Agenda - 01-31-2014 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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87 • TOOL #1: IDENTIFY ISSUES PROACTIVELY AND PLAN ACCORDINGLY. The City of Red Wing is committed to a proactive communications approach when dealing with potential issues. Effective communications can help prevent an issue from becoming a crisis, and, at the same time, promote constructive dialogue in the community. The city recognizes that policy issues, development proposals, city council decisions, and various actions related to conducting the city's business sometimes have the potential to become controversial and/or spark debate or disagreement among various constituencies (e.g. residents, business groups, etc.). Often, issues can escalate simply because there is a lack of accurate information about them in the community. 11.) Develop a crisis communications plan to identify how information will be disseminated to target audiences • TOOL #1: DEVELOP A CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PLAN. In the event of a crisis situation involving city government, the interests of Red Wing's elected officials, the public, the media, and city staff are best served by timely dissemination of accurate and up-to-date information related to the crisis. A crisis situation in a municipality, or any organization, can result from a variety of occurrences. A crisis may revolve around: - People (scandal, injury, death) - Products (safety, contamination) - Process (fire, explosion, labor strike, operational error) - Issues (environmental situation, investments) - Security (theft, vandalism, extortion) - Natural disasters (flood, tornado, etc.) - A nuclear emergency at the Prairie Island Power Plant The City of Red Wing should evaluate its communications practices related to emergencies and develop an Emergency Preparedness Manual that stipulates procedures to be followed in the event of a crisis. Emergency situations involving multiple casualties, extensive property damage and/or significant environmental damage also may require implementation of the policies and procedures outlines in the Emergency Preparedness Manual. Examples of possible occurrences include: public conveyance accident, buildings involved in collapse or explosion, or a natural gas or flammable liquid incident. None of the procedures described in this communications plan shall supersede the provisions of the city's Emergency Preparedness Manual, nor shall they impede police and fire personnel from carrying out communications activities normally associated with performance of their duties.