The Broken Bow City Council met in special session Friday Evening, December 12 at 5:00 PM in order to review and approve the latest iteration of the City of Broken Bow Operations Plan for Disaster Response and Recovery. The document was inadvertently left off of the agenda for the regular meeting held December 9.
City Administrator David Schmidt told the assembled Council members that there were few if any substantive changes. A small number of items that do not apply to the City were removed, and item numbers were updated accordingly.
Custer County Emergency Manager Mark Rempe was on hand to provide additional context for the document. Rempe noted that the document is updated every five years, with the cycle being updated to years ending in zero and five during the COVID pandemic.
Rempe told the Council that part of the purpose of the document is to determine the appropriate level at which a disaster is declared, with the City document feeding the County Response Plan, which in turn informs the State plan and on to the Federal level. The level of emergency helps determine what funds are available to assist in recovery. The 2019 floods and winter 2025 Complex Fire were given as examples of lower level disaster declarations being elevated to higher authorities.
Schmidt noted that most of the items contained within the document happen automatically in the course of any emergency. The document simply provides a formalization of the procedures and requirements. Rempe stated that he completely concurred with that assessment.
The Broken Bow City Council approved the 2025 Emergency Operations Plan. With no other scheduled business for the meeting, the Council adjourned at 5:08 PM.
