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Emergency chief gives county a 'C' for readiness

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published December 1, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - If you're reading this article, you survived Hurricane Season 2006.

Congratulations.

What was projected to be one of the biggest and baddest seasons in history wound down Thursday with nary a big storm to clobber Florida.

That means Tom Leto, Hernando's emergency management director, can breathe easier - at least until June. To celebrate, he's going to throw a barbecue at his house for his staff. But other than that, the hard work goes on.

Leto spoke with the St. Petersburg Times on Thursday about the view from his perch atop the pyramid of preparedness.

What do you do in a season without a hurricane? Is there a lot of thumb-twiddling?

"It never stops. It used to be that we would have an off-season. Now I tell my staff, 'No, there's no down time.' We've got a lot of projects - probably 40 projects - under way."

Leto said that between now and next season, the comprehensive emergency plan needs to be updated, the hurricane guide has to be put out, final approval needs to be won for a pet-friendly shelter at Parrott Middle School and, of course, the county has to move into its new Emergency Operations Center in Brooksville.

What is your No. 1 priority going into 2007?

"Right now I don't have it set up yet. I think what we need to do is evaluate. Once we complete the evaluation process around February, then we're going to look and see where our systems are. If everything is beautiful, my priority going into 2007 is to get the new EOC up and functioning."

How is the Emergency Operations Center coming along?

"Well. The plan now - it looks like right around the Christmas holiday we could move in. We're going to start moving some things in and go fully operational there the first week of January. ... That's the plan unless the builders tell us something else."

What would you tell Hernando residents who have let down their guard after a season like this?

"Let's thank goodness. We as a nation needed this. And maybe it's God's power above telling us that we needed some time to heal. And the insurance industry needed some time to recover. ... It's great when we have a year like this. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

Leto added that come April and May, residents should start replenishing their food and water stockpiles.

What letter grade would you give Hernando County for emergency readiness?

"C."

Why?

"We're far better off than where we were when we started in 2003, but we have a lot of work to do."

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6114.

[Last modified November 30, 2006, 21:11:49]