Federal Representatives’ Role in Post-Disaster Town Hall Meetings
Best Practices for Federal Representatives
A post-disaster town hall meeting is one of the first and most important opportunities for local leaders to update the community on the status of recovery, yet federal representatives from FEMA and HUD will also play a critical role in providing property owners with important information regarding the recovery process. No matter the situation, homeowners’ biggest concern will be when and if they can get back into their homes. Providing the reassurance these residents should receive in a post-disaster town hall meeting requires careful planning and coordination with the locality’s local leaders.
“One of our most important successes was orchestrating a town hall meeting in the weeks after our rescue efforts were complete,” says Suzonne Cowart, director of finance for the City of Central, which suffered from catastrophic flooding in August 2016. “We decided to hold the town hall meeting to disseminate as much information as we could to the citizens to help them deal with their individual situations.”
Top level local leaders – like mayors, chief elected officials, city and town managers, county administrators and emergency managers – will likely want to hold their town-hall meeting before FEMA begins the application process and starts communicating with property owners. However, if the locality can’t hold the meeting before FEMA sets up their disaster assistance centers, FEMA representatives should communicate with top level local officials during this period and accept their guidance on the recovery approach the locality decides to take.
Planning for the Town Hall Meeting
It’s important to ensure that community members get a consistent message from their local leaders and federal representatives. Conflicting views on disaster recovery between federal representatives and local leaders can cause points of tension during a town hall meeting if not sorted out ahead of time. Sharing what will be said prior to the meeting in a tabletop exercise is recommended. This gives federal representatives the chance to give and receive feedback from local leaders on their disaster priorities and approach, and ensures that all agencies are on the same page prior to the meeting. You should aim to play a supportive role during the town hall meeting, not and an adversarial role.
“Make sure that the public information officer or a local leader speaks with any FEMA or HUD representatives in advance to ensure their message will support the locality’s approach to recovery,” recommends Amanda Moody, director of economic development for the City of Central. “External representatives should not be allowed to communicate with constituents in the town hall meeting before this has been done.”
In addition to the top level local leader and FEMA and HUD representatives, typical presenters at a post-disaster town hall meeting include the local incident commander and a representative from the state emergency management agency.
During the Town Hall Meeting
During the town hall meeting, remember to be compassionate and honest; residents are looking for the “human touch” to reassure them that their lives will eventually return to normal. Be certain to offer sympathy, but don’t make promises. Offer statements such as, “We are attempting to complete four houses a week, but we can’t guarantee that it will happen” to make sure you are setting expectations.
Homeowners will be seeking permanence – when can they get back into their homes and restore a sense of normalcy in their day-to-day lives?
“Questions ranged from FEMA mobile housing units, to FEMA grants and assistance and various information – some of it was even tax related,” recalls Cowart. “A lot of residents had questions about getting a mobile housing unit on their property, and whether or not they could have them in a flood zone.”
Prepare yourself ahead of time to give an overview of the application process, including where property owners should go, what they should bring and important deadlines. Explain how FEMA’s temporary housing and reimbursement processes work; use simple language to ensure that property owners have a firm understanding of what your organization can provide and what they will need to pay back. You likely will be staying in the community during this period; take advantage of the opportunity to build relationships with residents and understand their needs and concerns before and after the town hall meeting.
After the town hall meeting, ensure that you maintain constant communication and coordination with the locality’s leaders and continue to be a steward of their recovery priorities and approach. Not only does this boost morale, but it demonstrates to property owners that everyone involved in the recovery process is doing everything they can to get their homes and business restored as quickly as possible.
In August 2016, over seven trillion gallons of rain fell in a 48-hour period in the city of Central, Louisiana, swallowing the city – and most of southern Louisiana – in more than four feet of water, and in some places up to six feet. The City of Central, which is located at the confluence of the Amite and Comite rivers, was still recovering from flash flooding that had occurred earlier in the year when the August flooding occurred.
More than 5,000 homes in the city sustained “substantial damage,” meaning that the damage was estimated to cost 50 percent or more of the structure’s value to repair. In total, 25,000 of the 27,000 residents of Central were impacted by the flood. While homeowners took a big hit from the storm, fewer than 50 businesses in Central were damaged.
“If this happens again, we’ll have to rethink everything,” says Kathi Cowen, IBTS/Central’s Floodplain Manager and GIS Specialist. “We hope we won’t see something of this scale again in our lifetimes.”
At the time of the flood, 75 percent of Central was in the 100-year flood zone, where there is a 1 percent chance of flooding each year and residents are required to carry private flood insurance. Yet 90 percent of the houses and businesses in the city sustained flood damage as a result of the August 2016 flooding, extrapolating the costs of damage due to the nearly 2,000 homes that did not have and were not required to have flood insurance.
The flood was the fourth most costly and the largest since Hurricane Sandy. In total, the flood damaged 55,000 southern Louisiana homes, and had initial damage costs estimated at $8.7 billion.