Local Emergency Planning Committee Minutes for Meeting of March 11, 2009

Present: Kevin Christensen, Burke Nelson, Randy Wilde, Janet Bass, Kevin Potter, Kathy Conrad, Michael Nelsen, Dorene Schulze, Susan Thompson, Linda Bourne, David Nance, Kimberly Giles, James Grover, Peggy Mecham, Ray Strong, Delos Everton, Laron Woods, Mark Crane, Jerry Peterson, Greg Martz, Jay Munns, Scott Diver, Fred Henderson, Billee Petersen, Melissa Horiuchi, Tommy Pacheco, Von Sorenson

Previous Mtg Minutes Approved: Kevin Christensen opened the meeting asking for approval of the minutes from last month’s meeting. A motion was made to accept the minutes by Mike Nelsen and 2nd by Dorene Schulze and it passed by majority vote.

The discussion was brought up again about a digital recorder needed for our LEPC meetings. Terry Grover said he is willing to purchase the digital recorder if it is under $100.00. Randy started recording on his Blackberry cell phone to see how well it picked up the voices in the room during the meeting.

Kevin Christensen asked for any thoughts on improving our LEPC website. You can access the website through http://www.boxeldercounty.org then click on Sheriff’s Office, then LEPC.

The Tier II reports are coming into too many different locations. By law, the Tier II reports have to be submitted to the State, the local fire department and the LEPC for that county. Maybe a link on our website with one location or email address would be beneficial. If the State had a link for each county on their website, that would help also. As a side note, Ty Bailey will start next month with the State Emergency Response Committee.

The subject of having an annual calendar for our LEPC came up with thoughts of having Wal-Mart host in April (will check with Daniel Freeman) and the new Bear River Valley Hospital host in June. In May, Terry Grover will present on environmental cleanup after a hazmat incident with Randy Wilde, Kevin Potter or Greg Martz talking about cost recovery. In July the Red Cross will present at our meeting so we have a better understanding on how they set up a shelter and what they would expect from our group.

Kimberly Giles said that Bob Carey from the State has a presentation on earthquakes and John Crofts, HS Flood Plain Manager, could speak on mitigation and flooding, which would be great for our January or February 2010 meetings. Jay Munns noted that the sooner the better as we have flooding issues other than just spring flooding. Kimberly will check on getting John Crofts for the August meeting. Kevin Christensen introduced Tommy Pacheco of the Northwest Band of the Shoshone Nation and asked him if he would like to present to the group in the future on interaction, differences and similarities between the Shoshone and outside agencies. It was decided that September would be a good month for him to give a presentation.

Mark Crane suggested the LDS Church and the Southern Baptists were brought up as they have a soup kitchen and work with the Red Cross. Fred Henderson said the Southern Baptists have a lot to offer and are an integral partner with the Red Cross, as they have emergency trailers, child care, etc.

State: Kimberly Giles handed out the most recent fact sheet. Note the City and County Directors Conference in April, the Be Ready Utah in April and the Public Safety Summit this May. Also Kimberly talked about the recent ice storms back east and how important it is to have detectors in your home to protect yourself from CO poisoning. Reminder that March 16-20 is National Flood Safety Week and make sure you have your NIMS 100 and 700 to have a basic understanding. Go to www.fema.gov

Health Department: Randy Wilde said the response on the 20 gallon diesel spill required no excavation. Greg Martz noted the Riverside spill was similar and stayed on the pavement. Terry Grover said the S&M wreck at MM7 west of the freeway did not end up being what it was reported to be and required no clean up.

Homeland Security: Kevin Potter said he will be attending the Region 1 Homeland Security meeting tomorrow and will report on it next month.

HazMat Team: Greg said the team has received 3 sums of money to use for on-going training. There were 26 members at the last meeting and they know they are getting paid now to attend meetings/trainings and it keeps their skills up to date. The team would like to set up drills with facilities in our county. The new Cost Recovery system is in place and part of the money received is for the tech re-cert class and hazmat class.

Greg said 10 firefighters have received their red cards in the Wildland Class and there is a Squad Boss Class starting in Brigham. Kevin Christensen noted that it would be great if there was a representative here at our meetings from each of the fire departments. Greg also reported the seeding is done on the South Promontory project and that seeding with a plane does not work as well as the helicopter. They only hit 52% using a plane and the helicopter hits 100%. They will start on the north end of Promontory soon. Johnson Canyon got funded as well as Hansel Valley. All this reseeding will cut down costs and the loss of land.

Peggy Mecham said the Red Cross presented in Garland recently on sheltering. If you have 20 or more people, the Red Cross will be glad to give the same presentation. They will always provide supervisors during a disaster, but need volunteers in our county to already be trained on sheltering. Jay Munns said that Garland had a NIMS 400 class recently and this Saturday will have a mock drill to test their EOC and communications.

Laron Woods thanked the group and said he is doing better. ARES had a drill with Tremonton over the winter and plans on having another this summer. They also tested the radio system out with BRV Hospital in case communications were lost during an emergency. The ARES Field Day needs a host for this summer and is looking at maybe Perry or Willard.

To sum up the 2008 LEPC calendar, the following is a tentative list:

April Wal-Mart Distribution Center May Terry Grover present on Environmental Cleanup June Bear River Valley Hospital July Red Cross present on Sheltering Aug John Crofts present on Flooding/Mitigation Sept Tommy Pacheco present on NWB Shoshone Nation

Next Meeting The next LEPC Meeting is scheduled for April 8… more info to come.

Adjourned: Meeting ended after 1000 hrs with the Road Committee meeting immediately after.