Recent Storms Spark Theresa Emergency Management Plan Revitalization

Revitalizing the Village of Theresa’s emergency contingency plan arose during the Public Safety Committee meeting on Monday, May 19, due to the storms on Thursday, May 15.
The Village of Theresa police department, fire department, EMS, and the Department of Public Works responded to storm emergencies and cleaned up in Mayville after the tornado or in the village.
“I was talking with the fire chief. We want to get together with everybody–the head of DPW, the head of EMS, the police department, the fire department, emergency management from Theresa and Dodge County–to come up with a...detailed plan on who to call in and who is the secondary or third person to call in,” stated Chief Markus. “So if we did have a tornado here, and let’s say our primary station is the fire station, where are we all going to gather? What if a tornado takes that out? What’s secondary? We want to make sure it’s detailed enough all the way down... The idea is that all department heads would come in and everything would run smoothly.”
The village currently has an emergency management plan, but it has not been recently updated. The updated plan would account for other disasters and events besides tornadoes, such as large-scale power outages.
“The idea was also to talk with the school district,” continued Chief Markus. “If a lot of people lose their homes, they can sleep in the gym. Also, they have a kitchen if we need to make food for them. We need to figure [out] how that will work, whose permissions we need, and make sure we have all those lined up.”

“Do you want members from the board to put ideas together as well and regular people from the community?” asked Committee Chair Joe Haak.
“Anyone who has ideas. I mean, we’re open to anything,” responded Chief Markus. “I have already talked to Bill, and I’ve also talked to the fire department to train my personnel also on other equipment. So, if Bill for some reason isn’t here, what generator, what pumping station, the chainsaws–where are those? If we need to take down trees, what power lines do we need to look out for? That kind of stuff, so we’re all a little bit more cross-trained and dynamic in that way.”
Committee Matters
• The committee considered approving operator liquor licenses for Kennon Bassett and Philip Frey. Chair Haak made the motion to grant the licenses, which passed unanimously.
• The committee also discussed approving a temporary beer license to American Legion Post 270 for its brat fry on June 7, street dance on June 18, and Pioneer Day pig roast on October 5. The motion to grant the temporary license was made by Trustee Sandy Koenigs and passed unanimously.