How we got here
Hutto withdrew from the Williamson County Emergency Management Program in January when it established its own city department. The two-person department allows the city to be proactive in emergency mitigation, Director of Emergency Management Jake Isbell said.
"Many other cities depend on the county to develop their plans, their continuity, and get out there and and start leading the charge in community preparedness," Isbell said. "We help with logistics and resource coordination where our department is the the basically the chief consultant to our our elected officials, City Council and our mayor."
The Hutto Department of Emergency Management helps promote safety and city resiliency in emergency events like winter storms, road closures and natural disasters. The five missions of the department are prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
"A lot of times people think with emergency management, you just are there when things get bad," Deputy Director of Emergency Management Cassandra Edwards said. "But one of the things that we like to highlight the most is preparedness and this [event] would definitely be one of those types of things."
Also of note
Although Hutto is no longer in the Williamson County program, the city, state and county work together as "one general partnership," said Ryan Sullivan, deputy chief of the Williamson County Office of Emergency Management.
"Emergencies start local and end local," Sullivan said. "When Hutto has an emergency, they call upon the county for additional resources, support and assistance, and we call upon our partners at the state to bring in state resources anytime that we have to work together."
The event
Hutto Strong Summit helps all facets of the community learn how to respond in emergency situations and set up "a system of coordination and and communication in order to be effective during times of disaster," Isbell said.
"It's also about leveraging community connections and those community organizations that volunteer during the event of a disaster," Sullivan said. "So we have them at the table today, and we can have a constructive conversation about how we can help one another."
Mayor Mike Snyder foresees Hutto Strong becoming an annual event.
"I don't know how many cities have done something quite like this," he said.
