Meeting Information
8:00 Light Refreshments
8:30 Welcome:
- Introductions
- Minutes of July 10, 2014
- Staff Updates
- Plans
- HMEP Grants
- Volunteer Groups (miniCERT, ACT, Skywarn)
- National Preparedness Month
- Siren
- Presentation – Jackie Miller with Kansas Division of Emergency Management will provide an overview on the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), which fosters excellence and accountability in emergency management and homeland security programs, by establishing credible standards. EMAP defines "emergency management" in the broadest sense, meaning it encompasses all organizations with emergency/disaster functions in a jurisdiction, rather than only one agency or department. This system includes organizations involved in prevention of, mitigation against, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from disasters or emergencies to ensure safer communities through measurable standards of excellence for emergency management programs.
- Information Sharing
10:00 Adjourn
The Douglas County Emergency Management/Local Emergency Planning Committee Board met on October 9, 2014. Vice-Chair Tom Damewood welcomed and thanked everyone for attending, then called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Introductions were made. Motion by Wayne Riley was made to approve the October 9, 2014 minutes; the committee unanimously approved the minutes. Those present included:
Attending
Tom Damewood, John Bradley, Charlie Bryan, Mike Russell, Midge Grinstead, Paul Fellers, Nicole Rials, H. Wayne Riley, Greg Neis, Shaun Coffey, Will Shockley, Bob Nugent, Bob Newton, Shannon Oury, Ryan Wolkey, Bud Waugh, Bill Winegar, John Bradley, Chris Lesser, Bill Edwards, Roy Morehead, Jamison Honeycutt
Others Attending:
Jillian Rodrigue, Teri Smith, Steve Buchholz, Robyn Krutz, Danielle Carter, Jackie Miller
Staff Updates
Plans:
- Douglas County received approval from FEMA for the Multi-jurisdictional Mitigation Plan. The next steps are formal adoptions by the county, cities, townships and school districts.
- Many agencies have been set up with accountability badges since the last Board meeting in July, but there are several more agencies that still need them. Ryan will be reaching out to those agencies to assist them with the process of setting up their accounts and getting badges printed.
- The Debris Management Plan must be updated, approved, and adopted every four years. Ryan is in the process of updating the plan which is due in April 2015. He will be coordinating this effort by reaching out to departments and agencies identified with responsibilities in the plan for more information and assistance.
- The Emergency Management Accreditation Program is progressing very well. The end result of this accreditation will be beneficial countywide.
Volunteer Updates
CERT:
- The latest miniCERT classes were held at Clinton Place Apartments in September. These classes were smaller but the small size helped create an environment where the participants received more individualized training. All participants who completed the 4-week training received a preparedness kit.
- A CPR class was provided to staff and CERT volunteers by Randy Cardonell. The participants learned valuable and life saving training to use in case of cardiac arrest or choking.
- An exercise is being planned for CERT volunteers to test their knowledge, skills, and practice different functions that will be utilized if an activation is necessary. The scenario will provide an opportunity for staff to assess volunteers’ skills and identify any training needs.
Other:
- Emergency Management will host a Volunteer Appreciation Recognition on December 10th at 6:35pm at the Douglas County Courthouse. The volunteers will be recognized and awarded for their dedication to their volunteerism effort in front of the Commission. In addition to staff recognizing volunteers, the volunteers will vote for an “Outstanding Volunteer” within their volunteer group, to recognize an individual for their exceptional efforts.
- Staff and volunteers were actively involved with National Preparedness Month during the month of September. Preparedness activities included: o Booths at both Hy-Vee locations in Lawrence. Staff, volunteers and Hy-Vee employees passed out bag stuffers, winter warm-up kits, and handouts with information on general preparedness. The handouts included how and why to stay informed, how to sign up for IRIS, and what items are necessary to have in a preparedness kit. Additionally, a raffle was held and EM gave away weather radios and emergency preparedness kits.
- Staff utilized social media outlets to share messages about preparedness and to get the community more involved. Preparedness videos were also created by EM to help share those messages.
- Douglas County is in the process of creating a new website. While the site is not scheduled to go live until December, EM has been busy building their page with content.
- A new outdoor warning siren is on order and will be installed just west of the new Rock Chalk Park. Westar Energy is providing a transformer at no charge. This will be siren #42 in Douglas County.
Grants
Multi-Jurisdictional Airport Exercise:
- This tabletop with a drill exercise has been approved for 2015 and will provide the opportunity for multiple agencies to participate in a multijurisdictional hazardous materials exercise to become better prepared in emergency planning and response, validate several emergency plans and to improve the level of hazmat response in the case of an aircraft response and rescue incident.
Multi-Jurisdictional Full Scale Exercise involving Higher Education
- Also approved for 2015, this will be a hazardous materials full-scale, multiple-agency exercise with a multi-operational period involving Douglas County First Responders (Law Enforcement, Fire, EMS, Hazardous Materials, Emergency Management, etc.) and the University of Kansas. The goals of the exercise will be to gain a fuller perspective on the community of Douglas County’s level of preparedness for response to a hazardous materials transportation incident and to determine the level of knowledge and abilities of both individuals and agencies involved for response and recovery of the incident. This will be done by validating SOP’s, managing resources, maintaining communication, and utilizing the proper forms needed for an incident.
- If you would like to be a part of the planning team, please contact Teri.
Presentation
Jackie Miller, Regional Coordinator at KDEM (who assisted her agency meet the standards of EMAP) and an EMAP Assessor provided an overview of EMAP, why meeting these standards are important to the community, and who should be involved in the EMAP processes. EMAP is a nonprofit, independent organization that allows for fostering accountability in the Emergency Management and Homeland Security programs based on national standards of preparedness. Even though this program is named the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) it involves more than just EM; it involves all 15 ESF’s which includes any agency that has a seat in the EOC during an event. It includes meeting 64 standards of program management such as administration, finance, laws, and authorities. The EMAP vision is “to build a safer community measurable by standards of excellence by accessing strengths and areas of improvement for the entire preparedness program through self-assessment documentation and independent peer review.”
Information Sharing
- Tom Damewood with Lawrence Memorial Hospital shared that the hospital was hosting two tabletop exercises for their employees. These exercises will involve workplace violence and active shooters and are scheduled for the end of October. Tom invited anyone from the committee to participate in the exercises.
- Paul Fellers with Lawrence Kansas Police Department informed the committee that the LKPD will be hosting an open house on October 18th and 25th. These open houses are open to the public; anyone who would like a tour of the facilities is welcome to visit.
- Greg Neis with Baldwin City Police Department informed the committee that the Maple Leaf Festival is scheduled for the weekend of October 18th.
- Charlie Bryan with Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department (LDCHD) provided an update to the committee in regards to a measles tabletop exercise that was done earlier in the year. One of the improvement plan actions was to inform various community stakeholders to consider keeping records of employees with regards to their immunity status. Schools in particular do not have policies on keeping these kinds of records. The State of Kansas, by law, can require an individual to be quarantined in the case of an infectious disease outbreak if evidence of a person’s immunity status cannot be provided. Per the improvement plan actions, LDCHD has communicated with school nurses, district superintendents, and local EM about the importance of monitoring employee immune status in case of an infectious disease outbreak. LDCHD would like everyone to be aware of this policy and consider monitoring as well. Additionally, LDCHD will be holding a pandemic flu tabletop in February of 2015.
Motion to adjourn meeting was made. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:43 a.m. by Chair Shaun Coffey.
Time and Date