The Marin County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Sept. 30 to adopt a resolution proclaiming September 2025 as National Preparedness Month, following a presentation from Steven Torrance, the county's director of emergency management.

Torrance told the board the office of emergency management (OEM) partnered with local cities, community-based organizations, hospitals and businesses to expand preparedness. "Just in 1 month, we were able to connect with over 1,400 people at Marin County specific events," Torrance said, adding the county distributed 550 go-bags, registered 841 people for Alert Marin in September and taught more than 300 people to work with family members on emergency plans.

The board's action follows data Torrance presented showing Alert Marin had about 69,000 adult subscribers — roughly one-third of the adult population — with relatively high opt-in rates in West Marin, Ross, Fairfax and Mill Valley. Torrance said a backend redesign cut the time to register for Alert Marin from roughly 10 minutes to about 2
2' minutes and that the county would track a new metric: at least one person per household signed up for Alert Marin.

Why it matters: County officials said the changes aim to remove barriers to preparedness for seniors, non-English speakers and residents with limited internet access, and to strengthen rapid response capacity following recent incidents such as the Canal fire. Supervisor comments acknowledged prior investments after the North Bay fires and praised OEM's role in the Canal response.

Board action and next steps: The board's resolution was moved by Supervisor Milton Peters and seconded by Supervisor Rodoni; the motion carried without dissent. The board invited OEM staff to receive the adopted resolution and recognized ongoing planned work including a revised emergency operations plan, a friends-and-relatives/family assistance center annex, and a public emergency communications plan due to the board in 2026.

Staff and public input: Torrance emphasized Ready for Marin, a workplace onboarding program that trains new county employees as disaster service workers, and said OEM plans 90-minute preparedness courses in Spanish and other community events through the year. There was no substantive public comment on the resolution.