Background

The City of Ranson is committed to providing the best possible service to all of its residents regardless of the situation. To that end, we are reviewing our emergency contingency plans. The City must be prepared to assist citizens in all types of situations. The severity of the crisis might fluctuate, but our level of care should not. That is not to say that we can guarantee comfort in the event of an emergency, but we can strive to provide a level of protection.

Major Areas of Concern

During our review, we identified seven areas of concern. They are emergency shelters, sewer service, water service, electric service, public safety, fire protection, health and human services, infrastructure, and communications. In some areas, we are the prime providers for our citizens. In others, we act as coordinators with other agencies that are designated as prime providers.

Emergency Shelters

The Ranson Senior Center on East 5th Avenue has been designated as an emergency shelter. Ranson Elementary School on Preston Street is also a possible emergency shelter, but it has not been designated as one. Ranson City Hall on Mildred Street is equipped with a large stone basement, but it does not have sufficient facilities to serve as a shelter. It could at most be considered a primitive shelter. We will continue to examine other areas in town and try to negotiate with the owners to establish other alternative shelters.

Sewer Service

The City is responsible for maintaining the uninterrupted flow of sewage through our lines. The City of Charles Town is responsible for maintaining the continuous operation of the treatment facility. We are responsible for assisting the City of Charles Town in this endeavor. During the last year, we have taken steps to ensure that we can independently maintain the flow of sewage through our lines. Our two lift stations and one pump station are or will be equipped with diesel generators to operate the pumps in the event of an electric outage. Most of our lines are gravity fed, so they will operate normally under most circumstances. We plan to stockpile a four-day supply of diesel fuel at our maintenance facility.

Water Service

The City of Charles Town has the exclusive right to provide water service to the citizens of Ranson. Our role in this area is to act as a coordinator during an emergency situation. They are responsible for the entire system to include the water supply line in Ranson. It should be noted that the operation of our sewer system depends greatly on the operation of their water system.

Electric Service

Allegheny Power provides electric service to the City of Ranson. In this area, we can act as a coordinator with their emergency response teams. We see our role as one of providing updates to them on the electrical condition in our town. We also see ourselves providing public protection to the citizens in the event a live line is downed.

Public Safety

The City of Ranson provides twenty-four hours, seven days a week police protection to our citizens. In the event of an emergency, the Police Department will operate under their internal emergency contingency plans. The Chief of Police will head their operations. As always, their actions will be coordinated with the plans of supportive and auxiliary agencies and will be fully integrated into the needs of the community.

Fire Protection

The City of Ranson is well served by two volunteer fire companies; Independent Fire Company and Citizens Fire Company. In an emergency situation, these organizations will respond to our area through the coordinated efforts of the Jefferson County Emergency Communications Headquarters. Our residents will either report emergency situations through the 911 system, or if that system fails through our public safety personnel. All public safety personnel are equipped with battery operated radios, on which they can communicate with other agencies.

Health and Human Services

In this area, we will act as coordinator with the appropriate state and local agencies to assist them in identifying areas of need. Our public service personnel will be available to assist residents in determining where to go for the type of service they require. In some instances, we may group residents together based on their particular needs. We believe this will facilitate the efficient delivery of service to these individuals.

Rights of Way Maintenance

The City is responsible for ensuring the safe transit of our citizens through our rights of way. We will strive to keep our streets free of debris, snow, ice and water. In some instances, we may have to designate certain streets as emergency routes. In this situation, we will clear these corridors first and maintain them throughout the emergency situation. These routes will serves as the primary transit routes to essential goods and services, such as the hospital and centrai command post. The City has equipment to perform this operation independent of outside assistance. For this phase of the operation, we will store sufficient quantities of fuel and salt at our maintenance facility. It should also be noted that fuel for our public safety vehicles would also be stored there.

Communications

In any emergency situation, our primary communication link to our residents is the telephone. When and if that system fails, we will rely on our public service personnel in direct contact with those in need. As stated before, they are equipped with battery operated radios and can communicate without electric or phone lines. Our primary dispatch center is Jefferson County Emergency Services, but if that system fails we can establish temporary dispatch at police headquarters. Ranson City Hall is the central command and control center for the City. It does and will house the police department, as well as all City offices. It is our intention to disseminate emergency announcements from this location. Our preferred method is local radio, but in the event that system fails, we can communicate with our citizens verbally through public address systems. As always, we encourage residents to communicate with our public safety personnel, city employees, or elected officials. In an emergency situation, these communications will be prioritized and acted on as appropriate.

Y2K Compliance

In our estimation, the City is fully Y2K compliant. We base this on the following facts. First, we do not have any electronic traffic control devices, so a non-Y2K compliant microchip can not affect our traffic control devices. Second, all of our computers are believed to be Y2K compliant. Our computers do not provide essential city services, so the unexpected crash of a city computer should not adversely affect our citizens. It should also be noted that all essential city records are backed-up on diskettes and maintained in hard copy. We are in the process of storing all irreplaceable documents in a fireproof safe deposit box at F&M Bank. Our computer back-up diskettes will also be stored there. Third, we put our sewer system through a Y2K compliance inspection and upgraded the system based on the results. Our changes were mainly to deal with the possible loss of electric power to our pumps. We did not find any microchips in our system, so the effect of a defective Y2K microchip on our system is negligible.

Conclusion

We believe that the City is prepared to assist our citizens in any type of emergency. Our citizens can rest assured that we will continue to examine our emergency plans and make changes as appropriate. Our priority of service will be to first save lives, second restore service, and third protect property. We believe that our contingency planing will enable us to accomplish all three goals simultaneously. If the level of the emergency dictates that we can not accomplish this, we will focus our attention on dealing with our goals in order of importance. All of our City personnel and elected official are dedicated to providing the citizens of Ranson the best possible service regardless of the situation.

last updated Nov. 26, 1999
URL: http://www.intrepid.net/y2k-shepherdstown/Ranson.html

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