Staff Replace Volunteers at Hurricane Irma Shelters

         During the Hurricane Irma emergency in Palm Beach County, for the first time 15 shelters were staffed by both paid County Government and School Board employees after community volunteerism failed to provide the human resources needed to provide this service.
        In the past, hurricane shelters were staffed by the Red Cross which relies heavily on volunteers in the community. There was a shortage of volunteers to adequately staff shelters when Hurricane Matthew passed offshore in 2016. As a result, Palm Beach County Government and the School District jointly acquired this staffing responsibility in June 2017.
        Palm Beach County created a new employee policy, now appearing on its job classification postings. It states, "All employees of Palm Beach County may be requested to work before, during and/or after a natural or man-made disaster or hurricane."
        Local governments had less than three months to prepare and train its staff for emergency shelter work when Hurricane Irma, a Category 4 tropical cyclone, made a direct hit on South Florida. The end result was detailed in the Sept. 17 Palm Beach Post article entitled "Shelter Work Angers Palm Beach County Employees."
        In truth, situations faced by county employees, many saying they were "forced to volunteer," were as dire at a few shelters as reported in the newspaper article.
        The unresolved social problems in our community followed the 17,000 evacuees into the confinement of emergency shelters. They included but were not limited to unsanitary conditions, medical and mental health issues, drug abuse, sexual misconduct, petty theft, vandalism and antisocial behavior.
        Palm Beach County Commissioners praised the work of county staff who served the public during the emergency at their Sept.26 meeting.*

When Servitude Replaces Volunteerism
        Hurricane Irma was not the first example of county staff used as surrogate workers when community volunteerism failed during a crisis. It was during the infamous 2000 "Hanging Chad" Presidential Election that the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections reported a shortage of trained volunteer poll workers.
        Palm Beach County Government employees continued to fill precinct vacancies in the 2002 and 2004 elections. Today, many county workers voluntarily provide this public service.
        County employees received a minimum of four hours of training by the Supervisor of Elections before serving as poll workers. However, several staff reported receiving less than one hour of emergency shelter instruction prior to the arrival of Hurricane Irma.
       Requiring county employees to leave their homes, families and children during a natural disaster to staff emergency shelters for several days is more than a routine job description. It is a sacrifice and a hardship. It is public servitude, not volunteerism.
        If disaster staffing becomes mandatory in the future, then Palm Beach County needs to provide its employees with the same level of specialized training, labor and safety protections at assigned emergency shelters that they receive in their workplaces. County staff are a valuable resource that deserve nothing less.
(c.) Davidsson. 2017.
*NOTE: Article updated on Sept. 27. See additional articles below and in Older Posts.