SEQUIM — Monday night’s discussion was enough to scare the daylights out of anybody.
In an emergency, be it tsunami or terrorist attack, “you are going to be on your own,” said Sequim City Councilwoman Patricia Kasovia-Schmitt.
“The government can’t rush in and take care of you.”
Councilman John Beitzel and Police Chief Robert Spinks heaped on some more doom.
“Our public,” Beitzel said, is “probably going to be on their own for a significant amount of time [after a disaster].”
“The resources are going to go to the Puget Sound area. They’re not going to come here. We’re a stand-alone community,” Spinks added.
“We’re not doing enough,” Beitzel said, to prepare for the worst in Sequim.
The expressions of alarm came, ironically, after Spinks gave the City Council an 18-month plan for the development of Internet Web pages, public service announcements, volunteer recruitment and police officer training — all in the name of emergency preparedness.
“To me, 18 months is just not acceptable,” said Mayor Walt Schubert. “What do have to do to get this 18-month program done in six months?”
Spinks said he agreed with the mayor and council that emergency preparedness deserves more haste.
But the city, he added, is on its own since federal funding for preparedness is drying up.
In response to the council members’ laments, the chief promised to meet with City Manager Bill Elliott and come back to the council with a new set of recommendations.
