Louisville, Colo., City Manager Diana Langley has been on the job since March 2025 and recognized that the city has experienced quite a few natural disaster events, but didn’t have a comprehensive plan how to deal with them.

Prior to coming to Louisville, Langley worked for the city of Yuba City, Calif., for 29 years, the last four and a half years as city manager. Langley said Louisville is a smaller city both in the agency’s size and in population, with a population of about 20,000. The city has experienced quite a few emergency disasters. It went through a flood event in 2012, a large hail event in 2019 and then the Marshall Fire on Dec. 30, 2021, which impacted a large portion of Louisville.

Based on that and the fact that Louisville doesn’t have its own fire department — fire and EMS services are provided by Louisville Fire Protection District — she felt partnering with the Boulder Office of Disaster Management might be best.

“This is Boulder ODM’s full-time job. They have dedicated staff providing emergency preparedness and disaster management for the county and the city of Boulder (so) to be able to have those resources, that will help keep us up on emergency operations plan, continuity of operations plan, and also up to date on training and getting information out to our residents. Being able to tap into those services and the expertise they have, just from a cost perspective, it’s cost effective to make sure we’re all prepared and that we’re providing the best services to our residents; it seems like the best option,” she said.

A decision has not yet officially been made, but the council and residents have shown support for the idea.

Langley shared that she had just received a proposal from Boulder ODM with an early cost estimate of $214,000, which will cover the addition of a new staff person to Boulder ODM. She said the additional staff person wouldn’t be exclusive to Louisville; the municipality would have access to all the staff and resources of the organization. She said Louisville will cover that cost within the city’s budget, without any grants.

“We are going through the mid-year budget process, and I updated our financial model to include the $214,000 for joining ODM,” Langley reported.

She said having Louisville join Boulder ODM will be cost neutral to Boulder County and the city of Boulder, “which was important to the Boulder board.” she said.

Emergency disaster plan

At first, officials planned to hire a consultant to prepare an emergency disaster plan for the city. “I wasn’t sure how long it would take to join Boulder,” she explained.

But then she heard that Boulder ODM is updating its policy, “So it just makes sense to create an annex to that EOP for Louisville, saving us money on separate consultant costs.”

Langley doesn’t feel Louisville has a lead in emergency situations. Typically, a city’s fire department is the driving force behind all emergencies, and Boulder ODM would be that lead. She said that while Louisville Fire Protection District covers all of the city of Louisville — and they are a full-time operation — it is separate from the city and is funded through property taxes. The district has its own board and doesn’t attend city council meetings. Langley said her goal is to strengthen the partnership between the city and the Louisville Fire Protection District and improve communication so there’s not that separation. She hopes that Boulder ODM can “be the bridge to coordinate between the city and the fire protection district so we can strengthen that partnership.”

She said residents don’t care where the aid comes from as long as it comes.

Services gained

The Boulder Office of Disaster Management would encompass all disasters and would offer resources to help Louisville keep up on its emergency operations plan, continuation of operations, keep them up to date on awareness and preparedness trainings and help with getting information out to residents.

She said the city would participate in programs and events it would hold for the public. She said that if there were an emergency, as a partner of their emergency operations center, Boulder ODM would be the lead in implementing the plans and in structuring the emergency.

Boulder ODM would also train the staff, something that has been lacking since Louisville doesn’t have a lead department. She said Louisville has a lead recovery person, mainly focused on the Marshall Fire. ODM will help work with the staff, identify roles that different staff members play in an emergency. How to respond is an area that needs improvement so that it becomes an everyday culture of the community — as part of preparedness and the need to understand their roles.

“The public has to be aware of what’s going to occur, to know the zones and the evacuation routes, where to go in case of an emergency — that’s all a community effort,” she said. “For Boulder ODM, this is their job, so to expand to Louisville just makes sense and it will provide better service for our residents.”

She added, “In the Marshall Fire, there was a lot of confusion — it came on quickly — and there’s a lot of concern in the community about whether we’d be prepared if something were to occur again. Joining Boulder ODM will provide peace of mind that we’re doing what we can to be prepared and to respond in an effective manner.”

Moving forward

Since receiving the proposal from Boulder ODM, Langley has sent a couple of follow-up questions for clarification before presenting it to the council. She hopes to present it to the council at the late August or early September meeting. She feels pretty confident that she’ll have the support of the council, and once approved, they’ll need to establish an intergovernmental agreement because, as part of joining, Louisville will have a representative on the agency’s board.

Langley said she’d like to have a start date of Jan. 1, so it aligns with the city’s fiscal year. Louisville is currently part of the Boulder County Alert System but needs more residents to enroll in it. The city also needs to work on its communication with the system as to when it activates an alert and what communications it should send out. Langley said that although the Marshall Fire was devastating, it is human nature for those not directly involved to have short memories. But there are more hazards Louisville needs to be prepared for aside from fire, floods and hail. She said there’s also a train track that runs right through the middle of downtown.

“So having that agility — the active memory — to activate the plan in a quick manner to be able to respond is crucial,” she said.

She concluded that having access to the expertise of Boulder ODM “will place Louisville in a much better position than we are today. I’m excited about what we’re doing and the direction where we’re going.”

Next Article: Gilcrease museum plans expanded home in Tulsa