McKay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: Feb 10, 2026 Council Meeting/ EOC Discussion
From: Bill Niccum
Sent: Monday, February 9, 2026 12:46 PM
To: City Council <[email protected]>
Cc: Bill Niccum; King, Niko FD <[email protected]> Subject: Feb 10, 2026 Council Meeting/ EOC Discussion
Mayor Orgill, Council, & Staff....
Subject: Support for Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
I apologize for not being able to attend February 10, Council Meeting, however wanted to express my concern and support for the project.
• Bill Niccum, 40 year resident, former Vice Chair of EDPC, and retired LA County Assistant Fire Chief. During 40 years of fire service, 20 years as a member of LA County Fire's Incident Management Team 1, I've witnessed the difference a functional, well organized, and well trained staff can make in working through escalating catastrophic incidents. A fully dedicated EOC is critical in managing first, a robust, extended Muli-Agency Response, and secondly, managing the many layers of the Recovery Phase, which is where the EOC and Staff likely meet their greatest challenges.
• I strongly support committing the funds necessary to establish the City's first dedicated EOC. As a full-service City, we inherent an obligation and expectation that our City is in a position to manage our emergency incidents and be well aligned to coordinate amongst our Cooperative & Assisting Agencies at the Local, Regional, State and Federal levels for the efficient, coordinated efforts required for successful mitigation of large scale catastrophic incidents.. • Our City has operated our Emergency Operations Center out of the City's "lunch room" since 1995 when we were required to establish an EOC to meet State mandates. In 30 years, we should be well beyond operating out of a lunch room or justifying the need to assure our City is prepared and well aligned to manage our extended incidents within the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) A functional EOC is an obligation of this mandate.
I salute Council for their continued commitment to Public Safety, and hope the need for the new EOC resonates with you.
Thanks for your support,
Bill Niccum
Assistant Fire Chief (retired)
Los Angels County Fire
North Operations Bureau
Division III. Battalions 4, 6, & 22
1 McKay, Ann Marie CC
Subject: Wildfire Ad Hoc Perspective on Emergency Operations Center Readiness From: Bennecke, Shelly <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 9, 2026 10:54 AM
To: Orgill, Mark <[email protected]>; Kempf, Sue <[email protected]>; Whalen, Bob <[email protected]>; Jones, Hallie <[email protected]>; Rounaghi, Alex <[email protected]>
Cc: Kiff, Dave CM < [email protected]>; Limones, Sarah FD < [email protected]>; King, Niko FD <[email protected]>; McKay, Ann Marie CC <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Wildfire Ad Hoc Perspective on Emergency Operations Center Readiness Dear Mayor Orgill & Members of the City Council,
Hope you are all well. I am writing to briefly follow up on my letter submitted ahead of your January 30 Strategic Planning Session.
As a Laguna Beach resident who has been involved in a range of City emergency preparedness and resilience efforts over time, including wildfire safety, community readiness, and environmental planning, I wanted to express my continued support for establishing an immediate, ready-to-operate Emergency Operations Center.
I appreciate that this item is now before the Council and thank you for your continued leadership, consideration and action on this priority 1 item.
Respectfully,
Shelly Bennecke
From: Bennecke, Shelly
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2026 2:32 PM
To: Orgill, Mark <[email protected]>; Kempf, Sue <[email protected]>; Whalen, Bob <[email protected]>; Jones, Hallie <[email protected]>; Rounaghi, Alex <[email protected]>
Cc: Kiff, Dave CM < [email protected]>; Limones, Sarah FD <[email protected]>; King, Niko FD <[email protected]>
Subject: Wildfire Ad Hoc Perspective on Emergency Operations Center Readiness Dear Mayor Orgill and Members of the City Council,
Hope you're all well and enjoying this entry into 2026.
So, I am writing as a member of the Wildfire Ad Hoc team to share an observation regarding the allocation of available Wildfire Safety Fund resources and to express support for the immediate establishment of a dedicated Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for the City of Laguna Beach. 1 I offer this perspective as a Laguna Beach resident and active participant in the City's emergency preparedness efforts, including service as Chair of the Emergency Disaster Preparedness Committee, a CERT team member, a Citizens' Academy graduate and recent designated Firewise neighborhood leader.
Based on information provided by the City's finance team, approximately $2.38 million remains currently available in the Wildfire Safety Fund following recent appropriations.
From an emergency preparedness standpoint, this presents a timely opportunity to strengthen the City's operational readiness ahead of the next situation and or wildfire.
In my view, a substantial portion of these available funds should be directed toward establishing an immediate, dedicated EOC. A centralized EOC is a foundational capability for effective emergency response, enabling unified command, interdepartmental coordination, and timely and often critical public communication functions that are difficult to reliably achieve in shared or ad-hoc spaces during an active incident.
With the City Council Strategic Planning Workshop scheduled for January 30, 2026, I respectfully wanted to submit this perspective for consideration as part of broader preparedness and resilience discussion (other available funds may be considered to be allocated as well) in addition to an emphasis on the wildfire dedicated funding sources.
Thank you for your continued leadership and thoughtful consideration I hope to see all of you at tomorrows session.
Respectfully,
Shelly Bennecke
Wildfire Ad Hoc Team Member
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