Monica Bortolini Chris Tagert

May 24, 2012

Why did we start the program?

Everything was new… Stormwater Authority Floodplain Program DFIRM New CRS Community

Why did we start the program?

1 23Raise Awareness

Influence Behavioral Change

Help People Stay Safe!

How did we approach the project?

1Planning

2Implementation

3Alignment with Community

Rating System (CRS)

THREE PHASES

Comprehensive Plan; Phased Implementation

Captured “everything” in the plan Direct mailing, display booths, event participation,

children’s activities, website improvements, Facebook page, TV, Radio, etc.

Conceptual level Created a implementation plan that included only those

items that were deemed “achievable” based on available resources

Activities were planned during “down” times for SEMSWA All other activities were documented in a section entitled

“Conceptual Ideas for Future Plan Updates;” to be added to the implementation plan at a point in the future when resources are available.

Identified key messages

Risk Reduction

Know Your Hazard

Be Prepared

Get Flood Insurance

Build Responsibly

Preserve the Floodplain

Emergency Action

Preparation & Response

Flash Flooding

Defined outreach approach

Defined building blocks for the outreach plan Flash flooding and

Denver Metro specific events

Limited mailings that would not overwhelm the audience

Focused on effective messages 1st; future CRS credit 2nd

MetroSpecific

EffectiveMessage

Limite

dMailin

gs

Audience Distribution

Stay Safe

Category Author Document

Community

SFHA Homeowners

Developers

Neighborhoods

Dam Inundation

Real Estate Agents

Mortgage Lenders

As Needed

Spring

Fall

Risk Reducti

on

Know Your Hazard

UDFCD

SEMSWA

SEMSWA

SEMSWA

SEMSWA

Official Notice – Flood Hazard Information

Know your Hazard

SEMSWA in XYZ Neighborhood

Dam Safety

Ways SEMSWA Can Help

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

XBe Prepared SEMSWA Ways to Protect your Home or Business X X

Get Flood Insurance

SEMSWA

NFIP

Flood Insurance

Filing your Flood Insurance Claim

X

X

X

Build Responsibly

SEMSWA

SEMSWA

Planning and Constructing Home Improvements in the Floodplain

Construction Requirements for Homes in Floodplains

X

X

X

X

Preserve the Floodplain

UDFCDPreserving the natural and beneficial values of floodplains adjacent to development projects X X

Emergency

Action

Preparation & Response

Flood Smart

SEMSWA

The Risk Is Real

Preparing for and Responding to a Flood

X

X

X

X

Flash Flood NOAA Turn Around Don’t Drown X X

Target Messages with Audience

8

… F u t u r e P l a n s f o r t e l e v i s i o n , s o c i a l m e d i a , e t c .

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

Piggyback On Other Related Meetings and/or Mailings

Create an Implementation Schedule that Works for You

Leveraged flood awareness week with Earth Day Avoided direct mailing in the spring so as to not

overlap with UDFCD’s flood awareness mailer Avoided sending flood related information in the

winter as the community is not engaged at that time

Avoided planning activities in the summer as that’s a busy time at SEMSWA for budgeting

10

What PR department?

With no dedicated outreach staff, implementation was left up to the FPA

Year 1, three goals were identified To achieve these three goals additional resources

would be required

11

Obtain Resources to Help

4 Major Areas of

Focus

Generation of Event Specific

Materials

Event Coordination

Direct Mailing

Strategic planning for future events

• Activity with boy scouts

• Booth Banner• Display booth

materials

• Finding and booking event space

• Printing and displaying materials

• Obtaining giveaways

• Coordination with other entities

• Preparing and distributing material

Hired an experienced (stormwater) outreach professional

This Year’s Activities

Direct Mailing: Brochures

Open House Booth: Interactive Discussion

Children’s Activities: Poster Contest

… W I T H Y E A R O N E A S U C C E S S , N E W A C T I V I T I E S W I L L B E A D D E D

Hired Help, What Does It Cost?

Depends on the number of activities planned for the flood season

Cyclical or continuous? Do you plan to sustain outreach all year long or

only during flood season? How many FTEs?

For SEMSWA: ~1/3 of an FTE averaged over one year, for the first year of implementation.

14

What’s The Future Plan?

As events are repeated, each will require less time for preparation and execution

As those efficiencies are gained, new activities will be added to enhance SEMSWA’s “Stay Safe” plan

15

How does Stay Safe tie into CRS?

At the time that the plan was conceived, the revisions to the CRS were preliminary

The new criteria for Public Information is a lot more involved than previously

SEMSWA jurisdictions will not have their 5-year cycle visit for three more years

Therefore we did what we thought would be most effective for SEMSWA now and plan to revisit how it might score within the new CRS criteria after three years of implementation

We’ve set realistic expectations – a community may never have the resources necessary to fully implement the new CRS PPI 16

Stay Safe - Conclusions

17

Determine what you think will be effective in your jurisdiction

Make a plan, leverage existing resources, take small, manageable steps

Commit to an implementation schedule, even if you have to scale back what you would like to do each year

Monica Bortolini Chris Tagert

May 24, 2012