Monday, November 3, 2025, 2 p.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
Committee: Public Safety Committee
0:01 It's time to get ready.
0:03 Um, so I'm gonna call the meeting of the public safety committee of the Austin City Council to
0:06 order. It is November 3rd, 2025 at 2:00 pm we are meeting at City Hall, located at 3 0 1 west second street,
0:14 Austin, texas 7 8 7 0 1. We have a quorum present.
0:18 We have Council Member uchin, myself, Council Member lane present in person, and Council Member cadre joining us
0:25 virtually. I am chairing the meeting today as chair velazquez is unavailable and we will now go to
0:32 public communication, but I understand that we do not have any speakers.
0:36 That's correct. Okay. Thank you.
0:38 Okay. So colleagues, our first action today is to approve the minutes of the September 22nd, 2025 public safety committee
0:44 meeting. I'll accept a motion to approve these minutes.
0:49 Moved by Council Member uchin, seconded by me.
0:54 Um, without objection, the meeting minutes are approved.
0:58 And now we'll take up item two, which is a briefing on citywide and community emergency plans from
1:03 the Austin emergency management department.
1:06 Thank you for being here today.
1:09 Thank you, Madam chair.
1:11 Uh, councilman uchin, councilman cadre.
1:13 Uh, pleasure to be here today.
1:14 Uh, apparently this is a very lonely topic, uh, but, but we'll get through it.
1:19 Um, there's, there's been a lot of change for the good, um, this past year, and so I'm
1:25 excited to share with you some of what we're doing with our, our plans overall, uh, and complete
1:30 overhaul of those plans.
1:31 But first, I just want to reintroduce you to, uh, Austin emergency management, and it doesn't seem to
1:38 be advancing on me.
1:43 Sure. Oh, here we go.
1:49 Yep. Oh, thank you.
1:51 Okay. So our vision statement and mission is very similar to what, what you're used to being that
1:58 centralized agency. Thank you.
2:00 Centralized agency for emergency management throughout the city, the organization and the community, frankly.
2:06 And so we adopted, um, the motto, promise, enter paris, which is first among equals, uh, meaning that
2:14 we're, we're the ones that are committed to doing the legwork, the research, the homework, to bring different
2:19 organizations together to break down silos of excellence and make sure that we have a unity of effort
2:25 so we can make, uh, all of our resources, uh, put them into, uh, deployment for, for full
2:30 effect. Uh, and otherwise make sure that we have a one team, one fight approach to everything that
2:36 we're trying to do before, during, and after a disaster.
2:41 We made some tweaks to the organizational structure so there is better alignment for communication, um, and, and
2:49 clarity in terms of roles and responsibilities of the staff.
2:53 So the one part that was missing on this structure is the addition of an assistant director, and
2:58 I'm excited to say we're about to have that position filled.
3:01 Um, so that, and a senior planner, which we'll be working on.
3:05 Then we'll be fully staffed, um, and, and all, all cylinders, but beyond the department, I want to
3:14 introduce you to emergency support functions.
3:18 You May be familiar already.
3:19 Emergency support functions come from the national response framework and details, which, um, which federal agencies and supporting
3:29 agencies are aligned with each emergency support function.
3:32 Uh, tdem, the texas department of emergency management has adopted them as well and added a couple of
3:37 their own, and we're looking to do the same.
3:40 Um, adding esf 21 here for emergency medical.
3:45 The great thing about emergency support functions is it doesn't matter which level of government or sector you
3:50 might be in. If you have a role of responsibility with transportation or interoperable communications or logistics, you
3:58 can be part of this team.
4:00 And with our, uh, Austin resilience network, uh, and other emergency management, uh, folks, we're building that team.
4:07 Um, so we can leverage all the talents, the resources and expertise throughout Austin and the region.
4:13 Whenever we're gonna be faced with a disaster, there's plenty more room.
4:17 If there's any agencies, organizations out in the community who want to partner with us, it's all about
4:22 sharing information, leveraging resources, and, and really addressing anything as one community, one team.
4:33 One of the things that Austin emergency management is in the middle of right now, is to capture
4:38 all of this information.
4:39 So when you look at the emergency support function, uh, really the entire annex is almost a directory.
4:45 So we're identifying which agencies fall under which emergency support function, who those points of contact are, um,
4:52 the 24 hour contact information, what plans exist currently, locally and regionally.
4:58 So we can review all of those to make sure we have one overarching comprehensive and complete plan.
5:03 Uh, also identifying their critical infrastructure, what core capabilities that they address, and those core capabilities.
5:10 In a minute I'll explain are how we establish what our gap analysis is, and of course, the
5:15 equipment resources under which authorities they operate, um, and also particularly the, the fema, public assistance reimbursement policies.
5:23 So we can inform them on what they really need to track and how during a disaster for,
5:28 for full reimbursement. The core capabilities, uh, come from, again, department of homeland security and, and fema.
5:37 And they really detail what needs to be done for all the different capabilities from, from response, uh,
5:43 really prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery.
5:47 And this is how we are planning, making sure that all those things listed in those core capabilities
5:53 are addressed, but also along with the planning and, and the training and the exercises, if going through
6:00 those, those processes, we identify a gap, then that's really gonna identify and otherwise inform either grant investments
6:08 that we're gonna apply for, or a contract or mutual aid prescripted requests, so that, so that gap,
6:15 uh, is bridged, and we can make sure that we meet all the things that we need to
6:19 for any disaster response.
6:22 So, for example, there's capability targets for public information and warning, and it really allows us to set
6:28 what that metric is, by what time, how soon should we be able to alert the community of
6:35 whatever the disaster is once we find that out.
6:37 And how many people can we notify, uh, and if they have access and functional needs.
6:42 Um, and also english proficiency or, or non-english speaking peoples.
6:49 Uh, same thing with mass care.
6:50 After notification of a disaster, how quickly can we get folks the food, the water, the shelter, the
6:56 basic needs that they have?
6:58 And so, again, once we establish those metrics, we're making sure that we meet those metrics, uh, either
7:03 in the plan, leveraging resources throughout the community, or establishing whatever, um, contracts, mous, uh, agreements that we
7:11 can establish that way our, our plans are informed, uh, and, and not just check the box, but
7:17 we're truly meeting the needs of the community.
7:20 Because not only are we establishing these capability targets, we're writing our plans with the community at the
7:26 table. So here's the new suite of plans.
7:31 Um, as we're, as we're pulling them out after the complete overhaul, you'll see that the, the top
7:36 left is going to be our basic plan.
7:39 The, uh, city of Austin emergency operations.
7:41 The basic plan is the foundation.
7:43 Don't document that we're gonna use to respond to any disaster, natural or manmade.
7:48 It talks about the authorities under which we operate, um, how we work with the county, how we
7:54 work with the state.
7:55 Um, again, through, through the initial, uh, awareness of the disaster all the way through until we jump
8:02 over to our, our, our long-term recovery plan.
8:05 But it's, it's the basic plan.
8:07 We're gonna pull off the shelf for any disaster.
8:10 Um, the bottom left, you just see sf four, emergency support function four, which is firefighting, but we're
8:16 gonna have 21 of those.
8:18 We're gonna have many, many hazard specific annexes that speak to the nuances, uh, of whatever the threat
8:25 is that we're facing.
8:27 Wildfire obviously is a high priority, as is winter storm.
8:31 Um, as is flooding, uh, active threat, we're gonna have, uh, the hazard specific annexes for, for many
8:37 things, if it's listed in our hazard speci, or excuse me, our hazard mitigation action plan, it's gonna
8:42 have a hazard specific, um, um, annex as well.
8:47 And then the all hazards protective action plan is example of our functional annexes.
8:52 So the all hazards, uh, protective action plan is our evacuation or shelter in place plan.
8:59 So whether we're dealing with wildfire or a hazardous material spill, or a flooding event, um, whatever it
9:06 is, we're gonna be able to notify folks based on that particular plan, which is really a communication
9:12 plan, uh, to make sure folks get the alerts and the warnings that they, they need throughout.
9:17 So, right off the bat, this is our, this is, this is our recipe for recipe for disaster,
9:22 if you will. So we're gonna use the basic plan as our foundational document.
9:26 We're gonna figure out in our planning process who needs to be brought at the table.
9:30 We do that through the emergency support functions.
9:33 And then for the wildfire plan, we, we tack that on to the basic plan.
9:36 'Cause that speaks the nuances that each disaster brings.
9:40 And if something further is needed in terms of evacuation, shelter in place, crisis communications, shelter operations, a
9:47 temporary assembly point, whatever it is, there's a functional annex for all those things.
9:52 Um, and then the last, on the bottom right in the red is our, um, supporting annex.
9:57 How do we log into voc?
9:58 How do we log onto the state's web v ooc?
10:00 How do we activate the ooc?
10:02 Just those simple things that if, if, if we're, if we're relying on, uh, a team to come
10:08 in to assist, they can see that document and do exactly what we can, uh, because they're really
10:13 written with external folks in mind and the entire community in mind.
10:18 All these plans, we are wanting to make community accessible online so they can challenge the plan so
10:24 they can contribute to the plan and otherwise, uh, ensure that it reflects their, their use, their, their
10:29 lived experiences. Um, because we know that in emergency management, we don't have all the answers.
10:35 Uh, we don't know all the needs throughout the community.
10:37 And it's a one team, one fight approach to ensuring that, that our plans are, are effective.
10:45 Um, so again, alert and warnings is one of those functional annexes that, that we're really committed to,
10:51 to making sure we get right.
10:52 Um, and so it, it talks about the importance of warren central texas and for what information that
10:58 would be used for versus what the integrated public and alert warning system and the wireless emergency alert
11:04 system that, that you May know as amber alerts, uh, how we would use those, as well as
11:08 the, the accessible hazard alert system for those who are deaf and hard of hearing.
11:12 These are the, our tools to alert and notify folks of disasters.
11:17 And we will communicate often, uh, the need to, to stay registered for warren central texas, um, which
11:24 does rely on subscriptions, ipas, and the wireless emergency alert system does not rely on subscriptions.
11:30 Um, but again, the fcc mandates for what we can send, uh, alerts on through ipas and wireless
11:35 emergency alert. And we can provide a lot more information surrounding an incident with the warren central texas.
11:44 Um, that's just a, a, a snapshot of what our, our suite of plans is going to look
11:50 like. Um, and, and to be sure they're not technical documents.
11:54 They're not written to be technical documents.
11:56 They're written to be developed with and not for the community.
12:00 So the community is at the table.
12:02 Um, one addition that we've made to the basic plan is a, a, a definition of really the
12:08 makeup of the community using social vulnerability indices, uh, abusing information re regarding heats, uh, heat islands, um,
12:18 all kinds of things where we know where the vulnerability might be the greatest, which should drive where
12:24 we pre-position or deploy assets immediately after a disaster.
12:27 Um, which again, highlights areas of vulnerability and their living documents.
12:32 So while we are required to submit to the state every five years, um, these documents will be