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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, October 14, 2013 Page 24 users, and the organized effort in accomplishing that. Mr. Brokke expressed pride that 80% of the City's parks were adopted out, making those connections availa- ble and providing a real benefit to the City. Mr. Brokke noted that future CIP's needed to address replanting new trees to replace those many lost. As part of the lessons learned, Mr. Schwartz added that staff had spent hundreds of hours in training for this type of event, and opined that the training had really paid for itself during and after this event. Mayor Roe concurred, noting that the training the City Council had undergone had also been beneficial. Interim City Manager Trudgeon publically thanked staff present tonight, the Po- lice and Fire Chiefs, staff on the street, and all those public emergency responders for their efforts. Even though many of the efforts were new to staff, Mr. Trudg- eon noted that many of those efforts were performed naturally and by instinct, and thanked staff for their extra efforts, duly noted by Roseville residents and the en- tire community. Councilmember Willmus echoed the comments of Mr. Trudgeon, and gave credit to the Department Heads, Battalion Chiefs Peterson and Brosnahan; and their ef- forts in coordinating the response and making it happen. Councilmember McGehee concurred; noting the many comments she'd heard from citizens appreciating staff's response and their assistance to residents. Having lived in this area all his life, Chief Peterson opined that outside of the 1981 tornado, this was the biggest event he was aware of; and even with a lot of staff new to emergency management procedures, further opined that under the circumstances, everything had gone well. Chief Peterson expressed staff's appre- ciation to the City Council for their openness in seeking answers and hearing the advice of staff. Based on the lack of FEMA funding received, and as part of staffs after action report, Chief Peterson suggested that the City Council consider the City's availa- ble contingency funds, how much was available, and how they should be used or reserved for such a situation. Mayor Roe opined that it was important to note that there was a significant amount of damage concentrated in Roseville versus the overall Ramsey County area or surrounding communities, which created the situation where FEMA fund- ing was not available. However, Mayor Roe further opined that it was good to not be dependent on FEMA assistance by having funds set aside for such an emergency in the community.