Paul Omodt ’89, ’99 MBA, emerging media adjunct faculty, wrote an article on crisis communications for Minnesota Cities magazine. He outlined how Burnsville leaders handled the February 2024 tragedy.
From the article:
On Feb. 18, 2024, a tragedy forever changed the Burnsville community.
Police officers and firefighter/paramedics responded to a domestic disturbance involving a woman who reported her boyfriend had committed a serious offense. Seven children, ranging in age from five to 15, were also in the home. ...
Burnsville began formalizing crisis response protocols in 2020, developing its first crisis communications plan and offering citywide training. In 2023, city leaders created a cross-functional public safety, leadership, and operational resiliency team to promote and build response systems across city operations.
In fall 2023, the crisis communication plan was updated, and the city conducted Emergency Operations Center trainings and tabletop exercises through early 2024. While no amount of planning could fully prepare the city for a tragedy of this magnitude, Burnsville had intentionally cultivated a culture of preparedness and resilience. ...
One major lesson was the importance of redundancy in municipal operations. The city learned that being “two or three deep” in key roles is essential. Staff needed breaks, and people had to step away. Cross-training and succession planning meant that operations didn’t pause when individuals needed rest. In Burnsville’s case, those backups didn’t always come from within the city – they often came from neighboring cities or regional partners who stepped in to help.
