| County
Council Town Hall Meeting to Examine Readiness for Future Winter Wind
and Rain Storms
The
impact of this winter’s major storms and our region’s
emergency preparedness
will be the focus of the first King County Council Town
Hall Meeting of 2007. The meeting will examine the
long-range policies and partnerships needed to prepare for future
storms or other emergencies. The Town Hall, a meeting of the Council’s
Committee-of-the-Whole,
will be held at The Hall at Fauntleroy, 9131
California Avenue SW, on Monday, February 5th.
This
special Council Town Hall will be the first to be held in the evening.
The public is invited to meet face-to-face with King County Councilmembers
at an informal reception starting at 6:30 p.m.
The meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m.
“West
Seattle, Vashon and Maury Islands, and nearby suburban cities were
especially hard hit by the storm, with hundreds of fallen trees,
long-lasting power outages, and significant flooding,” said
Councilmember Dow
Constantine, district host for the Town Hall. “Other
Councilmembers’ districts suffered similar damage. This meeting
is an opportunity to thoroughly review the lessons learned and propose
the changes this region needs to be better prepared in the future.”
“This
is an opportunity to focus on the future even as we continue to
recover from the most recent storms,” said Councilmember Julia
Patterson, chair of the Committee-of-the-Whole. “Through
a greater understanding of the challenges associated with our region’s
storm response, we can create a blueprint for effective response
to future winter storms.”
Councilmembers
and the public will hear from Eric
Holdeman, Director of King County’s Office
of Emergency Management, on the County’s response
to the storms and what long-range policies and collaborations with
public and private agencies are needed in advance of future storms.
Officials from both Puget Sound Energy and other regional utilities
are also scheduled to brief the Council on what they’ve learned
from the aftermath of the winter weather.
The
Town Hall Meetings are part of Councilmembers’ initiative
to “get out of the courthouse” and into the communities
they serve, in order to enhance local representation on regional
issues. The 2006 Town Hall programs examined regional transportation,
disparities in public health, new technologies in law enforcement,
regional response to global warming, regional preparation for a
potential influenza pandemic and rural policy issues. Each Town
Hall is a special meeting of the Council’s Committee-of-the-Whole,
the only standing committee on which all nine members serve. It
considers complex legislation and policy issues of interest to the
entire council.
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