Avalon Mayor to Deliver Keynote Address in Washington, DC

AVALON — Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi has been selected to be the keynote speaker at the National Preparedness Month Fair for United States Senate staff in Washington, DC on Sept. 20. Mayor Pagliughi also serves the county of Cape May as the Director of Emergency Management. He will deliver his keynote address at the Hart Senate Office Building on that date at 11:30 a.m.
“This is an excellent opportunity to discuss both the Avalon and Cape May County plan relating to storm management and flood mitigation, and how these plans can be applied to other coastal regions throughout the United States,” Mayor Pagliughi said. “We are afforded the opportunity to discuss our plans thanks to years of mitigation efforts and our specific response to Hurricane Sandy that came ashore in late October, 2012.”
Mayor Pagliughi will deliver a 30-minute presentation before a large audience consisting of key staff from the offices of the United States Senate, and national emergency management officials. Past keynote speakers at the National Preparedness Month Fair have included the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Director of Homeland Security for Washington, DC, and the Director of the National Weather Service.
Approximately 20 agencies visit the fair each year from the Capitol region, Maryland, and Virginia, along with the nation’s internal offices of emergency preparedness. The event is open to only elected representatives, key Senate staff members, and leaders of the emergency management community. The fair will be held between 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. on Sept. 20 with the theme of “Alleviate the Scare, Choose to Prepare” where national leaders of emergency management can exchange initiatives and ideas.
The presentation is expected to include discussion of Avalon’s storm readiness and mitigation approach that began to draw nationwide attention in the late 1980’s and was featured on CBS’s “The Evening News with Dan Rather.” Mayor Pagliughi will discuss how local communities are truly the first responders to a storm event and how towns can prepare with pre-disaster contracts with agencies that can transport and safely shelter evacuees, and with companies who can provide no-cost contracts to remediate a community after a major disaster. He is also expected to discuss how the Avalon model has been integrated into the Cape May County Emergency Preparedness Plan, and highlight why the federal government is the biggest stakeholder, and biggest beneficiary, of beach and dune projects that provide protection during storm events like Hurricane Sandy.
Following Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie commented on FOX News specifically how well Avalon fared during the storm event thanks the engineered beach and dune system provided in the community. On Feb. 7, 2013 the Assistant Secretary to the United States Army, Jo Ellen Darcy, provided testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works relating to Hurricane Sandy.
“I flew over the coast of New Jersey a day after Sandy hit,” said Secretary Darcy. “What I saw was the property behind the beaches of Avalon were well protected, where just a mile or so nearby where there had been no federal beach project, the community didn’t fare that well.”
In Sept., 2012, the Borough of Avalon became the only beach community in the State of New Jersey to earn a AAA bond rating from Standard and Poor’s due, in part, to the level of protection provided to the Borough from storm events. Last month, Avalon earned an exemplary 25% discount on flood insurance premiums from the Community Rating System.