The action plan emerged in conjunction with a series of meeting in New York City with key responders to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Tools and resources will include a guidebook outlining key areas for all city leaders to consider in ensuring hometown preparedness, an updated guidebook of federal resources on homeland security/domestic terrorism, guidance on how to ensure effective partnerships around homeland security, and case examples of approaches to homeland security preparedness.
The resources will be available on the NLC's Web site beginning on Sept. 11, 2002, and will be updated regularly to add new information, new examples and new resources to ensure local preparedness.
Karen Anderson, the NLC's president and mayor of Minnetonka, Minn., created the special Working Group on Homeland Security in January to serve as the NLC's front-line resource on new city roles that emerged after the terrorist attacks.
In a series of meetings, members of the special working group, co-chaired by Mayor Pro Tem Mary Poss of Dallas, Tex., and Mayor Michael Guido of Dearborn, Mich., discussed lessons learned from New York City's response to the attacks with top leaders at the New York City Office of Emergency Management, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New York City Fire Department.
New York City's Assistant Fire Chief, Frank Cruthers, said the level of cooperation and coordination among agencies throughout the city has improved in the 10 months since the event.
"The events of September 11 have forced us to start thinking about and preparing for emergencies that were unimaginable," Cruthers said, adding that countless people have done extraordinary amounts of work to recover from Sept. 11. "That level of cooperation and teamwork is essential to deal with an incident of this magnitude."
Commissioner John Odermatt of the Office of Emergency Management described OEM's response plan to the attacks and its process of rebuilding its command center, which was lost in the collapse of Building 7 at the World Trade Center.
He urged city officials to develop clear plans for emergency response followed by regular drills on those plans.
"No matter what size city, you have to define who's in charge, develop a clear plan and then practice," Odermatt said. "It is not a money issue. We all should be doing this anyway. Even in the smallest community, you need to establish a single coordinator for emergency preparedness, who has the legal authority to act."
Odermatt also highlighted the importance of preparing boilerplate legal documents that can be activated immediately in case of an emergency.
"Every city and town needs to be ready to deal with an emergency on your own for the first 24 to 48 hours," Oderman said. "So you need the mechanisms in place to respond quickly before other levels of government get to the scene to provide additional support."
In follow-up discussions last Saturday, the working group reviewed federal action on homeland security and discussed strategies for ensuring that local voices continue to be heard in the development of the national strategy.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams said leaders in the Washington metropolitan area have been working closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to strengthen the region's emergency preparedness.
"Through the Council of Governments, we are working on a coordinated, synchronized, regional response plan," Williams said. "Coordination makes the difference."
Williams also echoed the advice of New York City leaders to conduct frequent drills to refine the plans.
"The reason you have emergency response drills is to see what needs improvement," Williams said. "Based on a recent CNN survey, the Washington area is now ranked seventh in the country in terms of preparedness, and we intend to keep working to improve on that."
In addition to preparing the agreed upon resources, the NLC's Working Group on Homeland Security will provide a final report to the Board of Directors in December on continuing roles and responsibilities for NLC to support cities in their efforts to ensure homeland security.
