The city of Oak Harbor is looking at potentially changing the way it responds to emergencies.

The last version of the city’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan was adopted in 2019 and it’s due to expire at the end of the year, according to information presented by Oak Harbor Fire Chief Travis Anderson at a city council workshop March 25.

Under this plan, the city shares the emergency operations center at the fire station with Island County. In the scenario of a disaster affecting both jurisdictions, this shared management can lead to some confusion as the city and the county operate under two conflicting emergency management plans led by two different managers, Anderson said.

Anderson proposed to the council a few different routes. The city could review, revise and update its current plan, use the county’s plan and fall under it, adopt the county plan with an Oak Harbor annex with issues and plans that are specific or critical to the city, or not submit a plan at all, according to the presentation.

Anderson said the city is not mandated to have a comprehensive emergency management plan, though with a plan and a director with his qualifications, the city could get about $13,000 a year from the Emergency Management Performance Grant and later decide how to use this revenue.

With the right rules in place, Anderson believes the two jurisdictions can have great collaboration. A good plan, he said, would clarify the role of each jurisdiction and how the emergency operations center should be staffed.

“If we don’t have a game plan before that bad day happens, we’re setting ourselves up for failure,” he said.

When it comes to the emergency operations center, he proposed more options.

The city could discontinue the shared use of the emergency operations center, or change the comprehensive emergency management plan to state the county will take the lead in the scenario of an emergency.

In an email to the News-Times, Island County Emergency Manager Eric Brooks wrote that he would like for the center to continue being shared, and believes the partnership between the city and the county has been mutually beneficial, though the county will respect whatever decision the city makes.

Because almost all personnel who work in an emergency operations center have gone through training, sharing facility and resources can provide multiple benefits, including 24/7 operations if needed, Brooks wrote.

While the city could request that the county take the lead for city-related incidents, that would require additional discussions, Brooks said. Currently, the county leads the response to incidents affecting the unincorporated areas of the county, he wrote.

A third option proposes the creation of a memorandum of understanding in which Oak Harbor commits to taking the lead if the incident is primarily affecting the city, with the county acting as supporting agency, and Island County commits to taking the lead if the incident primarily involves the county, with support from Oak Harbor. This agreement would also identify a policy group composed of city and county representatives who would set the rules for emergencies involving both jurisdictions.

Mayor Pro Tempore Tara Hizon, as well as Councilmembers Christopher Wiegenstein, Bryan Stucky and Eric Marshall, said they preferred the last option.

Wiegenstein said the city and the county haven’t been working well historically, and invited county commissioners to join the conversation.

Marshall said he would be in favor of either reviewing and updating the plan, or adopting the county’s plan with the addition of an Oak Harbor annex.

In his email, Brooks wrote that “if the City wishes to complete an annex to the County’s plan, their annex would focus and address their own operations as they currently exist.”

Stucky asked if the Navy would be involved in any way, to which Anderson said the military can provide support in emergency scenarios, and so can power and gas companies.

Anderson will bring back an updated proposal to be approved by the council and promulgated by the mayor at a later meeting.