MARC News

Continuity of Operations Planning Workshop

Oct. 29, 2007

A tornado flattens city hall . . . A fire destroys the county courthouse . . . A pandemic flu strikes the region and half your employees call in sick . . . Can your city or county continue operatons? Do you have a plan in place? Emergency management officials in the Greater Kansas City region have developed plan templates and planning tools local governments can use to develop a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) or enhance their existing plans.

MARC will host a COOP workshop and training session to introduce the plan templates on Wednesday, Dec. 5, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the MARC Conference Center, 600 Broadway, Suite 200, Kansas City, Mo. The workshop is customized to meet the needs of anyone responsible for championing and implementing COOP in local government, including city and county managers, elected officials, department heads, emergency managers, public health officials and others. Participants may attend just the morning session or stay all day. Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required.

The morning session will begin with an overview of COOP planning -- what it is, why it’s important and how to get started. The project consultant will provide a notebook and CD with guidance documents, worksheets, templates and sample plans. Speakers from Platte County will share lessons learned from the COOP process they went through during the pilot phase of the project. Participants will also learn how Greensburg, Kan. began rebuilding government from the ground up after last May’s tornado.

In the afternoon session, the project consultant will walk participants through the planning tools and outline a step-by-step process for COOP planning. Attendees will learn about identifying essential functions and mission critical data, choosing alternate facilities, developing lines of succession, exercising the plan and more.

A follow-up session will be held about three weeks later to provide technical assistance to those who have begun using the tools to develop their COOP plans. (Date and time to be announced.)

For more information about COOP planning, contact Erin Lynch, MARC's Emergency Services and Homeland Security program director.

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