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Facing a wet El Niño winter that has already prompted a local emergency declaration, San Benito County is missing its emergency services manager and two other staff responsible for the county’s emergency response.
Currently, emergency services manager Kris Mangano is on “extended” executive leave as the county navigates emergency preparedness and management.
The recent presentation of an emergency services gap report by Tony Coletta of Jacob Green and Associates, a public sector consulting firm that is contracted to provide “on-call” emergency services, found a need for improvement in Office of Emergency Services staffing and capacity, which Coletta said should be an immediate priority.
Emergency management leadership responsibilities are currently under the leadership of CEO Esperanza Colio Warren, with the assistance of County Counsel Gregory Priamos.
Colio Warren said the county engaged the services of Jacob Green to provide on-call emergency services due to Mangano’s absence. In addition, emergency services’ two staff members responsible for emergency management have resigned, but Colio Warren said the county hired a temporary employee who is assisting with daily activities and phone calls.
Mangano would report to the new department director and the OES/EMS division, Fire and Dispatch contracts would all operate as a new department and under a new director.
The gap report from Jacob Green was meant to assess the emergency management program, identify opportunities for improvement and develop a workplan for strengthening program capabilities.
The report found more regular updates are needed to assist the county’s preparedness planning. It also said the county should assess its primary, alternate and mobile emergency operations capabilities.
“Our process is founded and grounded in both state and federal standards,” Coletta said during his presentation of the assessment. A big part of the process, he said, is “collecting and analyzing all sorts of data.”
The POETE (Plans, Organization, Equipment, Training and Exercises) acronym was used in the assessment, which calls for:
- Five preparedness plans
- Leadership and operational organization
- Primary and alternate Emergency Operations Center (EOC)/equipment capabilities
- Training for key personnel and EOC team
- Discussion and operations/based emergency exercises
Jacob Green also addressed authorities and applicable grants.
Of seven program areas and 17 findings, one was a strength—leadership and organization. “The county has significant, exceptional leadership,” Coletta said.
Areas that are not well documented and in need of enhancement are training, exercises, authorities and grants. To provide more context, Coletta said that while training may have occurred in the past, his firm did not have sufficient documentation of it.
“There certainly is due diligence” to ensure training is completed consistent with state and federal requirements, said Coletta.
Immediate priorities for the county, according to the assessment include:
- Updating, maintaining or developing key preparedness plans
- Restoring OES staffing and consider hiring an OES director
- Assessing and bringing to a ready level primary and alternate EOCs.
- Developing and executing an emergency management training plan
All of those priorities, he added, will require county resources.
Regarding the recommendation to hire a director, Priamos clarified that director “should have multiple roles” and would be responsible for emergency medical services, fire contracts, 911 dispatch contracts and every related emergency service other than law enforcement.
As of now, the county will still need to budget for the director, pending the board’s direction, according to Colio Warren. She said she will bring a proposal back to the board regarding salary plans for that position.
The county is nearing deadlines to obtain reimbursement for the flooding that occurred in 2017, 2023 and 2024. One deadline was Sept. 30, two days after the meeting.
Colio Warren said that the work to obtain those reimbursements is occurring in-house.
Documents for reimbursement were never submitted for the floods and it was challenging to track staff time, she said.
Supervisor Angela Curro said staff needs to be aware they need to document emergency-related work on their timecards. She added that it is simple to do so in the county’s system, but “we have to be utilizing the system.”
“The No. 1 thing we need to start with is personnel,” Supervisor Mindy Sotelo said. While she acknowledged the county has a tight budget, she said she does not envision a path forward without bringing in an emergency services director.
Colio Warren said her next step will be to bring forward the emergency services director discussion, likely at the Oct. 13 supervisors meeting, as well as a plan to address the recommendations brought forward by the Jacob Green presentation.
The BenitoLink Internship Program is a paid, skill-building program that prepares local youth for a professional career. This program is supported by Monterey Peninsula Foundation AT&T Golf Tour and Taylor Farms.
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