REGION II ‘ALL HANDS’ MEETING 

‘ALL HANDS ON DECK’; CAD WAS ON THE PHONE 


ALL STAFF GATHER FOR UPDATES 

Attendance was high and the crowd 
was enthusiastic at Region II’s first “All Hands” 
meeting of the year. 

In addition to presenting “Government 
Service” awards to Joe Galinis (25 years), Russell 
Fox (15 years) and Adie Koby (10 years), 
Acting Regional Administrator Mike Moriarty 
spelt out his expectations for staff during hurricane 
season. 

“As much as we tell our state partners 
to prepare, we need to prepare too. Make arrangements 
for pets, let your spouse and children 
know you may be away for a couple of 
weeks if you are deployed,” Mike advised the 
crowd. 

“No matter what your job title is, you are 
an emergency manager, and you have to be 
prepared to go if you are needed,” Mike said. 

Mike also fielded questions, some of 
which — ironically — from PFTs who felt their 
time in the field was too circumscribed. 
“Regional assets may be needed at the start of 
a disaster, but it’s the DAEs job to man the 
JFOs,” he said. 

Throughout his presentation, Mike emphasized 
the importance of aligning Region II 
not only with HQ’s vision and priorities but also 
those of an administration that has put transparency 
and efficient government service at the 
top of its agenda. In fact, he emphasized this 
many times. 

DAE Paul Tashjian, lauded the event, 
saying it was necessary right now, with so 
many things happening in the Region. “With 
‘The Book coming out, and all the new faces in 
the Region, it was good to get everyone together, 
to get everyone the same page,” Paul 
said. 

REP’s Brian Hasemann concurred and 
said, “We need to do these types of things 
more often.” In fact, quarterly ‘All-Hands’ meetings 
are planned. 

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TRANSPARENCY: 
BUZZ WORD OR POSITIVE BUZZ? 


By Ken Curtin 

“Transparency,” the President said 
the day after his inauguration, “promotes 
accountability and provides information for 
citizens about what their government is 
doing.” He also called for greater collaboration 
between government agencies to 
“actively engage Americans in the work of 
their government.” 

This came to mind as I listened to 
RA Mike Moriarty’s “transparency” mantra 
at the All Hands meeting this week. Nurturing 
the public’s trust requires transparency 
and is, simply, essential to our being 
effective. If we fail to communicate clearly 
and fully with the public or actively engage 
our colleagues and partners, we also increase 
our own workloads. 

There’s a lot riding on being transparent 
– our credibility, for instance. If 
we’re unclear or ambiguous, we don’t provide 
answers. This breeds distrust. When 
we are distrusted by the people we serve, 
providing assistance is an uphill battle, and 
more, unnecessary work. And – something 
none of us needs – our reputation 
becomes an issue. 

Often, our collaboration with other 
divisions is essential to providing complete 
answers to our many audiences, whether 
it’s NJOEM, SEMO, a constituent, or the 
Russian OEM team Mike addressed several 
weeks ago. 

Transparency and genuine collaboration 
between divisions: these are undeniable 
goods. The challenge is to turn them 
from goals to guidelines. When that happens, 
we’ll all have that positive buzz. 


 ‘BRING YOUR CHILD TO WORK’ DAY AT R-2 



From left, Theo Joseph with grandson Elijah; Kevin Malone with daughter Sheila; Craig Caggiano with wife and daughter 
Destiny. 

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Se habla Espanol 

Working with HQ’s External Affairs-
Multilingual group, a team from Region II’s Caribbean 
Area Division (CAD) is updating and revamping 
FEMA’s Spanish language website. 

The goal is to have the new site mirror 
FEMA’s English language site, offering the same features 
and services to our Spanish speaking customers. 


CAD Public Affairs Supervisor Ana Morales is 
leading the review of the PA program section. 
Translations are being done by the CAD’s External 
Affairs staff. 

 Muy Buenas Noticias! 

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