{"id":1005,"date":"2026-10-30T12:45:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T17:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005"},"modified":"2026-10-30T13:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T18:28:11","slug":"crisis-preparedness-local-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005","title":{"rendered":"Preparedness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Preparedness is a Leadership Decision<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
My own bathtub during Winter Storm Uri. While I was writing updates for Taylor residents, we were melting snow in New Braunfels, too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n

In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri knocked out water service in Taylor, Texas, for ten days. Taylor was the last city in the state to restore service. I was the city\u2019s public information officer, and I spent most of those ten days in the City’s virtual Emergency Operations Center, writing updates in real time for residents who were filling bathtubs with snow and melting it, bucket by bucket, just to flush their toilets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had no playbook for a ten-day water outage. We built one as we went: what to say, who approved it, which channels reached which residents, and how often to update them, even when there was nothing new to report. When we posted an explanation of the three-step process the city had to complete before lifting the boil water notice, an MSNBC producer reached out to ask whether a crew could follow our teams and show that process live on air. \u201cI\u2019ve covered a lot of storms and natural disasters,\u201d the producer wrote, \u201cbut I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen a government explain something as clearly as y\u2019all did.\u201d The producer called it \u201cone of the clearest, transparent explanations I\u2019ve seen a local government give their constituents.\u201d That real-time playbook became the city\u2019s emergency standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m proud of that work. I also know how much easier those ten days would have been if we had built the playbook beforehand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why preparedness keeps getting pushed back<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local governments and nonprofits run lean. Staff wear several hats, budgets are tight, and every week brings something more urgent than planning for an emergency that may not come this year. So crisis preparedness becomes the thing everyone agrees is important and nobody has time for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the emergency does come, the cost shows up in predictable ways. Roles are unclear, so people lose hours deciding who does what. Messages conflict or arrive late, and rumors fill the gap. Critical services stop longer than they need to. Afterward, councils, boards, and funders ask what could have been done differently, and the answer is usually \u201cmore, ahead of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deciding not to plan is still a decision. It\u2019s a decision to figure everything out during the worst week of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four pillars of practical preparedness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t need a binder that sits on a shelf. You need a few things your team actually knows how to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Know what matters most.<\/strong> Identify the services, people, and partners you have to protect first. For a city, that might be water, public safety, and communication with residents. For a nonprofit, it might be the clients who depend on you every day. Everything else in your plan follows from this list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Plan to keep the essentials running.<\/strong> For each critical function, decide how you\u2019ll keep it going if your building, systems, or key staff are unavailable. Cross-train people. Set up backup locations and vendors. Write procedures for the people who\u2019ll actually carry them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Decide how you\u2019ll communicate before you need to.<\/strong> Map everyone you\u2019ll need to reach: staff, residents or clients, elected officials or board members, partners, donors, and the media. Draft holding statements in advance, settle who approves messages, and plan backup channels for when your usual ones fail. Include Spanish and other languages your community speaks. During Uri, the questions came faster than we could answer them, and every message we had already drafted saved time. Explaining the process behind a decision is what earned that call from MSNBC. People are far more patient when they understand what\u2019s happening and why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Practice, then improve.<\/strong> Run a tabletop exercise once a year using a realistic scenario, such as a multi-day utility outage, a cyberattack, or a severe storm. After every exercise and every real incident, write down what worked and what didn\u2019t, then update the plan. Preparedness is a habit you keep up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start small, but start<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t have to do all of this at once. Pick one critical service, one realistic scenario, and one afternoon with your leadership team. Walk through what would happen in the first 24 hours. You\u2019ll find gaps, and that\u2019s the point. It\u2019s far better to find them in a conference room than in an Emergency Operations Center at 2 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your organization wants help building a plan or running its first tabletop exercise, let\u2019s talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s discuss your crisis preparedness needs <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Download our Free Crisis Preparedness Checklist<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preparedness is a Leadership Decision In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri knocked out water service in Taylor, Texas, for ten days. Taylor was the last city in the state to restore service. I was the city\u2019s public information officer, and I spent most of those ten days in the City’s virtual Emergency Operations Center, writing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,11,12],"tags":[15,14,17,16,18],"class_list":["post-1005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-continuity","category-crisis-preparedness","category-local-government","tag-business-continuity-planning","tag-crisis-communications","tag-emergency-management","tag-local-government-resilience","tag-risk-management"],"yoast_head":"\nPreparedness - Ford Osborne & Associates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Crisis preparedness isn't optional for local government. Learn why cities and counties need integrated crisis communications, business continuity planning, and risk management to protect mission, reputation, and funding when disruptions hit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Preparedness - Ford Osborne & Associates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crisis preparedness isn't optional for local government. Learn why cities and counties need integrated crisis communications, business continuity planning, and risk management to protect mission, reputation, and funding when disruptions hit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ford Osborne & Associates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-30T17:45:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-30T18:28:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_8287-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"stacey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"stacey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"stacey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/72d8a176ea2645f175662f975ea6eb4e\"},\"headline\":\"Preparedness\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-30T17:45:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-30T18:28:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005\"},\"wordCount\":790,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/IMG_8287-scaled.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"business continuity planning\",\"crisis communications\",\"emergency management\",\"local government resilience\",\"risk management\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business Continuity\",\"Crisis Preparedness\",\"Local Government\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005\",\"name\":\"Preparedness - Ford Osborne & Associates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/IMG_8287-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-30T17:45:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-30T18:28:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"Crisis preparedness isn't optional for local government. Learn why cities and counties need integrated crisis communications, business continuity planning, and risk management to protect mission, reputation, and funding when disruptions hit.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/IMG_8287-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/IMG_8287-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?p=1005#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Preparedness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ford Osborne & Associates\",\"description\":\"Communications, Community Engagement & Risk Consulting\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ford Osborne & Associates\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/cropped-cropped-cropped-cropped-stacey-ford-osborne-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/cropped-cropped-cropped-cropped-stacey-ford-osborne-2.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Ford Osborne & Associates\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/72d8a176ea2645f175662f975ea6eb4e\",\"name\":\"stacey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/3b0d8e1a58a74b6af68d5475535f389f.jpg?ver=1793060003\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/3b0d8e1a58a74b6af68d5475535f389f.jpg?ver=1793060003\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/3b0d8e1a58a74b6af68d5475535f389f.jpg?ver=1793060003\",\"caption\":\"stacey\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/fordosborne.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Preparedness - Ford Osborne & Associates","description":"Crisis preparedness isn't optional for local government. Learn why cities and counties need integrated crisis communications, business continuity planning, and risk management to protect mission, reputation, and funding when disruptions hit.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Preparedness - Ford Osborne & Associates","og_description":"Crisis preparedness isn't optional for local government. Learn why cities and counties need integrated crisis communications, business continuity planning, and risk management to protect mission, reputation, and funding when disruptions hit.","og_url":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005","og_site_name":"Ford Osborne & Associates","article_published_time":"2026-10-30T17:45:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-30T18:28:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_8287-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"stacey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"stacey","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005"},"author":{"name":"stacey","@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/#\/schema\/person\/72d8a176ea2645f175662f975ea6eb4e"},"headline":"Preparedness","datePublished":"2026-10-30T17:45:03+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-30T18:28:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005"},"wordCount":790,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_8287-scaled.jpeg","keywords":["business continuity planning","crisis communications","emergency management","local government resilience","risk management"],"articleSection":["Business Continuity","Crisis Preparedness","Local Government"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005","url":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005","name":"Preparedness - Ford Osborne & Associates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_8287-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-10-30T17:45:03+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-30T18:28:11+00:00","description":"Crisis preparedness isn't optional for local government. Learn why cities and counties need integrated crisis communications, business continuity planning, and risk management to protect mission, reputation, and funding when disruptions hit.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_8287-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_8287-scaled.jpeg","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?p=1005#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Preparedness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/","name":"Ford Osborne & Associates","description":"Communications, Community Engagement & Risk Consulting","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/#organization","name":"Ford Osborne & Associates","url":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/cropped-cropped-cropped-cropped-stacey-ford-osborne-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/cropped-cropped-cropped-cropped-stacey-ford-osborne-2.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Ford Osborne & Associates"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/#\/schema\/person\/72d8a176ea2645f175662f975ea6eb4e","name":"stacey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/3b0d8e1a58a74b6af68d5475535f389f.jpg?ver=1793060003","url":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/3b0d8e1a58a74b6af68d5475535f389f.jpg?ver=1793060003","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/3b0d8e1a58a74b6af68d5475535f389f.jpg?ver=1793060003","caption":"stacey"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/fordosborne.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1005"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198,"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005\/revisions\/1198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fordosborne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}