Avalon Mayor Addresses Key Senate Staff in Washington

AVALON – Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi delivered the keynote address at the National Preparedness Month Fair for key United States Senate staff and national emergency management leaders in Washington, DC on Sept. 20. Pagliughi delivered the address to over 100 staff members inside the Hart Senate Office building. This year’s Fair and presentation by Mayor Pagliughi attracted the largest crowd in event history, according to event organizers.
“I appreciated the opportunity speak about emergency management response on the local and county levels”, Mayor Pagliughi said. “The event provided an opportunity to engage key United States Senate officials in an open and informative dialogue about how emergency management response begins on the local level and how federal officials can partner with local communities to provide an even higher level of resiliency against future storm events”.
Pagliughi was selected to deliver the keynote presentation in Washington, DC as a result of the Borough of Avalon’s response during Hurricane Sandy and Avalon’s decades-long approach to storm mitigation and emergency management preparedness. Avalon has been recognized as being one of the country’s leaders in its approach to the protection and welfare of its citizens and infrastructure. Some of the policies and programs implemented in Avalon have been replicated in Cape May County’s emergency response plan.
“We presented the audience with an Avalon model that developed the culture of emergency preparedness in our community and how our plan can be replicated by other communities, counties, and even states”, Pagliughi said. “The Avalon plan was tested during recent hurricanes Irene and Sandy and it worked very well. The Senate staff and emergency management leaders were highly engaged in the presentation and I believe we were able to initiate thoughts and ideas they can bring back to their respective states and communities”.
During the presentation, Pagliughi highlighted many key initiatives included in the Avalon Emergency Management Plan. Pagliughi discussed the creation of no-cost, pre-disaster contracts that Avalon has in place for sheltering, transportation, energy generation, and community-wide storm remediation and cleanup. He also discussed Avalon’s innovative pet evacuation trailer that overcomes objections from residents who will not evacuate because they are not allowed to bring their pets to traditional shelters. And, Pagliughi discussed Avalon’s communication plan that includes a state of the art emergency management alert website, www.avalonemergency.org, as well as the proper utilization of emergency telephone calls and traditional media resources.
In less than one year serving as the Director of Emergency Management for the county of Cape May, Pagliughi has implemented many of these initiatives on the county level, including the creation of a county-wide emergency management website, the acquisition of pet evacuation trailers, the establishment of new sheltering opportunities, and new private-public partnerships that can save lives and property countywide during future storm events.
Pagliughi also discussed with Senate officials the importance of funding engineered beach and dune projects in coastal communities throughout the United States. He noted that for every dollar put into federal beach programs, the federal government receives $320 back in federal taxes. Beaches in the United States contribute $320 billion to the national economy, and 85% of all federal tourism revenue is derived from coastal communities.
“The message is simple, beaches and dunes are not an expense, they are investments for the federal government”, Pagliughi said. “The investment into beaches and dunes provides a huge return on investment for federal, state, and local stakeholders. And, a greater investment into beaches and dunes would result in much less federal funding needed for storm aid following the next major coastal storm to hit our country”.
Recently, Avalon earned a Class 5 designation from the Community Rating System which provides a 25% discount on flood insurance premiums for Avalon property owners. Avalon also became the only coastal town in New Jersey to achieve an AAA bond rating from Standard and Poor’s due in part to the Borough’s aggressive storm mitigation and emergency management planning.