Bethel council to consider backing AVCP plan for a regional emergency response system

Bethel Mayor Rose Henderson is asking the City Council on Tuesday to support a regional public safety and emergency response system proposed by the Association of Village Council Presidents. Henderson also put an AVCP presentation on the plan on the council's agenda.

The plan is called the Western Alaska Public Safety and Emergency Response System, or WAPSERS. AVCP Executive Board Chairman Thaddeus Tikiun Jr. laid it out in May in testimony prepared for the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, at a roundtable in Bethel chaired by Sen. Lisa Murkowski. It would have a central hub in Bethel with five subregional response centers, redundant communications and shared logistics for evacuations and resupply. "The dual-use emergency response system will focus on a tribally led model," Tikiun said.

His testimony laid out lessons from Typhoon Halong, the October 2025 storm. "The typhoon did not create gaps in emergency management in our region; it exposed them," he said. In AVCP's region, 48 communities rely on 13 village public safety officers, he said. If a typhoon hit the region's 24 coastal communities, four VPSOs would be available to help coordinate the evacuation of roughly 10,000 people. Search and rescue in the region is volunteer-run and largely unfunded, he said.

The system aims to close gaps such as "a patchwork of law enforcement, a lack of real emergency coordination, and a last-minute response to disasters," Tikiun said. AVCP is seeking support for it at the state and federal levels, including from the Denali Commission.

"We are asking for permanent, recurring appropriations to fund officer staffing, housing, modern facilities, redundant communications, and basic Search and Rescue support so responders can do the job safely and effectively," he said.

AVCP describes itself as the largest tribal consortium in the nation, representing 56 federally recognized Tribes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.