REGION I HSOC MEETING
Thursday, April 29, 2010
2:00 p.m.
Meramec Regional Planning Commission
4 Industrial Drive – St. James, MO 65559

MINUTES

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Chairman Jonathan Ayres led the committee in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS:
Chairman Jonathan Ayres called the meeting to order at 2:03 Members and guests introduced themselves.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
Deborah Rhodes (P), Gary Heavin (A), Jonathan Ayres (P), George LaJoie (P), Charles Witt (P), Bob Baldwin (P), Ron Smith (P), Mark Kearse (P), Edna Bridges (P), Doug Yurecko (P), Darrell Skiles (P), Deborah Hobson (P), Debbie Halinar (A)

COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:
Lawson Smith (A), Curtis Curnton (A), J.B. King (P), Larry Flesher (A), Jodi Waltman (A), Allan Michaels (A), John Butz (P), Dennis Purcell (A), Scott Harris (A), Kim Shockley (P), John Westerman (A), Annie Lekens (A)

STAFF AND GUESTS PRESENT:
Robert Hutson (Crawford County EM), Allen Kimrey (Salem EMD), Sherwet Witherington (Mo. Dept. of Ag.), Paul Fennewald (DPS-OHS), Charles Leezy (Veterinarian), Jason Smith (Rolla Police), Brenda Gerlach (SEMA Area I Planning Coordinator), Brenda Heidbreder (SEMA), Paul Reuff (DPS- OHS), Michelle Nicholson (TetraTech), Becky Covington (OHS), Meg Meade (Fort Leonard Wood EOC), Jessica Mattingly, Lesley Bennish, Amy McMillen, and Tammy Snodgrass (MRPC)

MOTION TO ACCEPT AGENDA:
Mr. Yurecko made a motion to approve the agenda for the April 21, 2010 Region I HSOC meeting. Mr. LaJoie seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES:
Paul Fennewald noted that a correction needed to be made to the minutes. Page 5, paragraph 6 reads “Regions will receive the same funding as the last two years” it should read “regions will attempt to receive the same funding as the past two years.”

Mr. LaJoie made a motion to approve the minutes as amended for the January 21, 2010 Region I HSOC meeting. Chief Kearse seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

GRANT UPDATES: Becky Covington OHS
Becky Covingtion stated that she is excited to be working with the regions, especially Region I. Ms. Covington reported that OHS has received the regional grant proposals for Fiscal Year 2009 funds. Proposals are in the process of being reviewed and signed. It may be possible to make revisions if there are interoperability items that the region wanted. She stated that everything that has been applied for looks good for approval. OHS is optimistic that the official award information will be disseminated next week.

DHSS UPDATE: Greg Voss – DHHS
Greg Voss provided a PowerPoint presentation on the Missouri Chemical Risk Project. The presentation addressed how DHSS is working with Local Public Health Agencies (LPHA) to identify day care centers, nursing homes, hospitals and schools that are at risk from a chemical facility. Maps and reports are being provided to each county LPHA that show these risks.  A copy of this information will also be provided to the LEPC and county EMD on a cd.  This will be very beneficial in helping to plan for chemical emergencies. DHSS is working on moving this information to a secure intranet system such as MERIS.

Mr. Voss also passed out a 1 page handout about Chempacks. (Copy attached) This will be discussed in further detail at the next regional meeting.

AG UPDATE: Sherwett Witherington – Department of Agriculture
There were some discrepancies at the last RHSOC meeting about the education programs that are offered by the Missouri Department of Agriculture (DOA). In Region I there are 4 different courses available: accounting session, producer session, EMD session, and biosecurity. Biosecurity is the newest session being offered. As of yet, no biosecurity courses have been offered in Region I. Ms. Witherington asked the committee to contact her if there is interest in setting up any of these classes in the region. At the state level, the DOA is working with a multistate partnership with 13 other states. Wisconsin has a network called the Wisconsin Agrisecurity Resource Network. The Missouri Department of Agriculture is trying to mirror their program. The Missouri Department of Agriculture is working with SES Inc. in establishing a simulation of what an agriculture emergency would be like in our state. The Department of Agriculture would like to hold this simulation in southwestern Missouri. Ms. Witherington reported that the State Fair will be held August 12-22, 2010.

Ms. McMillen asked if there had been any interest for the newest biosecurity training. Ms. Witherington said that there have not been any classes scheduled for Region I.

Region I agriculture report: Total growth income from farm related sources is nearly $3.7million. Laclede County has the largest number of farms in Region I. Laclede County also has the most farms that raise beef cattle. Maries County has the most farms that raise hogs. Laclede County also has about 3,000 acres of grain farming. Agriculture is important to protect in MO. Agriculture is a $6 billion industry in Missouri and Region I contributes $3.7 million to that total.

DNR UPDATE: No report.

MUTUAL AID / IST(Incident Support Team): Paul Fennewald
Sherril Gladney has been appointed as the full time mutual aid coordinator for the state. She is a DPS employee in the Division of Fire Safety. She will work with the IST team, RHSOC team, and other mutual aid teams.

INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE:
Michelle Nicholson, with TetraTech, gave an update on the state interoperable communication equipment survey. Ms. Nicholson said there has been an increase in survey completion for Region I but we still only have about a five percent response. Ms. Nicholson will continue to work with agencies in completing the survey.

OHS UPDATE / HSAC OTHER INITIATIVES: Paul Fennewald
The Governor’s Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) meeting was held on April 7, 2010. The HSAC is making decisions on where to appropriate the grant money and they want input from the HSOC. A subcommittee headed by Paul Reuff to standardize homeland securities equipment statewide came up with at least six recommendations, which were all embraced by the Governor’s Advisory Council. OHS is trying to find the money to retrofit the trailer systems and equipment to meet these standards. It will not be necessary to write a new IJ to do this.

It was also discussed that we have another committee on the state level. This committee will develop credentialing standards. If you are buying a credentialing system with the 2010 money it must meet FY2010 standards. Badging systems and credentialing systems are two different things. Credentialing systems are only needed if you are going to deploy people to other states.

The 2010 grant app has been submitted in the first part of April. The State of Missouri already knows how much money we are going to receive. Please start thinking about what kinds of projects you want the money to be allocated to.

OHS has funded continuation of the ERIP school safety planning tool.

WMD hazmat teams are getting less and less money. OHS cannot continue to maintain the teams like we used to. OHS is bringing in people to work on strategy to see what level of capabilities are needed for the state.

The Assistance to Firefighters Grant just opened to accept applications. The Higher Education Institution Grant is also available. As of now, none have applied for those funds.

The state of Missouri Department of Public Safety recently acquired licenses to Adobe Connect. Paul Fennewald explained that this tool can be used to facilitate meetings and make it more convenient for everyone. Licenses have been purchased for every region.

Mr. Fennewald reported that The Safe Schools Conference will be held in July, 2010. Every region will have one scholarship available through the Department of Homeland Security that will cover the conference registration fees. Ten scholarships will also be made available to higher education students who are majoring in education or public safety. The conference is July 22-23, 2010 at Tan-Tara. On July 21 a conference on planning and responding to bomb threats in schools will be held at Tan-Tara. That training will be available to those who attend the conference.

RHSOC OLD BUSINESS:

Project updates – Amy McMillen
Ms. McMillen reported on the status of the satellite phone originally awarded to Maries County in April, 2009. Ms. McMillen sent a certified letter on behalf of Region I HSOC to Maries County Presiding Commissioner Ray Schwartze, dated March 16, 2010. The letter stated that the committee passed a motion allowing Maries County until April 23, 2010 to activate the satellite phone or it would be re-allocated to another jurisdiction. As of today’s date, the satellite vendor confirmed that there has been no attempt to activate the satellite phone and there has been no formal notification to the Region I HSOC on this issue. A motion was made by Mr. Yurecko to request the satellite phone be returned to HSOC for re-allocation to Rolla HSRT. Chief Kearse seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

Ms. McMillen reported on the status of the oxygen transfill system that was originally awarded to Dixon Ambulance District with FY06 grant dollars. At the time of accepting the equipment, Dixon Ambulance did not realize that the equipment had to be registered with FDA and did not feel they had the qualified personnel or a secure area to store the equipment. Dixon Ambulance returned the equipment to Ms. McMillen. This was a regional project and six different ambulance districts received the same oxygen transfill systems and emergency backup generators. Ms. McMillen reported that Ozark Central Ambulance is interested in accepting the equipment and was previously awarded a generator with FY07 funds. Mr. Ayres suggested notification be send to other ambulance districts asking them to submit a letter to the HSOC indicating if they are interested in obtaining the transfill system. Ms. McMillen will schedule a meeting with ambulance districts to check compliance on the remaining systems and will contact the remaining ambulance districts as Mr. Ayres suggested.

Ms. McMillen reported there is almost $200,000 from FY07 & FY08 grants that need to be spent by June 30, 2010. Ms. McMillen reported that there is $167 left in FY07 interoperable communications that needs to be re-allocated as the FY07 grant is scheduled to end June, 2010. Mr. Yurecko made a motion that the $167 be moved from the interoperability communications project to the EMS triage tag project. Mr. Smith seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS:

2010 NIMSCAST REGIONAL ROLL UP: Jonathan Ayres
MRPC has offered, once again, to do the regional NIMSCAST rollup. Mr. Witt made a motion that MRPC conduct the rollup. The motion was seconded by Mr. Baldwin, which passed unanimously.

ANNUAL MEETING
Amy McMillen led the discussion in choosing a date for the Region I Annual Meeting. There was discussion on possible dates and locations for the meeting. Last year the meeting was held at the St. James park. Missouri S&T offered to provide a location for the meeting last year as well. Amy McMillen will look into possible locations for the meeting. Ron Smith made a motion to hold the meeting on October 28, 2010. Doug Yurecko seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

NEW VICE CHAIR
Jonathon Ayres led discussion in selecting a new vice chair. Debbie Rhodes requested to step down as vice chair. Mr. Yurecko nominated George LaJoie. George LaJoie stated that he is willing to accept the position. Mr. Smith seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

IOC SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT:
Mr. Ayres passed out a handout which was a proposal on how to use the $5,000 that the region was recently awarded through the Interoperable Emergency Communication Grant Program. The deadline for completing this grant is August 2010. The proposal is for a regional Interoperability Communications Training. The cost for the training is $1,200. RHSOC will provide the money for lunch if it is less than $1,500. The money cannot be used for equipment, only for planning or training. It is a one day training with 30 training spots available. The target audience is all disciplines. Mr.Smith motioned to approve the proposal that Mr. Ayres presented. Mr. Yurecko seconded the motion. Mr. LaJoie brought up the concern participation may not be as high as desired because of having to travel. A vote on the motion was taken. The motion passed unanimously.

IOC Sub-Committee has set a tentative date for its next meeting for May 17, 2010. Notification will be sent out to all of the members of the sub-committee.

OPEN DISCUSSION:
Ms. McMillen presented the samples of the Region I HSOC logo that will be displayed on all equipment purchased with HS funds. Mr. Ayres stated that they are already on his truck if anyone is interested in seeing what they look like.

SCHEDULED MEETING DATES AND DEADLINES:
The next meeting is scheduled for July 22, 2010 at 2 pm.

ADJOURN:
Mark Kearse made a motion to adjourn. George LaJoie seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

The meeting adjourned at 3:18 p.m.

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Chairman, Jonathan Ayres Date

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Attest Date