Hurricane Conference
HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS WORKSHOP FOR TOURISM INDUSTRY SET FOR MAY 20th
MARATHON, Florida Keys – National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read
is slated to kick off an annual Hurricane Preparedness Workshop for the Tourism & Business
Industry 1 p.m., Thursday, May 20th, at the Monroe County Government Center,
BOCC Meeting Room, #2798 Overseas Highway, Mile Marker 48.5 Bayside, in Marathon.
Read, who is entering his third hurricane season at the nation’s top
hurricane warning official, is to deliver a presentation entitled “National
Hurricane Center… The Road Ahead.” He also plans to touch on the
hurricane center’s forecast for the 2010 Atlantic basin season.
Other scheduled presenters and topics include attorney Patrick DeBlasio III
of Littler Mendelson, “Which Way is the Law Blowing? Untangling Legal
Obligations in the Employment Relationship;” insurance Vice President
of Hospitality Division for HBA Insurance Group a division of Brown & Brown
Insurance, Sandra McQuinn, “Hurricane Preparedness – Insurance
Risk Management” and Andy Newman, media relations director for the Monroe
County Tourist Development Council, “Protecting Lives and the Economy
in the Florida Keys.”
The half-day conference is to conclude with a panel discussion featuring
Monroe County officials involved in the decision-making process regarding visitor
and resident evacuations for the county. Scheduled to be in attendance are
Mayor Sylvia Murphy, County Administrator Roman Gastesi, Sheriff Bob Peryam,
Monroe County Emergency Management Administrator Jerry O’Cathey and Director
of Monroe County Airports Peter Horton. Jonathan Rizzo, Warning Coordinator
Meteorologist of the Key West National Weather Service, is also to participate
to discuss how his office interfaces with county and municipal emergency managers.
“The biggest question I always hear is how and why are the time frames
for the tourist and resident hurricane evacuation decisions are made for the
County,” said Jodi Weinhofer, President of the Lodging Association of
the Florida Keys and Key West, the conference’s organizing body. “We
should have all who are responsible for those decisions tell us how they are
accomplished.”
Given that many key individuals who deal with hurricanes are also part of
any oil spill response effort, an update on the Transocean/BP Gulf Oil Spill
is now on the agenda.
Cost for the conference is $10 per person and reservations can be made by
calling the Lodging Association at (305) 296-4959 or email executiveoffice@keyslodging.org.
Although the conference is geared to tourism-related businesses in the Keys,
it is open to the business community and anyone can register.
