This webinar will introduce attendees to different aspects of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), describe what an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is and how to activate it, provide a working plan for an EOC, and detail what the city secretary’s role is/could be during a disaster or emergency situation.  The webinar will also provide insights for other roles that must be fulfilled during a disaster or emergency situation, including: policy implementation, documentation, and the function of a scribe.  Attendees will be exposed to important parts of Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) and how different expertise/experiences might affect different roles.  Finally, records retention during a disaster or emergency situation will be discussed.

About the Speakers

Eloyce (René) Dowl was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up in Gloster, Louisiana.  She attended Centenary College of Louisiana and Amberton University in Garland, Texas and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Professional Development and a Master of Science in Family Studies.

René is the City Secretary for the City of Garland and previously worked as the Management Team Coordinator for Garland Power & Light (GP&L).  She began her career with the City of Garland in 1984, as the Office Manager for the Northeast Texas Library System (NETLS).  She has held various positions in insurance, banking, and professional sports and entertainment, serving as the Office Manager for the Dallas Stars Hockey Club and American Airlines Center from 1993-2002. She has also worked in the non-profit sector for the March of Dimes.

René chaired the City of Garland’s United Way campaign for three (3) years, has served on the Leadership Giving Council for the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and served as class advisor for Leadership Garland for two (2) years.

Mistie Gardner has served in emergency management and public safety for the past 25 years. She has been with the City of Garland since February 2020. She came to Garland from the City of Richardson where she worked as the Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Richardson.  Her experience also includes:  Work with the North Central Texas (NCT) Council of Governments managing the Homeland Security Grant Program for the region, public safety telecommunications, work as a Paramedic in a level one trauma center, Hazardous Materials Remediation Specialist and a professional educator.  Mistie earned a degree in Emergency Administration and Planning from the University of North Texas. She is designated by the International Association of Emergency Managers as well as the Emergency Management Association of Texas as a Certified Emergency Manager.  

In an effort to improve coordination efforts locally, regionally, statewide and nationally, Mrs. Gardner works on multiple committees including serving as the former Vice Chair of the North Central Texas (NCT) Public Works Emergency Response Team, a member of the NCT EOC Support Team, NCT Integrated Warning Team, and the State of Texas Emergency Management Assistance Team (TEMAT). For the Emergency Managers Association of Texas, she works on the TEM Commission evaluating state certification applications and serves as the Region 1 representative on the Executive Board. She is active in the International Association of Emergency Managers serving on the Government Affairs Committee, the Adhoc State Association Committee and the Recovery committee.  

Some of her experience includes:

• Hurricanes Gustav and Ike: Served as Incident Command for sheltering operations in Richardson (2008)
• 2011 SuperBowl XLV and Winter Weather
• 2012, April 3rd Tornado Outbreak
• Public Health Emergencies:  H1N1 (2009), West Nile (2012)  and Ebola (2014) served as Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Manager
• 2015 Flooding: Responded to the City of Garland as part of the NCT EOC Support Team
• 2015 Christmas Tornadoes: Served as the North Central Texas Public Works Emergency Response Team Coordinator managing response assets from 17 member jurisdictions responding to 5 cities impacted by the tornadoes over a 60 day period. Resulting in more than 800 resource deployments at no cost to the impacted jurisdictions.  Additionally, she activated for the NCT EOC Support Team working in the Garland EOC Planning Section
• July 2016 Officer Shootings in Dallas: Activated as a member of the NCT EOC Support Team supporting the DDC for officer memorial service coordination
• 2017 Hurricane Harvey: Served as the City of Dallas EOC Manager until being deployed to the SOC to support the state Public Works Response Team efforts and then as a member of TEMAT for recovery support to DDC 17 Victoria
• February 7, 2018 served as the EOC Manager during an Active Shooter where a member of the Richardson Police Department was killed in the line of Duty
• July 2018 Flooding: coordinated public works resources on behalf of the State of Texas Operations Center  for the City of Weslaco (18-0022)
• Also in 2018, Mistie provided testimony on behalf of IAEM supporting the Disaster Recovery Reform Act before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which has since been signed by the president into law

Be sure to come back to this course to complete your assessment in order to receive credit for this webinar. 

This webinar is no longer available for purchase. If you have already purchased this webinar and you cannot click on the content below, please make sure you are logged into your account.