View Other Items in this Archive | View All Archives | Printable Version


LOCAL EMERGENCY PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING

November 16, 2006

 

Attending the LEPC meeting were Sherry Thompson, Richard Everett, John Crosby, Sharon Phelps, Al Baker, Jerry J. Deckert, George Bushnell, Terry Crosby, Ruben Flores, Shayla Jaquez and Vivian Button

 

Vivian Button called the meeting to order at 7:06 PM.  Terry Crosby took meeting minutes.

 

Al Baker made a motion to accept the minutes to the last meeting. John Crosby seconded the motion.  Minutes were approved.

 

We have not received the After Action Report from the State on our Foreign Animal Disease (FAD) Exercise.  When we receive the report we will set up a meeting with the participants of the exercise.  Jerry Jo Deckert made a motion to hold the FAD Exercise review meeting after the first of the year.   Sharon Phelps seconded. Motion passed. Don Button would like for the departments who participated in the FAD exercise to write down a list of lessons learned and what needs to be corrected or worked on to make things run better.  Some people were unhappy that the state simulated a lot of their parts in the exercise.  Everyone heard good comments from the evaluators and the observers.  Several people heard comments about how well we all work together. 

 

Emergency Management thanks everyone who helped out during the tornadoes of October 26th.  Ulysses has no designated community shelters.  This is mostly due to the liability issues.  Approximately 100 to 150 people took shelter at the library.  Some people took shelter at the hospital and courthouse.  With the Emergency Operations Center in the Basement of the courthouse it makes it hard to use the courthouse as a shelter. Discussion was held about lack of shelters in trailer parks and mobile home areas.  Ruben stated the city is looking at putting some kind of shelter at the Golf Course.  At this time there is no good answer to the question about shelters.

 

LEPC by-laws were handed out.  The committee needs to look over the by-laws and see if they have any changes that need to be made.  We need by-laws to go with our new County Emergency Operations Plan.  We will vote to approve the by-laws at the next meeting.

 

The LEPC looked at the web site for the new County Emergency Operations Plan.  It is on a secure web page.  The new plan has a basic section and 15 Emergency Support Functions (ESF) and Incident annexes.  Vivian or Don will be meeting with the Departments who will be the ESF Coordinators and Primary Agency and Support Agency to give them a user name and password.  Discussion was held about how firm this plan was.  Do we have to follow it to the letter or can it be adjusted to accommodate when a real disaster happens.  It was determined this is a basic plan, somewhere to start.  We can always update the plan and make corrections when necessary.  Vivian showed how the Net EOP works and how to go into the system and add information for the different ESFs. This needs to be completed by June 2007.

 

The November 9th natural gas pipeline blowout was discussed. The Incident went well and was taken care of quickly.  The Emergency Services were deployed to standby and assist BP as necessary.  There was lots of discussion about how everyone worked well together.  The Hazmat trailer was deployed for the Incident Command Center and it worked very well.  We need to get the communication trailer equipped so it will be ready to use when needed.  These two trailers are very good additions to our assets.

 

Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Grant paper work was passed out to the departments.  These grants can be used for HazMat Training, enhancing emergency response plans, assessing response capabilities, hazard analysis, commodity flow assessments, maintaining information systems, technical staff planning, or HazMat drills and exercises.  The projects have to be submitted by December 30.  The completed application need to be returned to Emergency Management.  Jerry Jo asked about enhancement classes, for example H2S.  John Crosby stated individual classes can be made and taught within our local jurisdiction.  It was discussed that biological might be a good area to look into for training.  The county has several Hazardous Material Technicians thanks to the HMEP grants

 

Richard Everett talked about the Medical Management of the Contaminated Patient class to be held in Garden City on December 13 and 14th with a recertification class on December 15.  St. Catherine’s Hospital is providing this class free of charge but the classes are limited to 30 participants. Richard encouraged people to attend this class.

 

A discussion was held on the Wide Open Spaces Four State Exercise. One of the locations was Johnson.  Everyone learned a lot but they were disappointed with a lot of things that happened and did not happen.  The counties communicated well but the state did not communicate well and did not communicate with the others states.

 

Sherry Thompson talked about an exercise for Mass Dispersal Dispensing of antibiotics and how everyone within the community will have to be involved and help out.  Push Packs were discussed. They are a part of the Strategic National Stockpile, which could be requested at a time of disaster or emergency.  It was also stated that our airport could probably handle a large plane to bring in the medication.  The health department has some flu shots for children. They will have more shots for adults after November 27.  Sherry has not ordered a large amount of flu vaccine because the several other locations are also dispensing flu vaccine and she did not want to get an over abundance she could not use.  Sherry also talked about the surveillance and tracking network they already have set up with several locations to let the Health Department know if something is going on.  Like several people out sick with the same symptoms.

 

Al Baker stated Columbian Chemical is looking at an expansion. They are also still looking at an ethanol plant to the north of their facility.  They are updating and upgrading items within their plant.  Al had attended a meeting on OSHA Rules and Regulations for industry, hospitals, care homes and other locations. The meeting was held at Pioneer Electric Cooperative Inc.

 

The ethanol plant brought up a discussion on the need for heavier rail on the railroad tracks.  Several members thought improving the railroad track would bring in more industry.  Richard Everett stated the Stanton County Commissioners are looking into heavier railroad tracks in their county.

 

George Bushnell stated Pioneer Electric Cooperative Inc. employees had received their flu vaccine.  An on-site vaccination clinic was setup by the Health Department.   Vivian also thanked George and Pioneer Electric for allowing Jeremy Garrison to assist with the pipeline blowout since Don was out of town and Al Baker was unavailable.

 

Jerry Jo reported the last PEPP (Pediatric Education for Pre-Hospital Professionals) will be December 2 & 3.  EMS is also trying to set up a National EMS Registry Recertification class after the first of the year.  EMS has been busy with lots of calls.

 

Shayla talked about being careful of check and credit card fraud.

 

It was requested we make the meeting earlier.  The next meeting will be at 6:00 PM on January 18, 2007 at the Grant County Courthouse basement.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 PM.

 

Submitted by Vivian Button