A request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Riverside to update their policies to receive federal funding has gotten the city noticed, in a good way.

City Administrator Christine Yancey says the city was originally contacted by the Iowa Department of Homeland Security on behalf of FEMA to make an addendum to their purchasing policy and procedures as they relate to applying for federal disaster relief funding. She says the changes were minor to a policy FEMA felt was already a good model for other municipalities, “They asked if they could use our policy and procedures manual as it sits without this addendum for other communities and I said of course. They said it was very well written. I can’t take the credit for that, it was written before my time, but they thought it was very detailed and they’re going to be using that going forward for some other things.”

The council this week also approved resolutions to adjust wording to city employee policies regarding password creation, computer and cell phone use. Yancey says those changes were mostly for clarification and informed the council that there have been no abuses of those policies already in place.