My Meeting With Avon Lake Mayor Mark Spaetzel About The August 6th 2024 Tornado

A conversation about how the Mayor handled the EF-1 tornado that passed through Avon Lake leaving 40% of it's 25,600 residents without power for days.

Introduction

If you don’t know me, I’m Malachi Witt and I have been an Avon Lake resident for over 15 years on Woodstock. I’m also an Avon Lake business owner. My business partner and wife, Erica Larson, and I own and operate Pixel Power LLC, a digital marketing firm.

Most of my time as a resident in Avon Lake has been heads down in the daily grind without any interest or concern about the goings on of Avon Lake city politics. That all changed when I became aware of the power plant redevelopment. Like most Avon Lake residents, I love this town and I want the best for it. The power plant redevelopment is an opportunity that occurs once every few hundred years but, with that opportunity comes serious environmental risks. Protecting the city I love and the health and welfare of everyone in it sparked my motivation and passion to become a vocal advocate for the best interests of the residents in Avon Lake. Since I started that journey, I’ve delved even deeper into serious issues and concerns regarding Avon Lake and how the city administration conducts its business.

The Storm

On August 6th, 2024 an EF-1 tornado ripped through Avon Lake leaving a devastating path of destruction. Multiple tornadoes touched down across Northeast Ohio leaving more than 350,000 people without power. In Avon Lake 40% of the 25,600+ residents were left without power for multiple days some as long as five days. Avon Lake was fortunate that of all the downed trees no one was injured as a result. The Chronical has documented more of the historical details. Technical information can be found on the National Weather Service website

I was with Erica Larson when she got an alert from the National Weather Service. She said “it’s telling us to take shelter and get into the basement”. At the time I thought “we don’t have tornadoes here what’s the big deal?” then it occurred to me that a few years ago one of the two giant oaks in our front yard came down in a storm and hit the house across the street. After considering the possibility of the second large oak tree coming down in a strong storm I agreed to gather the cats and go to the basement. As I walked through the house I looked out the window and saw debris and entire tree limbs flying past the window at a high rate of speed. I thought to myself “this is more serious then I thought” and hurried into the basement. The only way to describe the raw noise and sound was a freight train running through the house. The banging and thrashing sounded like an angry mob trying to break in through the doors and windows. It was deeply concerning.

Photo credit: Thomas Fetcenko/Chronicle

We loitered around in the basement for about 20 minutes until the storm and noise started to die down. After we emerged from the basement Erica says “Hey, I just got a notification from Avon Lake Alert to go into the basement.” We chuckled about how completely useless it was to receive the notification AFTER the storm had passed. We were without power, internet, and shortly after the cell network was down. We had zero access to electronic communications and we didn’t know if an actual tornado touched down or the extent of the damage. As it became dark we got out our battery operated lights and ate what we could of the melting ice cream in the freezer. We made plans to head out in the morning to search for a generator. I managed to purchase a $450 generator from Cabela’s the next morning to power our sump pump, refrigerator, fans, and charge our devices. We drove out to Elyria to find a city with power and restaurants to get a hot meal. As we spent the day out in other cities with power and a working cell network we were able to contact our family members and learn the extent of what occurred during the storm.

Photo credit: Thomas Fetcenko/Chronicle

The Aftermath

August 7th, 2024 was “Day 2” and I was concerned that neither the Mayor or any city administration member had made any public statements to the community. Sure, the city Facebook page was posting the standard “don’t be an idiot and touch downed powerlines” along with “Don’t worry we are hard at work cleaning up” and don’t misunderstand me that standard generic communication has a purpose. My concern was that this was the first time since 1969 that a tornado hit Avon Lake and the strongest storm since 1993 and we hadn’t personally heard from our city leadership. Without any electronic communications I was unable to contact EMS in the event of an emergency. How long will the power be out? Was the water safe to drink? Are there more storms or tornadoes coming? It all came to a head when I posted in the Avon Lake Community Facebook group “Where is the mayor? It’s been two days and we haven’t heard from him.”

About 40%—around 10,000 residents—in Avon Lake were completely cut off from electronic communications. We had to leave the city to get any kind of electronic communications which meant weaving in and out of the neighborhood to avoid all of the downed trees across the roads. Rumors started spreading that the power wasn’t estimated to be back up until August 12th which was five more days… In the minds of many residents, we were experiencing a major disaster. From a very young age we are taught to seek out police, fire, EMS, and authorities in the event of an emergency.

The system has failed us when we cannot contact emergency services or authorities.

The system has failed us when we cannot get information from emergency services or authorities about what to do next.

When the system fails us, the health and welfare of everyone is put at elevated risk when that risk could have been prevented with proper planning.

Photo credit: Thomas Fetcenko/Chronicle

Post Mortem: Criticisms and What Went Wrong?

The Facebook community group conversation about how the storm was handled continued after the power was restored and subsequently, the mayor was made aware of my criticisms and he invited me to meet with him. To make the best of the opportunity I asked the Facebook community group to send me their questions and concerns about the storm so that I could take them with me to the Mayor and be an advocate.

It’s important to understand the purpose of this article. The purpose of this article is to communicate the answers I tried to get based on the questions sent to me by people in the community. The purpose of this article is not a highlight reel of all the things the city did during the disaster event.

Here are the questions from the community that I presented to the Mayor:

Questions and Concerns Regarding Tornadoes and Disaster Planning in Avon Lake

1.  Alert System Efficiency

a.       Residents received messages from the Avon Lake alerts system after the storm occurred. In contrast, the National Weather Service sent out alerts provided ample notice of the approaching storm. What measures are being taken to improve the timeliness and effectiveness of the city’s alert system?

b.       Some residents were stuck in their cars because they didn't receive a warning from the city alert system in time to reach safety. How does the city plan to address this issue in future emergencies?

c.       Does Avon Lake have tornado sirens? If not, is there a plan to install them for better emergency warning coverage?

2. Disaster Preparedness and Response

a.       Is there an existing disaster plan for Avon Lake? If so, can it be shared with the public to ensure residents are informed about the city's preparedness?

b.       Residents have expressed concern about the city administration's reactive nature to the storm and the apparent lack of proactive planning. How does the city plan to shift towards a more proactive approach to disaster management?

c.       Following the storm, there was no communication from the city administration for two days. What is the city’s plan to ensure more timely and consistent communication during future emergencies?

d.       A charging station was not made available until day two. Given that cell phones and devices would have died by the end of day one, how does the city plan to address the need for immediate access to charging and communication resources?

e.       Internet access was down, and the cell network was overloaded. What steps is the city taking to improve communication capabilities in the event of widespread service outages?

3. Community Resources and Infrastructure

a.       The library could serve as a vital community resource for information, heating/cooling, device charging, and other essential needs if equipped with generators and independent internet access. Is there a plan to upgrade the library's infrastructure to support these needs in emergencies?

b.       In response to residents' concerns, will the city develop a disaster response plan that is executed within hours of an event, rather than days?

4. Lessons from the Past

a.       Hurricane Sandy should have served as a lesson, where the 45s were without power for 5-7 days. What steps has the city taken to learn from past disasters, and how are these lessons being applied to current disaster planning?

b.       Does the city have generators for municipal buildings? Which buildings are equipped with them?

c.       Does the city have mobile generators? How many are available, and how are they allocated during emergencies?

5. Communication and Coordination

a.       City communication during the recent storm was primarily through social media and the AL Alert system, yet many residents lacked internet or cell service. What is the city’s communication plan for long-term outages, especially for residents without access to these services?

b.       Are there designated staging areas in the event of widespread structural damage? What plans are in place for tents, food, healthcare, and other supplies? Are local schools involved in these plans?

c.       What proactive efforts are being made by the city to remove trees that pose a threat to power lines and other critical infrastructure?

6.       Disaster Declaration and Resource Allocation

a.       Ohio Governor DeWine declared Lorain County a disaster area. What resources or funds will Avon Lake receive as a result of this declaration?

b.       Who will decide how these resources and funds are allocated, and how will the residents be informed about their distribution?

c.       Are residents eligible for reimbursement for food, generators, or other emergency expenses incurred due to the disaster? If so, what is the process for obtaining reimbursement?

My conversation with the Mayor, Mark Spaetzel

My conversation with the mayor was interesting and eye opening to say the least. Ted Esborn was present and made a few comments but, the majority of the conversation was held between the Mayor and I for about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

There was a good amount of cordial conversation and I believe the Mayor did genuinely listen. However, I believe his ego prevented him from being able to see the red flags and obvious flaws in how the situation was handled. There were multiple times when the Mayor raised his voice and was visibly agitated. At those points during the conversation the Mayor was either accusing me of spreading false information or didn’t like how I was characterizing his position.

Unfortunately, it was a deeply disappointing conversation.
I went into the meeting with a cordial and open mind hoping for the opportunity to lay the ground work for actual change and improvement. The mayor entered the conversation holding the position that the city did everything right which made conversation about change or improvement a non-starter. At times during the conversation, the mayor directly challenged me in a very egotistical manner,

“please tell me, believe me I’m all ears, tell me what I should have done”
- Mark Spaetzel

Spaetzel was willing to have a conversation about change or improvement when I was able to meet his challenge and convince him that he had missed something.

Out of the entire 1 hour and 45 minute conversation Spaetzel was only willing to admit two items could be improved public education and physical communication. Otherwise, much of the conversation was spent with the mayor trying to persuade me that the question or concern I presented was not valid. Spaetzel made a concerted effort to try and convince me to bring his narrative back to the community when I felt we could have spent the time discussing solutions.

Addressing Your Questions and Concerns

The Avon Lake Alert System

I tried to address the issues with the Avon Lake Alert system and the mayor’s position was shocking. The mayor admitted that the Avon Lake Alert system takes a least 10 minutes (20 minutes or more in my experience) to send out text messages to all 9,000 numbers on the list and that is AFTER the city paid to have the speed tripled by the company who wrote the system, EMERGE Inc.

When I tried to address the fact that the Avon Lake Alert system is too slow he blamed the National Weather Service.

“I realize you’re kind of putting the onus on the city, but we rely on the National Weather Service. Their communication is late ours will be late.”

“National Weather Service delayed all the timing of this thing I don’t think that’s fair to put that on us. The National Weather service was the delay.”
- Mark Spaetzel

Spaetzel tried to convince me to tell the community that the National Weather Service was to blame for the residents receiving Avon Lake Alert system notifications after the storm arrived.

”So hopefully you can explain to them what happened. You’ll be able to explain to them that the National Weather service”
- Mark Spaetzel

Of course, I refused to accept his narrative. I interrupted him and I directly responded with

“It’s not their fault because we should have a robust enough system to be able to respond and handle it the right way.”
- Malachi Witt

Shockingly, the Mayor responded with

“But it’s all about money Right? All about money.”
- Mark Spaetzel

The mayor was willing to spend tax payer dollars to “triple the speed” only to be left with a system that has the technological speed of a sloth. Yet, when I tried to discuss finding a better and more robust alert solution Spaetzel objected because it would cost money. It was a very puzzling and confusing response because a better alert system obviously wouldn’t be free.

I was unwilling to let it go at that point because the entire purpose of the conversation was to get answers and find solutions. I pressed Spaetzel saying:

“So maybe instead of saying it’s the National Weather Service fault, maybe we can investigate further into our system or other systems. Is there a possibility of getting a system that’s more responsive? That people are willing to absorb [the cost]? That’s what I’m looking for instead of, well that’s just how it is, sorry.”
-Malachi Witt

Of course the mayor didn’t appreciate my characterization of his position and became defensive. In the end the Mayor half heartedly said “we can investigate” which didn’t mean anything to me. I anticipate zero investigation until I or someone else takes that cross to bear and continues to pressure the mayor for a better alert system solution.

Tornado Sirens

I did not have time to discuss tornado sirens with the Mayor. However, during one of the August city council meetings one of the residents asked about tornado sirens. Council person Jennifer Fenderbosch responded to the question saying that tornado sirens are antiquated technology. Fenderbosch went on to claim that studies have been done proving that the sirens can’t be heard in buildings, houses, or cars and false alarms cause residents to ignore the sirens when tornadoes actually occur. I 100% disagree with Fenderbosch. I believe tornado sirens are a critical part of safety infrastructure that needs to be added to Avon Lake.

Disaster Preparedness and Response

Avon Lake does have a disaster plan but it’s not published. However, You can read the copy I requested from the city Avon Lake Disaster Plan 2019 Rev. 3

The disaster plan was last updated in 2019 which is a strong indication of the historical importance of disaster preparedness.

In regards to my conversation with the Mayor he admitted that the plan was very old and they are working on updating it. I made multiple attempts to discuss the disaster plan specifically but the conversation was repeatedly redirected to other topics.

“In the scheme of disaster things, this was not a disaster. This was a small weather event with [electrical] outage. We still had 60% of the city with power. You still had grocery stores available to you restaurants open, retail open.”
-Mark Spaetzel

Yes, the Mayor actually said this was not a disaster. Spaetzel actually said this was a small weather event... If I could have seen the look on my own face, it would have been priceless. I just sat there as I received an education in the ways of 'disasters.'

"When we look at a disaster plan, there’s a true disaster. If that happens, you're going to conduct your entire disaster plan. When you get a storm event like this with power outages, you conduct parts of that plan that are appropriate for that event out of the whole thing, right, because the whole thing wouldn’t make any sense."
-Mark Spaetzel

It became crystal clear to me in that moment that the Mayor was trying to create the narrative “this wasn’t a real disaster” so we didn’t need to use a disaster plan which creates the justification for lack of action. Again, I was sitting in shock listening to the leader of our city “educate” me on how this wasn’t a disaster but a “small weather event”. I refused to accept the narrative he was trying to push and it upset me that he was minimizing the struggles and economic hit 10,000 residents just experienced.

“That’s where I disagree and you’re probably going to get different points of view from different people in the city. If you have 400,000 people and for us it was 40% so 10 or 12 thousand people, if you have 40% of your city without power, that means people can’t cook food, their refrigerator is off, and most likely their food is all gone hundreds of dollars. The way that you put it just now sounds like you are minimizing it.”
- Malachi Witt

At this point the mayor wasn’t willing to have a direct conversation and answer the questions. He was continually trying to divert the conversation instead of discussing the specific concern.

“The concern that came out of the discussion [on Facebook] is that the perception of city communication was “hey they’re working on it that’s all we can do”. It wasn’t until two days later that there was a charging station set up. So it was an afterthought. That kind of thing could be better.“
-Malachi Witt

The mayor’s response speaks for itself.

“I don’t think it’s an afterthought. The public library had no power.”
-Mark Spaetzel

Multiple times I tried to drive home the point that the library is one of many pillars in our community that could be utilized during these disaster events as information centers. When all communications are out there must be areas in the community with radio communications to allow residents to get information and contact EMS.

These information stations can function with one or two portable generators and provide simple basic services and resources for residents such as charging stations and bottled water.

Repeatedly, I was met with ridiculous rebuttals from the Mayor:

“The library can’t afford a whole building generator system it’s very expensive”

”The city doesn’t have the staff to open the city buildings for 20,000 people it’s a security issue”

”The city is not in control of the library operations”

“We can’t provide resources for everybody”

“You need one, right, you only need one store to go buy food.”

Community Resources and Infrastructure

The mayor claimed that if this was in the middle of winter it would have been a much different situation with the need for heating but he didn’t go into the specific ways the city has prepared for that scenario…

There was no discussion or perceivable interest to provide charging stations or communication resources to the public during wise spread outages.

There was no discussion or willingness to be more responsive to the needs of the residents in these types of scenarios. In fact, the mayor was committed to the exact opposite. Providing resources to residents is the last step. It was shocking to me that the mayor laid it out like the city is only capable of doing one thing at a time. There is no concept of running multiple simultaneous operations during this type of scenario.

“when you're looking at it from what is the government's responsibility that is first life safety. Then we move from life safety to to clean up and, then connections to resources. We can't provide the resources for everybody.”
-Mark Spaetzel

The mayor’s own words made it clear that the city will deploy its resources to “clean up” before providing any resources for the residents. I repeatedly tried to discuss organizing partnerships with Avon Lake businesses to build a network of partners that could provide access to some basic resources but the Mayor was not interested.

Lessons from Past Events

We did not discuss anything specific that was learned from past events. The mayor wouldn’t discuss any specifics about changes to the disaster plan. He only said that they were already working on it.

The city does have some portable generators. We didn’t discuss how many or what they are specifically used for. The mayor did say that the city assisted the Library with portable generators to operate sump pumps in the elevator well. The city didn’t provide generators to the library for residents to charge devices. We didn’t discuss which specific city buildings were equipped with permanent generators.

Communication and Coordination

Throughout the conversation I repeated reiterated that all the electronic communication the city puts out is not effective when all electronic communications are out. It was very frustrating that this concept wasn’t getting through. I continued to make the case that the city needs physical locations where the residents can get physical communication. Eventually, the mayor admitted that physical communication locations “It’s not a bad idea”. It was one of two things the mayor wrote down during the discussion. He didn’t discuss any specifics about how a physical location would be implemented.

In the event of widespread structural damage the Mayor said using the schools for shelter was in the plan. If you read the disaster plan I linked it does list the schools as shelter but the plan has no details regarding the logistics of how 20,000 residents would be sheltered in the specified buildings.

As for trees, there is no program to evaluate and remove trees that pose a threat to power lines and critical infrastructure. The mayor talked about the power company using their easement to trim trees away from the power lines and they do have the ability to remove trees that are an imminent threat to the power lines but it’s very rare. The conclusion of the tree discussion is that the trees are on private property so the city can’t do anything and it’s the property owner’s responsibility to take down trees on their property.

Disaster Declaration and Resource Allocation

I asked the mayor about the disaster declaration from Governor DeWine and his response was eye opening.

“Sure, that didn't do anything. So, here's the unfortunate reality of that one, that is nothing more than an advisory statement. It did nothing to bring financial to anybody, to bring financial here.”
- Mark Spaetzel

Based on population there is a threshold of uninsured loss that must be met before any kind of reimbursement will be available. For Lorain county the threshold is $1.15 Million of uninsured loss. Statewide the threshold is $22 Million to get FEMA aid and according to the mayor we are not going to come close to hitting either threshold.

The Mayor repeated “personal preparedness” and believes that “neighbors helping neighbors” is the answer. Relying on the government is an unrealistic expectation.

“It's not a cliche. The community really is the one that has to pick themselves up out of these things.”
- Mark Spaetzel

As I said at the start, this was a deeply disappointing conversation and I’m sorry if I didn’t bring back information and answers everyone was looking for. Hopefully at this point as the reader you can understand it was a difficult conversation to direct or control. I seriously doubt after this the mayor will entertain any future conversations with me because this one certainly didn’t go his way.

It’s important to understand the purpose of this article. The purpose of this article is to communicate the answers I tried to get based on the questions sent to me by people in the community. The purpose of this article is not a highlight reel of all the things the city did during the disaster event.

In conclusion, will leave you with this final quote from the mayor.

“I just want make sure you understand me, because you say the whole thing, the communication could have been better. I'm telling you, we did everything we could. We've identified two areas where we'd like to do better, which is more public education, which again, we do but we will increase that and then have this physical location where people can go pre-established that. People know about it. I don't want you to keep saying they could have done more, they could have done better. They they dropped the ball. They didn't do this.”
-Mark Spaetzel