Highest Honor for Emergency Management Awarded to the City of Saint Paul
- ricklarkin
- Jun 28, 2017
- 2 min read
SAINT PAUL – Mayor Chris Coleman and City Council President Russ Stark today announced that the City of Saint Paul Department of Emergency Management has been awarded the nation’s highest accreditation by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) Commission. The award was presented this afternoon to the Mayor and Council President by EMAP Executive Director Nicole Ishmael and EMAP Commissioner Barb Graff.
“Protecting life and property is the most important function of any city,” said Mayor Coleman. “The best way to do that is to plan for the best, but prepare for the worst. Our emergency managers are always preparing to meet any hazard head on, and keep us safe from both human and environmental threats. I couldn’t be more proud that Director Larkin and his team have earned a fully accredited status for the City of Saint Paul, joining only 11 other cities in the United States to earn that high honor.”
Mayor Coleman created the Department of Emergency Management in April 2007, after FEMA rated the City of Saint Paul as “not adequate” for emergency plans and procedures. Until then, Emergency Management had operated as a division within the Saint Paul Fire Department.
“Emergency Management is an important priority of the City of Saint Paul,” said Council President Stark. “The Department of Emergency Management represents an investment in something we never want to need, but know we have to have. I am honored to join Mayor Coleman to accept this award on behalf of the Department of Emergency Management.”
In June of 2015, the City’s Emergency Management Senior Advisory Committee, chaired by Deputy Mayor Kristin Beckmann and Emergency Management Director Rick Larkin, ordered a baseline assessment of the Emergency Management Program to determine how the City of Saint Paul measured against industry standards. Out of 64 individual standards within 16 program areas, the City of Saint Paul was compliant with 49 standards. City departments, led by the Department of Emergency Management, produced 13 separate department Continuity Plans between August 2016 and January 2017 to achieve compliance with all 64 standards, and earn full accreditation from the EMAP Commission.
“The Emergency Management and Homeland Security Program for the City of Saint Paul is truly a citywide effort,” said Director Larkin. “We share this recognition from EMAP with our partners in the City of Saint Paul and affiliated partners like the Red Cross and Xcel Energy. We have worked together to create the systems to serve our community in times of emergency, and have created one of the finest public safety teams in the country.”
Since it was created in 2007, the Department of Emergency Management has been involved in coordinating City and Regional preparations for and responses to extreme weather, floods, snow storms, major events, and Presidential and Vice Presidential visits to the City of Saint Paul.
EMAP, as an independent non-profit organization, fosters excellence and accountability in emergency management and homeland security programs, by establishing credible standards applied in a peer review accreditation process. More information about EMAP and the Emergency Management Standard can be found here: https://www.emap.org/index.php/what-is-emap/the-emergency-management-standard
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