The City and County of Durham, North Carolina, completed an annual Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) review on April 1, 2021. 

Included in the review were a combined 52 COOP plans—26 for the city and 26 for the county—each one written to ensure essential functions continue to be performed during natural and human-caused emergencies. 

All 52 plans were carefully evaluated and critiqued by BOLDplanning representative and Certified Emergency Manager, Jarred Thomas, following federal planning guidelines and best practices. Durham city/county department heads and COOP planners were provided with constructive feedback on the status of each planning component along with additional recommendations to further develop or solidify each plan. 

Utilizing the plan review recommendations and the many local lessons learned during COVID 19, Durham city/county leaders and planners have a prime opportunity to make plan updates with the cloud-based BOLDplanning.com platform, and further validate the local Continuity of Operations planning program. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the City and County of Durham, it is the home to 321,488 people (U.S. Census Bureau estimates, July 2019) and the sixth-largest county, in population, in the state of North Carolina. Durham and Tennessee-based BOLDplanning have been partners in preparedness since 2018.