Section 6 - Local and regional organization for emergency management(a) Each town and city of this State shall establish a local organization for emergency management in accordance with the State emergency management plan and program. The executive officer or legislative branch of the town or city shall appoint a town or city emergency management director who shall have direct responsibility for the organization, administration, and coordination of the local organization for emergency management, subject to the direction and control of the executive officer or legislative branch. If the town or city has not adopted the town manager form of government in accordance with 24 V.S.A. chapter 37 and the executive officer or legislative branch of the town or city has not appointed an emergency management director, the executive officer or legislative branch shall appoint a town or city emergency management director. The town or city emergency management director may appoint an emergency management coordinator and other staff as necessary to accomplish the purposes of this chapter. In an instance of a vacancy of the position of a town or city emergency management director, the executive officer or the chair or president of the legislative branch shall be the emergency management director.(b) Each local organization for emergency management shall perform emergency management functions within the territorial limits of the town or city within which it is organized , which may include coordinating the utilization of first responders and other emergency management personnel pursuant to the all-hazards emergency management plan adopted pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. In addition, each local organization for emergency management shall conduct such functions outside the territorial limits as may be required pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and in accord with rules adopted by the Governor.(c)(1) Each local organization shall develop and maintain an all-hazards emergency management plan in accordance with the State Emergency Management Plan and guidance set forth by the Division of Emergency Management.(2) The Division shall amend the local emergency plan template and any best management practices or guidance the Division issues to municipalities to address the need for the siting of local and regional emergency shelters in a manner that allows access by those in need during an all-hazards event.(3) The Division shall advise municipalities that when a shelter is sited under a local emergency plan, the municipality should work with the Agency of Human Services, the American Red Cross, and community-based emergency or charitable food providers, to assess the facility and the facility's potential operations, including the characteristics of the surrounding area during an all-hazards event, multiple routes of travel and possible hazards that could prevent access to the shelter, and the need for immediate and sustained access to food and water for individuals using the shelter.(4) The Division, in coordination with the Agency of Human Services, shall advise municipalities, upon completion of a local emergency management plan, on how to conduct training and exercises pertaining to sheltering.(d) Regional emergency management committees shall be established by the Division of Emergency Management. (1) Regional emergency management committees shall coordinate emergency planning and preparedness activities to improve their regions' ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from all disasters.(2) The Division of Emergency Management shall establish geographic boundaries and guidance documents for regional emergency planning committees in coordination with regional planning commissions and mutual aid associations.(3) A regional emergency management committee shall consist of voting and nonvoting members. (A) Voting members. The local emergency management director or designee and one representative from each town and city in the region shall serve as the voting members of the committee. A representative from a town or city shall be a member of the town's or city's emergency services community and shall be appointed by the town's or city's executive or legislative branch.(B) Nonvoting members. Nonvoting members may include representatives from the following organizations serving within the region: fire departments, emergency medical services, law enforcement, other entities providing emergency response personnel, media, transportation, regional planning commissions, hospitals, the Department of Health's district office, the Division of Emergency Management, organizations serving vulnerable populations, local libraries, arts and culture organizations, regional development corporations, local business organizations, community-based emergency or charitable food providers, and any other interested public or private individual or organization. (C) Meeting quorum requirement. A regional emergency management committee may vote annually, at the committee's final meeting of the calendar year, to modify its quorum requirement for meetings in the subsequent year; provided, however, that the quorum shall be not fewer than 20 percent of voting members.(4) Voting members shall annually elect a chair and vice chair of the committee from the voting membership. The chair shall develop a meeting schedule, agenda, and facilitate each meeting. The vice chair shall fill in for the chair during the chair's absence.(5) Committees shall develop and maintain a regional plan, consistent with guidance provided by the Division of Emergency Management in coordination with regional planning commissions, that describes regional coordination and regionally available resources.Amended by 2024, No. 143,§ 7, eff. 7/1/2024.Amended by 2023 , No. 53, § 132a, eff. 6/8/2023.Amended by 2021 , No. 52, § 12, eff. 7/1/2021.Amended by 2021 , No. 20, § 113, eff. 7/1/2021.Amended 1989, No. 252 (Adj. Sess.), § 8; 1993, No. 194 (Adj. Sess.) , § 2, eff. 6/14/1994; 2005, No. 209 (Adj. Sess.) , § 7.