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The City of Shafer took a step toward being better prepared to handle disasters and emergencies by hosting an emergency preparedness workshop last Wednesday.

City Clerk Lynn Jawish said the idea to hold the meeting came about after watching the city of Hugo deal with tornado damage earlier this season.

Around 45 people from Shafer, Center City and Taylors Falls attended the one-and-a-half hour meeting, including fire department and city staff and city council members. It was led by Chisago County Emergency Management Director Jim Halstrom.

Jawish said it was an informative presentation, and well-received by the attendees.

"He covered a lot of topics we wanted information about," Jawish said.

Halstrom shared the county's emergency response and disaster relief handbook with participants, as well as a handbook developed by the city of Underwood.

Jawish said the information will serve as a starting point for Shafer to develop its own handbook.

Mostly, though, it was reassuring to know that if a disaster such as a tornado would effect Shafer, there would be others willing to help out.

"He told us we won't have to carry the burden by ourselves. There will be people who will step in to help - where we want them to help," Jawish said.

Halstrom told the group that Shafer was the first city this year to contact him about hosting an emergency preparedness meeting.

Jawish said that all three cities felt it was important to hold similar meetings every other year, to pass the information on to new personnel and city council members.

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