roof on your home in Talus and so I

1:01:12 ↗ think that's only one that I know

1:01:13 ↗ because I have come up against it for my

1:01:17 ↗ own home

1:01:18 ↗ um there may very well be other things

1:01:20 ↗ that our HOAs restrict people from doing

1:01:23 ↗ on their properties also the urban

1:01:25 ↗ Villages a lot of those homes are about

1:01:27 ↗ 20 years old the roofs are

1:01:29 ↗ approaching if they're asphalt roofs

1:01:32 ↗ they're approaching their natural ends

1:01:34 ↗ of life and so it is timely so I I would

1:01:37 ↗ really like to

1:01:38 ↗ um

1:01:40 ↗ explore that work with the HOAs there

1:01:43 ↗ are metal roofs that are the same

1:01:46 ↗ reflectivity as asphalt roofs it's

1:01:50 ↗ aesthetically can be very similar so

1:01:52 ↗ just work through them and make sure

1:01:53 ↗ that we aren't putting restrictions on

1:01:55 ↗ what people can do if they want to

1:01:57 ↗ actually make the investment and do that

1:01:58 ↗ home hardening

1:02:00 ↗ um especially in those neighborhoods

1:02:02 ↗ like that are also it happens to be that

1:02:05 ↗ these neighborhoods are also at the

1:02:06 ↗ urban Wildland interface so it'd be very

1:02:09 ↗ beneficial if we could work with them

1:02:10 ↗ and I wouldn't overcome that and again I

1:02:13 ↗ don't know what I don't know I think

1:02:14 ↗ there may be other restrictions on what

1:02:16 ↗ people can do

1:02:18 ↗ uh it sounds like we also need to do

1:02:21 ↗ some research on on that as a city

1:02:25 ↗ um so I I would like to

1:02:27 ↗ work towards making sure that if

1:02:29 ↗ homeowners want to

1:02:32 ↗ um make

1:02:33 ↗ big changes to their properties that we

1:02:35 ↗ aren't a barrier or that the there

1:02:37 ↗ aren't barriers to doing that

1:02:40 ↗ um

1:02:43 ↗ and those those are my two main comments

1:02:46 ↗ about about Direction I again really

1:02:49 ↗ appreciate the information I also

1:02:51 ↗ appreciate the discussion of how

1:02:55 ↗ climate change will be increasing these

1:02:58 ↗ events and the frequency and and that we

1:03:01 ↗ need to accept that and be resilient

1:03:04 ↗ community and um

1:03:06 ↗ overall look forward to continuing the

1:03:08 ↗ conversation

1:03:09 ↗ thank you

1:03:12 ↗ okay councilmember Joe

1:03:15 ↗ Jared first let me say thank you for all

1:03:17 ↗ your hard work

1:03:18 ↗ um

1:03:19 ↗ you have the ability to collaborate with

1:03:22 ↗ people and bring them to the table I

1:03:24 ↗ think that's a very important trait for

1:03:26 ↗ this type of position

1:03:28 ↗ in my spare time I was looking at the

1:03:31 ↗ comprehensive emergency management plan

1:03:33 ↗ for the City of Issaquah and I just had

1:03:36 ↗ a couple of comments that may already be

1:03:39 ↗ taken care of and if they are fantastic

1:03:41 ↗ obviously the city council is

1:03:43 ↗ responsible for keeping the continuity

1:03:45 ↗ of government for the legislative branch

1:03:47 ↗ and that is done through our

1:03:49 ↗ appointments or other processes

1:03:51 ↗ processes that we have in place the

1:03:54 ↗ executive branch of course takes care of

1:03:56 ↗ continuity of government

1:03:57 ↗ through the mayor's office but

1:04:00 ↗ I'm a fan of those disaster movies or

1:04:03 ↗ you know where the mayor is still alive

1:04:06 ↗ but stuck under a rock somewhere or in a

1:04:10 ↗ mine or what have you do we have a

1:04:12 ↗ continuity of government plan in terms

1:04:14 ↗ of who

1:04:16 ↗ does what and

1:04:19 ↗ um I just don't want us to have a

1:04:20 ↗ situation where

1:04:22 ↗ you know council president and the

1:04:25 ↗ police chief and the fire chief all

1:04:27 ↗ think

1:04:29 ↗ three different things should be done

1:04:30 ↗ and then

1:04:32 ↗ um

1:04:33 ↗ you probably have talked about it and

1:04:36 ↗ um gone through those

1:04:38 ↗ um just want to make sure that we have

1:04:40 ↗ so that we have smooth operations in the

1:04:44 ↗ event that things are

1:04:46 ↗ distorted or out of community people are

1:04:49 ↗ out of communication and and our normal

1:04:51 ↗ lines of communication aren't open we

1:04:53 ↗ depend so much on our cell phones

1:04:55 ↗ have the cell phone towers are down

1:04:58 ↗ you know we have

1:05:00 ↗ we did in the past had a pretty robust

1:05:02 ↗ CB system Citizen band system that

1:05:05 ↗ certainly is going away as Our

1:05:07 ↗ Generations get older just want to make

1:05:10 ↗ sure that we have a clear continuity of

1:05:13 ↗ government and a clear communication

1:05:14 ↗ plan an event that cell phones go out I

1:05:18 ↗ want to complement the comprehensive

1:05:20 ↗ emergency management plan the 200 Page

1:05:23 ↗ document that's there I don't think that

1:05:27 ↗ any big changes need to be made to that

1:05:30 ↗ is a complement to all the hard work

1:05:32 ↗ that you and your predecessors have done

1:05:34 ↗ but I look forward to the product that

1:05:36 ↗ comes out from that thank you thank you

1:05:41 ↗ and to answer the continuity of

1:05:43 ↗ government question I mean that that's a

1:05:45 ↗ standard piece at any point

1:05:48 ↗ council president

1:05:51 ↗ Deputy council president after that

1:05:56 ↗ seniority accounts

1:06:00 ↗ seniority of Council in terms of years

1:06:02 ↗ served

1:06:03 ↗ all right and continuous years served

1:06:05 ↗ right

1:06:07 ↗ unless the council changes its rules yes

1:06:09 ↗ thank you very much I appreciate that

1:06:12 ↗ I got to get that clarification figure

1:06:14 ↗ out where in line you are appreciate it

1:06:16 ↗ appreciate it

1:06:18 ↗ um anybody else have any comments

1:06:22 ↗ uh council member D Michelle

1:06:25 ↗ thanks I wanted to say I really

1:06:27 ↗ appreciate the enthusiasm we heard

1:06:29 ↗ tonight and the energy that's going into

1:06:32 ↗ this the

1:06:34 ↗ um the planning for the quote-unquote

1:06:37 ↗ event so

1:06:39 ↗ um I live in a condominium down on Front

1:06:41 ↗ Street and a couple of years ago

1:06:43 ↗ Eastside fire and rescue came and gave

1:06:45 ↗ us all a overview of what would happen

1:06:48 ↗ if we had a major earthquake if we had a

1:06:50 ↗ wildfire and so forth so I really

1:06:53 ↗ appreciate that I learned a lot from

1:06:56 ↗ just a it was about an hour and a half

1:06:58 ↗ session we had several firefighters come

1:07:00 ↗ and talk about different areas and

1:07:02 ↗ things that we ought to do so I would

1:07:05 ↗ just encourage that kind of Outreach to

1:07:08 ↗ multi-family you know groups like

1:07:11 ↗ Condominiums and apartment buildings

1:07:13 ↗ and thought it was just a very useful

1:07:16 ↗ exercise so it was a little bit like you

1:07:19 ↗ said that was the scary part of the

1:07:21 ↗ presentation was how long it might be

1:07:24 ↗ before somebody could get to us at a

1:07:26 ↗ major earthquake and how long it might

1:07:29 ↗ be for us to be able to get out and so

1:07:32 ↗ planning for those kinds of things

1:07:33 ↗ having food water and other things on

1:07:37 ↗ hand

1:07:38 ↗ and also knowing I think that I believe

1:07:41 ↗ in my condominium conflicts that three

1:07:44 ↗ or four people have been trained in cert

1:07:45 ↗ so we have that push as well so just

1:07:49 ↗ that community-based approach where you

1:07:53 ↗ might be on your own for quite some time

1:07:55 ↗ is really really important and so the

1:07:58 ↗ more that we can do to educate our

1:08:00 ↗ community the better I really appreciate

1:08:03 ↗ all the work that's gone into this thank

1:08:04 ↗ you

1:08:05 ↗ oh and I I like the director tonight I

1:08:08 ↗ think council member hunt made some

1:08:10 ↗ really good suggestions but overall I

1:08:13 ↗ really like the direction that we're

1:08:14 ↗ taking thanks

1:08:17 ↗ okay anybody else

1:08:20 ↗ I'm gonna finalize it up rapid fire

1:08:24 ↗ um I'd like to know more about how we're

1:08:27 ↗ going to work with our new Urban Forest

1:08:28 ↗ Steward to mitigate the risk of wildfire

1:08:32 ↗ um in the terms of emergency alerts you

1:08:36 ↗ know who's really aware of their cell

1:08:38 ↗ phones teenagers so I might just make a

1:08:43 ↗ suggestion that we work with the schools

1:08:45 ↗ particularly the high schools and

1:08:47 ↗ encourage them to sign up and turn that

1:08:49 ↗ alert on and that will get to the

1:08:52 ↗ households

1:08:54 ↗ um I would really like to encourage you

1:08:56 ↗ to think big about what our needs are as

1:09:01 ↗ a community I think the generator the

1:09:02 ↗ resilience hubs all of those things are

1:09:04 ↗ really important and they're the type

1:09:07 ↗ things that we as city council need to

1:09:09 ↗ know about when it comes to budget

1:09:12 ↗ periods so that we can really make those

1:09:15 ↗ big decisions about hey where are we

1:09:18 ↗ putting our money

1:09:20 ↗ um and keeping those needs in mind there

1:09:23 ↗ I will second that it looks like the

1:09:26 ↗ comprehensive emergency management plan

1:09:28 ↗ was last updated in 2022 so it seems

1:09:31 ↗ pretty recent I hope that's not a big

1:09:34 ↗ overhaul or anything like that

1:09:38 ↗ [Music]

1:09:39 ↗ um

1:09:40 ↗ Let's see we already talked about

1:09:43 ↗ language barriers I think that's really

1:09:45 ↗ important I want to make sure that we're

1:09:47 ↗ coordinating with the hospital the

1:09:48 ↗ schools the retirement communities the

1:09:51 ↗ Leo house any of those organizations

1:09:53 ↗ that have that particular set of needs

1:09:57 ↗ there

1:09:59 ↗ um really love that we've got certain

1:10:00 ↗ involvement I attended it was fantastic

1:10:04 ↗ way scarier than your presentation ways

1:10:08 ↗ carrier

1:10:09 ↗ um but I have everything underneath my

1:10:12 ↗ bed now and it's been years and that

1:10:15 ↗ stuff sticks with you

1:10:17 ↗ um really care about the evacuation

1:10:19 ↗ options

1:10:20 ↗ um those emergency access road openings

1:10:22 ↗ really glad to hear that there's some

1:10:24 ↗ training going on because as much as

1:10:26 ↗ it's there and some people know about it

1:10:28 ↗ I want to make sure that it's

1:10:31 ↗ um really able to be utilized

1:10:35 ↗ um feels like Communications we still

1:10:37 ↗ need some work there you know I've been

1:10:38 ↗ discussing that a lot about all of our

1:10:41 ↗ various needs so just want to make sure

1:10:43 ↗ that is considered and then I'd love uh

1:10:47 ↗ for at some point to know what the next

1:10:49 ↗ steps and the next Council touch point

1:10:51 ↗ is again all of those are just rapid

1:10:53 ↗ fire questions to give you

1:10:55 ↗ get back to us

1:10:58 ↗ didn't want to take too much time so

1:11:00 ↗ anybody else have any

1:11:02 ↗ big questions no

1:11:05 ↗ yes I'd like to ask Autumn to come up

1:11:08 ↗ there's one project I don't think we

1:11:10 ↗ talked about and that's our new

1:11:12 ↗ partnership with Yakima County

1:11:18 ↗ not ready for prime time

1:11:21 ↗ all right we have a partnership with

1:11:23 ↗ Yakima County which we're going to talk

1:11:24 ↗ to you about sometime

1:11:31 ↗ we'll look for more information on that

1:11:33 ↗ at some point we're going to be the Palm

1:11:35 ↗ Desert of Washington Springs

1:11:38 ↗ okay fantastic so Jared

1:11:42 ↗ need anything else from us no I just

1:11:45 ↗ want to say thank you it's um it's truly

1:11:47 ↗ a pleasure honestly to have such a

1:11:48 ↗ supportive Council and a council who

1:11:51 ↗ cares about these topics you know it's

1:11:52 ↗ um yeah I'm really taking your heart

1:11:54 ↗ your feedback and your direction that

1:11:56 ↗ you provided so thank you very much for

1:11:58 ↗ cutting time out of your very busy

1:12:01 ↗ Council schedule for an extended

1:12:03 ↗ discussion around Emergency Management

1:12:04 ↗ so thank you

1:12:07 ↗ and we very much appreciate you coming

1:12:09 ↗ bringing the partners bringing all the

1:12:11 ↗ team and uh keeping us up to date

1:12:15 ↗ thank you so that is

1:12:18 ↗ um the I guess we have good of the order

1:12:21 ↗ does anybody have anything for go to the

1:12:23 ↗ order

1:12:23 ↗ okay

1:12:26 ↗ just to mention uh it was alluded to

1:12:29 ↗ earlier mayor Pauley uh along with Chief

1:12:32 ↗ of Staff Eggers and members of our

1:12:33 ↗ sister city commission R in Morocco they

1:12:37 ↗ are safe uh the mayor posted a video

1:12:40 ↗ today

1:12:41 ↗ um

1:12:42 ↗ letting everyone know that she is in

1:12:44 ↗ touch looking for the best ways that

1:12:47 ↗ Issaquah residents can be supportive of

1:12:49 ↗ our our friends in Morocco so we will

1:12:52 ↗ continue to make people aware through

1:12:54 ↗ our very excellent Communications team

1:12:57 ↗ um again we've posted that video from

1:12:59 ↗ the mayor this afternoon but we've been

1:13:02 ↗ getting inquiries about what uh riskar

1:13:05 ↗ residents can do to support those in

1:13:07 ↗ Morocco especially those

1:13:10 ↗ associated with our sister city which is

1:13:13 ↗ uh many miles from the epicenter every

1:13:17 ↗ indication that we have is Chef Sharon

1:13:20 ↗ is it in good shape the mayor will be

1:13:22 ↗ with the mayor of Sharon tomorrow

1:13:25 ↗ um today their time already but we have

1:13:28 ↗ been getting many inquiries from members

1:13:30 ↗ of the public asking what they can do so

1:13:31 ↗ we will be sharing that

1:13:36 ↗ sounds good

1:13:38 ↗ so that's the only item on our agenda at

1:13:41 ↗ this point so we're able to adjourn we

1:13:43 ↗ do have a special meeting afterward

1:13:47 ↗ um which I believe is close to the

1:13:50 ↗ public yes executive session so at this

1:13:53 ↗ point this meeting is adjourned at 7 45

1:13:56 ↗ pm

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

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Attendance

Council / Members (7)

Barbara de Michele

Zach Hall

Victoria Hunt

Russell Joe

Tola Marts

Chris Reh

Lindsey Walsh

Staff (4)

Wally Bobkiewicz, City Administrator

Andrea Snyder, Deputy City Administrator

Rachel Bender Turpin, City Attorney

Tisha Gieser, City Clerk

Excused

Mary Lou Pauly, Mayor