Richmond hires firms to investigate water crisis and emergency response
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Richmond has contracted with two consulting firms to investigate both the water crisis and the city's emergency response to it.
Why it matters: It's one step closer to residents finding out what really happened and why social media seemed to know about the water running out hours before officials informed the public.
The latest: In a City Council committee meeting Wednesday, officials announced the names of the companies leading the postmortem report.
- For the investigation into the water crisis: HNTB, an infrastructure design firm headquartered in Missouri with offices in Arlington.
- For the one into the emergency response: Hagerty Consulting, an Illinois-based emergency management firm that's been involved in recovery projects for 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.
Between the lines: Committee members didn't receive a copy of either contract ahead of Wednesday's meeting, but interim city spokesperson Julian Walker told Axios HNTB's report is costing about $234,000.
- The city reviewed roughly a dozen firms for it, contacted six and had follow-ups with three before selecting HNTB.
- The wider review into emergency communications is around $400,000, said Richmond's Director for Emergency Communications Stephen Willoughby.
Zoom in: Jason Hoff with HNTB told committee members that in the short term, there's a team finding out as much as they can about the plant ahead of a Monday in-person visit.
- They'll interview staff, create a timeline and present preliminary findings within two-ish weeks.
- Long-term focus is on the plant's operating procedures and what the Department of Public Utilities can do to "assure everyone that this level of failure doesn't occur again," Hoff said.
- He didn't say whether former DPU director April Bingham would be interviewed.
The look into the emergency response from Hagerty, per Willoughby, will include:
- Analyzing the response, its strengths and weaknesses, training and exercises city employees need and recommendations to policies and procedures.
- The assessment will look at planning documents, community needs and interviews with officials and provide a post-disaster recovery plan for how to address long-term impacts.
- Willoughby noted that "one of the vulnerabilities" already apparent is flaws in Richmond's mass communication system.
What's next: Willoughby said there's a new communications platform on the way that would give residents more timely alerts using their geotagged location.
- The timeline for when it'll launch was to be determined as of Wednesday.