About a year ago, the Town of Los Gatos hired Chris Todd as its “emergency manager”—a new role for the community that’s situated along the Santa Cruz Mountains. The hope is to implement safety measures, in order to save lives, property and wildlife in the event of a disaster.
At the Dec. 16 Council meeting, Todd gave a presentation on his mitigation priorities, highlighting that a wildfire in the area would impact the entire community, beyond just the people in the mountains.
Though daunting to see a map of potential fires taking over the Los Gatos mountains, being educated on these topics allows for some assurance for residents.
In order to put out some fears, Todd emphasized that the plan is to educate, guide, reduce barriers to improvements and focus on code enforcement. Currently, many actions have been implemented from fire codes to evacuation models, and Todd has been looking at surrounding cities like Marin and Sonoma and the Tahoe Fund for tips.
Three separate budgets were proposed, ranging from $1.1 million to as much as $3 million per year. As Todd went into the details of each, the biggest difference between them was the cost of each budget. They also showed how each major factor had been considered in a comprehensive fashion and developed over time.
Vice Mayor Maria Ristow made a comment to Todd, questioning if all tasks could be accomplished, without the tremendous budget aside.
“I’m thinking how much money we can put in, if the areas adjacent to us don’t do that,” Ristow said, alluding to Los Gatos’ proactive safety measures in contrast to neighboring towns like Saratoga and Campbell.
Mayor Rob Moore asked Todd, if all went to plan, how far that would take Los Gatos.
Todd’s answer was that it would just be a start, due to the significant amount of money involved, but noted there is an opportunity to secure grants.
Town Manager Chris Constantin closed by explaining how fire safety is just the beginning of the emergency preparedness conversation, since there are other natural disasters to consider such as a potential flood.
