Storm task force membership shows gaps

Other state officials

Meteorologists

School administrators

Transportation officials

Utilities

Business community

Legislators

Local officials

Not yet confirmed

The Atlanta region’s biggest school system, Hartsfield-Jackson airport and disaster charities like the Red Cross have no seat on the task force appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal to insulate metro Atlanta from the next winter weather disaster.

The planning effort can still succeed, according to experts, as long as such important players have enough input. But the gaps underscore the challenges facing the task force as it grapples with a politically charged debacle in a politically splintered region.

Metro Atlanta encompasses scores of towns and counties, many with their own police, fire, school and emergency systems, not to mention local figures who want to share the spotlight in finding solutions. But snow and ice don’t stop at city lines. And to be truly successful, the task force will have to plan for storms and conditions yet unknown — not the storm that already happened.

The group’s leader acknowledges it won’t be simple, or foolproof.

“We cannot fight the last battle,” said Bart Gobeil, the governor’s chief operating officer and chairman of the task force. “And we need to have enough flexibility in the recommendations to always expect the unexpected. But, as the governor said, Mother Nature sometimes has her own direction.”

The state already has a winter weather plan, sharpened in the wake of the 2011 ice storm that paralyzed Atlanta for a week. But it failed to anticipate the problem of January 2014: the need to communicate to the public that people ought to stay home. Among other things, panel members said they were prepared to focus on communications.

In creating the task force, Deal set six general areas for it to study, from long- and short-term preparation to standing down afterward.

Gobeil wouldn’t predict what recommendations the group would give, but its membership gives clues. Four legislators sit on the panel, and they will be key if the panel desires to change traffic laws or ask for money in the state budget.

A lobbyist for the trucking industry, Ed Crowell, also sits on the panel. If panel members want to take a hard line on regulating trucks in snow emergencies, they’ll have to contend with Crowell, who was instrumental in defeating a recent plan by the state to divert truckers onto proposed truck toll lanes along I-75.

The 32 members include top officials of the state agencies responsible for emergency planning, transportation and public safety; the Georgia National Guard; Fulton, DeKalb and Marietta schools (but not Gwinnett, the biggest system); the Metro Atlanta Chamber, AT&T and Verizon Wireless; the Atlanta fire chief and Alpharetta public safety director; a DOT engineering consultant and a MARTA official, and meteorologists from the National Weather Service, Channel 2 Action News and other network news stations.

Some members kill two birds, or more, with one stone. There may not be an airport representative, but Delta Air Lines is on it, and Gobeil pointed out that Delta represents the air travel industry as well as a large local employer. In addition, Delta was ahead of the curve in the January storm, canceling some flights a day ahead of time.

William Waugh, a scholar of disaster studies and professor emeritus at Georgia State University, said representatives from the airport, the Red Cross and others should at least participate in planning exercises and give input in other ways.

“Having everyone on the same page is important,” Waugh said. “We should also remember that any planning needs to take into account the full range of impacts that might be felt in a major weather disaster — not just those we saw last week.”

But Waugh and others say the need for many voices is balanced by the need for manageability.

Lou Dekmar, police chief in LaGrange for nearly 20 years and a nationally recognized public safety consultant, did not make the cut. He has criticized Deal’s picks in the past, but not this time. Adding too many more members to the task force might make it unwieldy and unproductive, he said.

“I’ve worked on a fair number of task groups,” Dekmar said. “The challenge is trying to keep the size manageable, or else you don’t get the work done.”

Gobeil concurred. “It’s like all organizations,” he said. “You need the key players there, you need the experts. You also need to have the focus to be able to get things done.”

Not all are as unassuming as Dekmar. Gobeil has been inundated with requests from organizations and constituents who want to participate. Some even went public with press releases or newspaper essays indicating they should have been asked. One took the opportunity to also argue again for a pet road project, saying it might have helped.

The chief meteorologist at Macon’s WGXA, Jeff Cox, noted the metro Atlanta-centric membership as he groused in a tweet, “We all get severe weather!”

A recurring theme among members contacted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is using technology to communicate better. State Transportation Commissioner Keith Golden suggested the state could also explore technologies to monitor pavement temperature, which is different from air temperature. Outside experts have said that some states have contracts with meteorologists specially trained in road forecasting.

One thing beyond the panel’s control may be the most important goal, if people are to follow the plan, said Glanton: regaining public confidence.

“Unless we can convince people to trust us,” Glanton said, “it may not work out well.”