HERMISTON – Good news: Steps are being taken to improve communications between emergency and elected officials.

More good news: The technology to do this may finally be within reach.

At a monthly meeting with area mayors and city managers on Tuesday, officials at Oregon Emergency Management and the Umatilla Chemical Depot shared plans to increase communications that have been lacking at recent events.

Chris Brown, OEM’s director of CSEPP, told the assembled officials that his agency is looking at a means of notifying officials personally in the event of an emergency, no matter where they are.

The device being inspected, a combination phone, radio and pager, could be given to some 75 people in the two counties, he said. If OEM deems the units satisfactory, local officials could be using them by the end of the month, Brown said.

“I can see some real sense in that – that’s the kind of communication we need,” exclaimed Umatilla Mayor George Hash.

After the Sept. 25 dust storm on I-84 and the Dec. 30 warning system false alarm, emergency officials in Umatilla and Morrow counties have sought ways to increase response times to area events. In both events, the public has criticized area officials for not alerting local communities about the accidents in a timely fashion.

Lt. Col. Tom Woloszyn, commander of the depot, said communications between the depot’s emergency operations center and other such centers are improving. A fax machine that can send the same message to several points at the same time will be added within the next 60 days. Not all of the several other communication systems have been tested at the same time, but he said he hopes to change this soon.

Brown added that other safety measures are in the works. The long-awaited tone alert radios should be distributed this month, he said, and training for protective gear being distributed to area hospitals is about 75 percent complete.

“I think you’ll find you’re much further along with the personal protective gear training than you realize,” Brown told the officials.

Woloszyn also touched on a resolution the Hermiston City Council signed last month that gives Woloszyn permission to activate the 35 sirens in Umatilla and Morrow counties. He explained much must happen first. For starters, someone who has the authority to request such a change must do so, such as the governor. The counties currently have this responsibility of activating the sirens.