September 23, 2004

LEPC Meeting Minutes

 

Don Button called the meeting to order with 9 members present and one guest.

 

            Jeff Baier, Richard Everett, Don Button, Tom Kramer, Richard Banes, Sharon Phelps, Cindy Howard Reeves, Sherry Thompson, Vivian Button, Julia Lund

            The Mitigation Plan has been submitted but we have not heard anything.  Plans were the Federal office would approve or disapprove the plan within 45 days but they are running behind.  Some plans have been in for 100 days and have not received a response.

            We have ordered everything but 6 items for the 2003 ODP Grant monies.  The order site should open back up on October 1 so we can finish up.  We had the information but the numbers had not been put into the computer before they closed the site.

            Don, Al and Vivian went to the KEMA Conference September 15,16,17 at the Holiday Inn in Manhattan.  We received training on Emergency Management and County Government, Writing a Successful Grant, Foreign Animal Disease Planning, State Homeland Security Grant Program, GIS Issues, Advanced Radar Interpretation, Bio-Terrorism Response, Regional Hazmat Teams, When Disaster Strikes Home, and RISS/ATIX Info as well as a class on updating our Hazardous Analysis Plan.

            At the KEMA Awards banquet the Ulysses City Council received the Emergency Management Association 2004 Outstanding Service award and Vivian Button received an award for Emergency Management Support Professional 2004.  Don had sent in nominations for these awards.

            December 17, 2003 Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-8 and the February 2003 Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-5 has mandated that Federal, State and Local Emergency Service will incorporate  (NIMS) National incident Management System into the Local Emergency Operations Plan by 2005 or no later than 2007.  This has to be implemented before you can receive more grant funds

You can take the training at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is700.asp . The training takes about 2 hours.

            American Red Cross training “Introduction to Disaster Services” was held in Ulysses on Thursday September 16, 2004 with 15 people present.  “Mass Care: An Overview” will be on Thursday September 30, 2004 from 6:00 PM-9:00 PM in Ulysses at the Fire Department. “ Disaster Health Services: An Overview” will be presented on Saturday September 25 from 9:00 AM -12:00 Noon Ulysses.  All classes will be at the Grant County Fire Department.  “Shelter Operations, Shelter Simulation” will be Saturday October 23 from 9:00-1200 Noon and 1:00-5:00 PM.   “Family Services: Providing Emergency Assistance” will be Saturday October 9 from 9:00 AM -5:00 PM.  “Disaster Assessment” will be Thursday October 14 from 6:00 PM -9:00 PM.  “ERV’s: Ready, Set, Roll” on Saturday November 6 from 9:00 AM -5:00 PM.

            Wichita will host the 13 Annual HazMat Symposium on November 18,19, 20, and 21.We discussed the training. One new class is Hazardous Awareness for Law Enforcement. Some of the courses available are Hospital Decon, PPE I (Personal Protective Equipment) and PPE II (N95 mask to Level A suits), Hazwoper refresher, NIMS, Structural Collapse Awareness, CAMEO (Computer Aided Management of Emergency Operations), Identifying Unknowns Using Field Screening Kits (limited to 20 per class) and several others.

            Cindy from the Hospital stated they have spent their Grant funds.  However, most of the equipment is on back order.  Don stated the SHERT (Southwest Hospital Emergency Response Team) wants to meet with the area hospitals, Law Enforcement and Commissions.  The SHERT Team covers 18 counties in the Southwest part of the state.

            Don also stated the SHERT had submitted their Plan and it has been approved.  Don and Sherry Thompson from the Health Department went to Finney County to assist and evaluate St. Catherine’s Hospital exercise.  All who participated learned lessons.

            Richard Everett with Southwest Kansas Health Initiative stated the Flu-X Mass Vaccination run thru went well.  The actual even will take place in October in Liberal.   Sherry said some of her employees were going to participate.

            Don talked about security issues and how important it is to notify the Law Enforcement Center if you see or hear something out of the ordinary or that concerns you.

            The committee watched the video “Terrorism for Employees”.  Several copies are available from the Emergency Management Office to borrow and show employee.

            Next meeting October 21, 2004

            Meeting adjourned at 8:20.

 

Vivian Button