CHIEF RESILIENCE OFFICER PORTFOLIO PACKAGE 2

Chief Resilience Officer Portfolio Package

Executive Summary

This report provides an analysis of Lee County’s risk management and hazard
mitigation strategies and the current risk mitigation activities that are taking place in the
county. After analyzing and reviewing the county’s risk mitigation strategies and activities,
the report provides what I shall do, as a chief resiliency officer, to improve the county’s
disaster preparedness if I am given the position.
Lee County’s risk mitigation planning and related activities are based on its Joint
Unified Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS) that is regularly reviewed by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Florida Division of Emergency Management
(FDEM). Following FEMA’s recommended guidelines for preparing a local risk mitigation
plan, Lee County has identified all the possible disaster events (both natural and man-made)
that may affect the county. These events include floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, strong winds,
cyberattacks, tropical cyclones, and thunderstorms. It has also identified all the assets that are
likely to be affected by the occurrence of these disaster events and the extend to which they
are likely to be affected.
Having established the disaster events the county is at risk of and the assets that are
likely to be destroyed by the disaster events, the county has embarked on various disaster
mitigation activities. These activities are primarily meant to protect or reduce the damage that
the various identified assets may experience any time a disaster event happens. These
activities include drainage improvement projects, creating buffers for wildfire around
development areas, and elevating buildings and homes that are located in areas that are prone
to floods.

CHIEF RESILIENCE OFFICER PORTFOLIO PACKAGE 3

All these activities are likely to help the county better deal with disasters when they
occur. However, there is need for better coordination among various departments, agencies,
and business, community, and non-government organizations to ensure that disaster
mitigation activities are done in an effective and efficient manner. That is the role that I
intend to perform as a Chief Resilience Officer. I will improve communication among the
various departments and agencies involved in undertaking various risk mitigation activities
through having regular meetings (monthly) where the heads of the departments can formulate
joint activities to mitigate risks. Having all departments involved in risk management
activities work together will ensure that there is no duplication of efforts and, therefore, save
resources and time needed to complete various disaster mitigation projects.
I will also continuously check out for resilience challenges that may make it difficult
for the county to effectively manage various disasters when they hit. I will then examine the
county’s capabilities to address these challenges. If there are significant gaps between the
county’s capabilities and the resilience challenges, I will involve various stakeholders, such
as business and community leaders, non-governmental organizations, and state and federal
agencies in improving the ability of the county to effectively address all of its resilience
challenges.
While the county, as required by FEMA, involved the public in the development of
the risk mitigation plan, there is need to continue involving the public even in the risk
management activities. That is why as a Chief Resilience Officer, I will ensure that I involve
the public in all disaster mitigation activities. These include assessing community needs,
identifying priority projects, and seeking ideas from them on the best approaches to improve
their disaster resilience. Thus, I will be the bridge between the community and local
authorities in all plans and activities related to disaster preparedness.