'Go to Where You Vote for Your Note' Is City's New Emergency Communication Initiative

The power outages Ferndale experienced this summer prompted Ferndale City officials to reexamine its emergency operation plan, with a focus on communication and education with its residents.

"Ferndale experienced two events over the course of the summer that concerned staff enough to revisit our plan," Ferndale City Manager April McGrath said at the last week's city council meeting.

Ferndale experienced two multiday power outages that left thousands without power this summer. . DTE officials at the West Nine Mile Road substation. A faulty cable in Royal Oak that fed Ferndale a large chunk of its electricity then escalated the issue when that malfunctioned as well.

The second outage came from a storm that blew through town on . Winds for the storm were clocked at 70 mph and brought down dozens of trees and even more electrical poles and wires.

"In both incidents our technology was compromised," McGrath said. "If you don't have electricity, if you don't have a phone, a smart phone, how can we communicate with residents when technology doesn't exist?"

McGrath said that was a focus because during disasters, technology is compromised in some way. "We looked at how would we communicate and educate our residents," she said. "So we came up with: 'Go where you vote for your note.'"

This rhyming slogan will go along with an initiative where residents, in times of disaster or emergency and when technology is compromised, can head to their voting precinct to get information from the city.

There are nine voting precincts in Ferndale:

McGrath said the each precinct would serve as a conduit of information for those who have no technology capabilities.

The "Go where you vote for your note" initiative will roll out during the Nov. 8 election, McGrath said.

The emergency operation plan partners with the overall county plan, McGrath said, to ensure a cohesive response during emergencies. The plan defines action that needs to be taken by the city in the event of an emergency. Typically an emergency plan is enacted once the city has exhausted all of its resources and needs neighboring support. The plan puts forth a consistent policy and procedure for community action, supplies, equipment and general training.