Memorandum

March 21, 2006

TO:    Karla Moore-Love, Council Clerk

FROM:  Daryl Houtman, BES Watershed Services

RE:    Amendment to Community Rating System – Appendix E  

COPY:    Maria Thai Mai, Mary Joe Markel, Maggie Skenderian, Patty Rueter  

Karla, as per our brief phone conversation this morning, I am sending you an amendment to appendix E that is to appear before Portland City Council tomorrow morning as agenda item 354, a time-certain agenda scheduled for 10:00am. The amendment is a single paragraph of text adding further detail about the process used by committees selecting mitigation actions in Portland’s Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan.

POEM and BES respectfully request this change to further support our efforts to seek the highest Community Rating System ranking from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This added text makes no substantive changes to Appendix E or the Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan.

This addition is one paragraph that states:

The City of Portland has a long history of successful mitigation of the impacts from natural hazards that is deeply seated in proactive planning. This planning foundation has been built from growth management initiatives mandated by the state of Oregon, federal mandates such as the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, and most importantly the City’s desire to protect its citizens and their property. It is not the intent of this plan to recreate the wheel and ignore successful planning efforts of the past. The initial purpose of this plan is to consolidate these existing plans and programs through a singular planning effort that will enhance hazard mitigation opportunities for the City of Portland. By focusing on existing programs that have a history of successful implementation, the initial success of this plan can be greatly enhanced. Since this plan is dynamic in its structure, the opportunity to enhance the strategies identified by this plan in terms of new programs will exist through the annual review of the plans progress, and ultimately in the 5-year plan update. With this premise in mind, each sub-committee was asked to focus on existing programs and plans when identifying initiatives for the action plan. During this review, each subcommittee looked at the program, determined its effectiveness based on input from the implementing agency, and identified possible enhancements. This review generated a list of actions specific to each hazard.

Thank you for your assistance in amending Appendix E. Please contact me at (503) 823-5756 if any questions or concerns come me up.