Marion plans to update its emergency management plan

After last year’s derecho, Marion is in the process of developing a new emergency management plan beginning this year.

Fire Chief Deb Krebill said the last time the city updated its plan, Marion, a city of over 41,000, was half the size it is today.

“Because of our growth, we have to relook at everything,” Krebill said. “The emergency plan we are currently under was written for half of the population. I’ve been pushing for a new plan for years.”

The city will be working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Emergency Management Institute and Linn County Emergency Management in developing the plan and implementing training.

Instead of producing an after-action review document like Cedar Rapids and Linn County, city leaders met earlier this year and discussed what went well and what needs to be worked on.

“At the time, it was decided an actual written report wasn’t necessary because we would start developing our city’s new emergency plan anyway,” Krebill said. “We found a lot of people haven’t been through an emergency operations drill before. So when the derecho happened, I was charged with telling everyone what to do.”

The city plans to implement training exercises with Linn County Emergency Management and may establish its own list of data for people with various health needs in the community. Marion will also be looking at more spaces for shelters.

“We need to have training plans agreements with different agencies for shelters and mutual-aid agreements down pat,” Krebill said.

Part of the plan will be establishing a committee that would include all city departments, city council members, non-profits, Linn County Emergency Management as well as members of the public, Krebill previously told the city council.

Linn County Emergency Management Coordinator Steve O’Konek said he has been in frequent contact with Krebill and will do whatever he can for Marion while they update their plan.

“Really, our partnership with Marion is if they were to say, ‘We want to sit down and work on an emergency plan,’ we would sit down at the table and help them walk through things to consider like sheltering, long-term recovery, infrastructure plans, etc.,” he said.

O’Konek said that training plans with the city are already in the works.

“She’s [Krebill] asked for some different training, elected official leadership training,” O’Konek said. “Oftentimes, officials come and go and they may not be well-versed in emergency management, so it’s huge.”

The city also will receive direction from the Emergency Management Institute for the written plan and training could start in January. The city now is waiting on the hiring of a new city manager and the upcoming city council elections before fully diving in, Krebill said.

“We can take advantage of EMI training as well and have a common mindset around how we approach all hazards and conditions,” City Council member Grant Harper said during the council meeting last month.

Other local governments have completed after-action reviews. Cedar Rapids hired consultant Atchison Consulting from Tennessee in the spring for $25,000 to conduct its review.

Linn County hired Collective Clarity for $40,000 to do its own review as well. Marion did not participate in the county’s review when asked.

“That is an internal document and technically, we as Marion did not operate very closely with Linn County EMA and therefore can’t really comment on what occurred or actions taken by them,” Krebill told the council.

After the derecho, the city of Marion set up a command center in City Hall where department heads took on new roles in the disaster response and met multiple times a day to discuss recovery.

“I was impressed with how we got the job done,” Krebill said of the city staff. “With most of our people not having any training, it was as if we knew exactly what we were doing. We always train for tornadoes and a tornado takes a path. But you always have resources on the outside of the path. Who trains for a derecho? It never happened before. Therefore, there was no plan.”

Krebill said the new emergency management plan in Marion will make sure the city is prepared if ever struck by a large disaster like the derecho again.

“We’re going to be ready,” she said.

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