- Review your Local Emergency Management Plan (LEMP).
- Contact your Emergency Management Director. Confirm their availability for the anticipated duration of the event and discuss plan for information sharing between Vermont Emergency Management and other state agencies, local public safety, public works personnel and administrative personnel, elected officials and the public.
- Develop/review the communication plan for the event including who the spokesperson is and which news/distribution outlets and formats will be used. Consider publishing an e-newsletter for your residents for routine matters – this form of communication will be invaluable to get updates out during an emergency. Creating a dedicated page on the town website for communicating emergency updates is also helpful to establish the town as the trusted, go-to source for information. Make sure the emergency update page is easily accessible and highly visible on the website’s homepage.
- Identify a location for Emergency Operations Center (EOC), if needed.
- Identify the location and parties responsible for Emergency Shelter, if needed.
- Verify the availability of police, fire, emergency response, highway, water and wastewater personnel.
- Plan a strategy for the management and coordination of volunteers, monetary donations, and donations of materials and equipment. Consider designating one person/agency as the volunteer and donation coordinator. The State of Vermont also offers a volunteer portal for storm recovery, vermont.gov/volunteer, where volunteers can register to help other Vermonters in times of need.
- Consider partnering with Waze (maps app) to provide travelers with up-to-date navigation and traffic information. Vermont Emergency Management’s How to Create a Waze Cities Account is a useful guide.
Thank you to Vermont Emergency Management, VLCT’s Municipal Operations Support Team and VLCT PACIF staff for providing the technical expertise and resources used to develop this document.
Publication Date
04/25/2025