By Pauline Masson –
City leaders appear to be sticking to their guns in their decision that in order to receive telephone alerts of emergencies, citizens must sign-up.
The Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) says without requiring citizens to sign up everyone in an emergency targeted area should be notified.
“All citizens within the targeted geographic area should receive emergency alerts on their wireless emergency alert (WEA) – enabled mobile devices, cellphone. This includes alerts for severe weather, natural disasters, and other imminent threats,” FEMA posts on its website.
The practice of requiring citizens to sign up, or request that they receive emergency notification flies in the face of this FEMA rule.
As of Sept. 3 there were 1,172 names on Pacific’s emergency call list.
Pacific has a current population of 7,734, According to World Population Review, which includes 6,227 adults. If we deduct the 1,100 persons incarcerated in the Missouri Eastern Correction Center, Pacific has an adult population of 5,127.
In the recent water boil advisory, 784 persons were notified of the water boil advisory by phone, leaving 4,343 who were not notified.
The boil water advisory alerted some citizens that this sign up requirement would be in effect for all emergencies – floods, severe weather, power outages, etc,
FEMA maintains a call list of the entire U.S. The Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS), a database of contacts across the U.S. that reaches into every area in the country. Local governments are encouraged to use the IPAWS database to notify citizens of an emergency. Nobody is required to signs and up there is no charge to use the FEMA list to notify citizens of impending danger.
An article in Pacific’s recent newsletter Pacific Update announced that Pacific is changing its citizen notification system from its current provider, Regroup, to the Franklin County E 911 CodeRED notification system. The change becomes effective September 29.
The article says the CodeRED system will “enhance the quality and scope of the messages.” It does not say who will receive these enhanced messages.
By putting this in print: Pacific is now on public record. The city will notify citizens who sign up of an impending emergency – not all citizens.
Franklin County E 911 has access to the national database, according to Jeff Titter, Franklin County E 911 director.
“We have capability to reach every contact in Franklin County,” Mr. Titter said. “We could draw a line around an area and only reach the contacts in that area. But in our agreement with the cities, each city provides the database they want us to call.”
What triggered this interest in the emergency notification system was the August 2 boil water advisory issued by Public Works Commissioner Robert Brueggemann, following a massive water line break. Report of the event on Hometowm Matters opened a flood gate of discussion on local Facebook pages about who received the emergency notification calls and who did not.
It was publication of the notice that the city is continuing the sign up policy that triggered this follow up.
Pacific has an emergency management authority (EMA) that includes Police Cbief James Klinger, Hal Schulman, emergency management director, school district, fire and ambulance district representatives. But state statute is clear about who is responsible for emergency actions aimed at protecting Paific citizens.
When I asked city clerk Kim Barfield how the decision was made to require the sign ups, she forwarded the question toChief Klinger. Here is her reply.
“In response to your request of an official policy on the notifications to the public, attached is what the Police Department /EMA has as a plan.
“Appendix B is considered a closed document under 610.021 (18) because it refers to operation response plans. Disclosure would impair the public governmental body’s ability to protect the security or safety of persons or real property, and public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the public interest in disclosure of the records.”
It defies credibility to suggest that citizens would be less secure or less safe if they knew how, when and why the city emergency notification plan went into effect. Citizen need to know how the city handles emergencies. And they need to know why only a small number of ciitzens receive the alerts.
State statute requires cities to appoint emergency management personnel such as Chief Klinger and Mr. Schulman to plan for and assist citizens in disasters, but the statute is clear about who is responsible for emergency management acts. The mayor and BOA cannot abdicate responsibility to the EMA. They are responsible to protect (notify) the citizens.
__________________________________________________________________sSTATE STATUTE 44.080.
Each political subdivision of this state shall establish a local organization for disaster planning in accordance with the state emergency operations plan and program.
The executive officer of the political subdivision shall appoint a coordinator who shall have direct responsibility for the organization, administration and operation of the local emergency management operations, subject to the direction and control of the executive officer or governing body.
__________________________________________________________________
When it goes into effect in September, CodeRED will use the phone database, provided by Pacific – not FEMA’s more inclusive database, according to report by Police Chief James Klinger. Speaking at the Sept. 2 board of aldermen (BOA) meeting, Chief Klinger said that the city plans to increase the number of contacts on the list by “dumping in” some water and sewer contacts but gave no details He said Mr. Schulman will give a thorough report at the next BOA meeting.
ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit online newsroom that produces investigative journalism, identified at least 15 federally declared major disasters since 2016 in which officials in the most-harmed communities failed to send alerts over IPAWS — or sent them only after people were already in the throes of deadly flooding, wildfires or mudslides.
There have been multiple instances where cities failed to alert their citizens during emergencies. The lists includes examples of the failure of local officials to utilize IPAWS effectively during disasters. This has led to tragic outcomes, such as during the September 27, 2024 Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, where many officials did not send timely alerts, resulting in over 100 fatalities.
In Sevier County,Tennessee, officials admitted that emergency alerts were not sent out at all ahead of a wildfire that spread through Gatlinburg, killing 13 people.
On Nov. 8, 2018 in Paradise California, IPAWS messages never went through, and only 7,000 of the 52,000 people who evacuated received alerts about the wildfire. The tragedy could have been much less catastrophic had potentially life-saving emergency alerts gone out as intended, FEMA reported.
In Richmond City, Virginia a boil water order turned out to be the “worst disaster” they has witnessed in 24 years, a city alderman reported, when delayed communication regarding water safety left many residents unaware of the boil water advisory.
Ms. Barfield noted that the article that appeared in Pacific Update was submitted by Hal Schulman, EMA director.
“Requiring people to sign up to receive emergency alerts shifts the responsibility of notification to the citizens, away from the government,” Herb Adams, the city’s longest serving mayor said. “Citizens expect the government to manage emergencies and notify them when needed.”
Mr. Adams also noted that there are other methods, in addition to the emergency phone call, that can and should be used to alert citizens of an emergency, including the weather sirens, local radio and television, notices by the school district, senior center and churches to notify their members, and local social media (Facebook) pages.
“There is no question that all the emergency planning is valuable,” Mr. Adams said.
No one was able to tell me when and why the sign up for notification policy was put in place. BUT
I have to tell you . . . in the most recent floods, I received calls – perhaps half a dozen Robo calls – from city hall.
Telephone voice messages notified me of rising water, to where volunteer ot fill or to pick up sand bags if I needed them, that the senior center was providing housing and food for flood victims, and the time and date of public meetings at the Eagles where flood victims could find assistnace. I never signed up for notification.
The decision to abandon this vital notification service for a sign up to be notified program is in the hands of the current administration.
I spoke with my Ward Two Alderman James Cleeve about it. He said he did not know about the FEMA national database, he believed that all citizens should be notified and he would “look into it.” He did not get back to me before post time.
Mayor Filley did not return my call.
I know this is an important topic not only for residents of Pacific but for the entire region. With the number of high-impact events that have affected our communities, it is critical that we educate the public on this tool and how it helps deliver timely information. I want to clarify a few points:
The CodeRED system that Franklin County 911 uses relies on a public database of contact information compiled from multiple sources.
Not all contact information is automatically included. We strongly encourage residents to sign up directly to ensure their phone numbers, emails, and addresses are accurate and included.
Residents may also choose which types of alerts they want to receive.
When I said we have the capability to “reach every contact in Franklin County,” that means we can reach every contact in the CodeRED database. Using the system, we can draw a boundary around an affected area and notify only the contacts inside that zone.
Every city in Franklin County has access to the same information and capabilities that Franklin County 911 has. Cities determine which databases and contact groups they want included when alerts are sent on their behalf.
Our mission is to ensure the broadest, most reliable coverage possible, but resident signups remain the best way to make sure everyone is included
Mayor Silley, like most City officials seem to pride themselves in how far they can stick their heads in the sad when it comes to being knowledgeable about what is important to the citizens.
Jeff, Thank you for weighing in. You did send me a follow up comment that you urged people to sign up, I did not include it because the City of Pacific is asking citizens to sign up to the Pacific call list, which woefully short of the population. They are not asking Pacific citizens to sign up to the broader E 911 call list, which , I understand your point might not include every citizen in the area. But I”m confident that is it much larger than the city’s list of 1,172 contacts. If the City of Pacific opts to change its contact list and notify contacts in the larger E-911 database, I would definitely urge people to sign-up. But in the mean time, signing up to list of 1,172 city contacts when you live in a city of 5,127 adults doesn’t seem to move us to responsible notification of all citizens – or at least to as many citizens that are listed in the larger E=911 database.