Lawmakers, County Exec Spar Over State of Emergency Protocols

NEW CITY, NY — Rockland County lawmakers criticized the administration's handling of a recent snowstorm, and asked for "written protocols" about the State of Emergency procedure.

Committee Chairman Aron B. Wieder sent out a press release to say that there appeared to be a discrepancy on Feb. 9 during the storm that "dumped up to a foot of snow in some places in Rockland" between when the County Executive declared a State of Emergency and when the public was notified.

Lawmakers argued that it was a breakdown in communications that led to chaos.

“People need this kind of information if there is an emergency,” Wieder said. “They need to know if they should go out on the roads or if they’re on the roads, to get off the roads.”

On the day of the storm, the information was not readily available, Wieder said, adding that he checked County Government’s Twitter and Facebook pages for the information.

Wieder, saying he was citing back-up information provided by the Administration, alleged that the State of Emergency was called for at 9:30 a.m but a news release was not sent to the media until about 11:30 a.m.

The County Executive's office responded:

Rockland County has written protocols in place governing when and how a State of Emergency is declared and acted upon. During the most recent snowstorm, County Executive Ed Day followed those protocols. Media outlets were notified within ten minutes of the State of Emergency being declared and notification continued on numerous media platforms throughout the day. His actions resulted in drivers staying off the roads. As a result, roads were cleared quickly, no major accidents occurred and public safety was maintained, resulting in the rapid suspension of the State of Emergency in only a few hours.

Lawmakers said their request followed comments from County Attorney Thomas Humbach and the County Executive’s Director of Public Policy and Intergovernmental Relations, Stephen Powers, who indicated that it appears no such written protocols currently exist.

Wieder said the County Government’s Facebook page did not have the information until about 11 a.m.

Wieder questioned why it took 90 minutes to post to Facebook and two hours to get the information out to the media.

The Committee requested that written protocols establish a procedure and identify all parties to be consulted to determine if a State of Emergency is warranted, such as the county Highway Department and Office of Fire & Emergency Services, law enforcement, and other municipalities.

The Committee also requested the written protocols outline the procedure for notifying the public, including which media and social media outlets to contact, among other public outreach.

A State of Emergency could result due to hurricanes, flooding, a terrorist attack, a nuclear power plant crisis and other situations.

“This time we were lucky that people didn’t get hurt because they weren’t aware of the State of Emergency,” Weider said. “Next time we might not be so lucky.”

The Rockland County snow totals reported by the National Weather Service were 8.8 inches in Stony Point and 8.5 inches reported in Congers.

SEE ALSO:

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