The Sarpy County Local Emergency Planning Committee was convened in open and public session on 12 June 2002 at 7:30 PM at the Papillion Fire Hall. The following members or alternates were present according to the sign-in sheet: Jeff Book, Bob DeVriendt, Gary Fliehmann, Marilyn Gable, Robin Gullie, Jane Hedges, Scott Keep, J.J. Kuzma, Joe Mastandrea, Wade Peterson, Tim Schram, Maria Reiter, Matt Wallace, Dick Williams, Steve Young. Guests were Jim Rogers, Douglas County Emergency Management Agency Assistant Director, and Rob Reiter.

Advanced notice of the meeting was published in the Bellevue Leader and Papillion Times. Copies of Proof of Publication are on file in the Sarpy County Clerk’s Office. All proceedings were taken while the convened meeting was open to the attendance of the public.

Secretary Reiter made a few announcements before the meeting got started. She reminded the membership to sign in on either the sign-in sheet located up front or the one passed around. She also requested members speak loudly and clearly for remote microphone pick up. Chairman Fliehmann then opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

BOARD REPORTS:

Chairman Report: Chairman Fliehmann advised that there were no reportable Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) incidents last quarter. In June, Bellevue Fire Department responded to 5 calls that included carbon monoxide detector in residence, gas stove left on all night, 1-gallon gas pump spill, carbon dioxide gas from automotive battery being charged, and a vehicle leaking fuel. They had 3 call outs in July including a carbon monoxide call where the reading was 31 ppm (8-hr TWA is 25 ppm), 4-car train derailment at Chandler Road and Fort Crook-no leaks, and MOGAS leaking from a Jeep Wrangler in the auto repair shop. In August, they had 6 responses which involved gas left on stove – ventilated and turned over to the gas company, HAZMAT call spill which used 10 bags of floor dry, 2-gallon oil-type spill which used 8 bags of floor dry, call of chlorine and bean oil mixture in a sealed container, false call for bled-down gas lines -PCS Nitrogen not notified, and a 4-gallon gas leak from the bottom of a car.

Chairman Fliehmann read a letter of resignation from the Fiscal Committee Chairman, Ken Noel. The letter mentioned Mr. Noel’s decision to become inactive in Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES). Mr. Noel expressed his pleasure in serving with the Sarpy County LEPC but recommended contacting someone else for representation from Douglas County ARES. Chairman Fliehmann motioned, seconded by Steve Young, to accept Mr. Noel’s resignation with regret. Motion passed unanimously. Chairman Fliehmann stated that he would send a letter of appreciation to Mr. Noel for his service to the LEPC and informing him of the committee’s acceptance of his resignation.

Chairman Fliehmann reported on issues from the 4 September LEPC Board Meeting. The first concerned combining the Secretary and Treasurer position with concurrence from the Secretary to take on the Treasurer’s duties. Next issue had to do with revitalizing LEPC membership. Chairman Fliehmann told the membership that there is a basic corps of people that show up to committee meetings and there are members on the official roll we haven’t seen in 2 years. According to the bylaws, if a member misses two consecutive meetings without notification to the Committee Chair or sending an alternate, the member shall be considered in inactive status. Chairman Fliehmann stated he planned to review attendance from the last four meetings and send letters of reminders requesting support/alternates from those members who have not attended regularly in the past. Finally, the chairman mentioned that the Board discussed several good ideas for future programs and he would work to bring them out over the next year.

Chairman Fliehmann reminded the membership that elections would be held next meeting and that next meeting had been moved to January 8, 2003 so as not to interfere with the holidays. The chairman encouraged the membership to let one of the four officers know of anyone interested in serving as Chairman, Vice Chairman, or Secretary/Treasurer.

Chairman Fliehmann informed the committee of a new policy he intends to implement. From now on, whenever he receives a new member application, he plans to send the member a letter of welcome and notification of acceptance to the LEPC. All members will be assigned to a committee and committees will meet twice a year.

Vice Chairman: No report.

Information Coordinator: Coordinator Mastandrea reminded the committee that the suspense for submission of updates to the Local Emergency Operations Plan (LEOP) is September 12. He will hand deliver them to the State on September 13. When he gets them back, he will distribute copies to all respective agencies. Coordinator Mastandrea advised that the LEPC Resource Book, originally forecast for June completion, has been deferred indefinitely. He explained that a brand new Department of Justice (DOJ) grant has taken top priority. This involves $3.5M for FY02 with 80% of the grant money going to the locals. The Governor declared that the FY02 DOJ grant will be administered by NEMA at the state level and county EMA at the local level. Coordinator Mastandrea mentioned that he had a few copies of the authorized equipment list available. Every fire and rescue department, law enforcement, and the county health board are eligible to apply for equipment items off the authorized list. Coordinator Mastandrea explained that Sarpy County has experience with this grant program. The county completed a vulnerability and needs assessment and put together a terrorism response strategy. Because of that work, Bellevue HAZMAT Team was awarded $110K in DOJ grants. Coordinator Mastandrea emphasized that anyone representing fire rescue, law enforcement, or health department needs to ensure that he has their respective agencies on the list and that they meet with his committee to work on a needs assessment and response strategy.

Coordinator Mastandrea mentioned that the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) appointed all current LEPC members two years ago. He plans to resubmit everyone’s name, including any new members, for reappointment to the LEPC for two more years. Coordinator Mastandrea indicated that all handouts for tonight’s meeting were stapled together as one packet. This included a reminder about 21-24 August 2003 EPA Region VII LEPC Conference, meeting agenda, and minutes from the 13 March meeting which have not yet been approved.

Secretary Report: Secretary Reiter asked for a motion to approve the 13 March meeting minutes. Steve Young motioned, seconded by Scott Keep. Motion passed unanimously. Secretary Reiter then read the 12 June meeting minutes. Chairman Fliehmann asked for a motion to accept the 12 June meeting minutes. Bob DeVriendt motioned, seconded by Jane Hedges. Motion passed unanimously.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Exercise: Secretary Reiter stated that she would review the 27 July Air Show Major Accident Response Exercise during the program portion of the meeting. Coordinator Mastandrea briefed the committee that the Omaha Metropolitan Medical Response System will be sponsoring a tabletop exercise on 18 November looking at large scale biological/chemical incidents.

Financial: Chairman Fliehmann told the members that the Fiscal Committee Chair has resigned and the Secretary has now taken that position over. Chairman Fliehmann passed around an 8 x 10-color picture of the LEPC Booth from the Sarpy County Fair. For the booth, he purchased two vinyl Sarpy County LEPC signs, and a grant has been applied for to pay for them. Coordinator Mastandrea stated that the grant paperwork would close out this week along with the LEOP updates. The Secretary encouraged the members for donations to be put into the general fund.

Legislative: Coordinator Mastandrea stated that the next SERC meeting would be held on Tuesday, 15 October, 1:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Airport Best Western. LEPC members will be re-appointed at that meeting. As mentioned in the June meeting minutes, the SERC hired a contractor to develop proposed LEPC criteria. The criteria have been out for three months, but we haven’t heard anything further. Given the perpetual State revenue shortfalls and the emergency sessions to cut the budget, Coordinator Mastandrea told the members he doesn’t expect an LEPC funding bill to be submitted. He also seconded the Secretary’s call for donations.

Outreach: Chairman Fliehmann talked about the LEPC Booth at the Sarpy County Fair and thanked Commissioner Schram for obtaining the booth and the Secretary and Information Coordinator for manning it. Secretary Reiter added a thank you to Rob Reiter for helping to man the booth also. The committee members thanked the Chairman for all the work putting together the pamphlets for the booth. A question was asked from the floor if much information was passed out from the booth. Coordinator Mastandrea explained that we had a broad display with a lot of different materials. For those who didn’t see us at the fair, the booth was located between the Democrat Booth and the Republicans so when most folks were going by, they tended towards one and away from the other. So, it was hard to get people’s attention. Coordinator Mastandrea reported that for the folks that stopped by and chatted with us, many had no idea what Shelter-in-Place meant. So, the booth provided a good opportunity to explain to people what might be required of them in an incident, whether it’s a fixed location or a transportation incident.

Response Plan: Coordinator Mastandrea reminded the members to submit any changes to the LEOP by 12 September so they could be incorporated into the next revision. All updates will be submitted to NEMA on Friday, 13 September.

Training: Coordinator Mastandrea provided the report. He discussed that the outlook from NEMA is that any money previously available for training is being diverted to the federal reorganization of departments – the new Office of Homeland Security. As a result, there may be very little to none of the usual training next year. Usually, there is a multi-page training calendar which contains many class offerings, but that is not going to be the case this year. By and large, the training calendar we are all used to seeing is somewhat between in jeopardy and not to be seen again. Coordinator Mastandrea suggested that some classes might be offered if we can get 15-20 people together who want to take a course and an instructor is available to teach it. Coordinator Mastandrea encouraged all members to plan to attend the LEPC Conference at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Omaha, 21-24 August 2003. At least 3 classes will be offered on Thursday, 21 August, to include HAZWOPER refresher, CAMEO/MARPLOT/ALOHA update, and a grant-writing workshop. There will be separate tracks running Friday afternoon and all day Saturday to include Terrorism, Communications, Transportation, Health, and HAZMAT. These tracks have been expanded from last year’s conference to make it as beneficial as possible. Coordinator Mastandrea recommended the members take advantage of this training opportunity and attend all, or as much of, this free conference if possible.

Program: Secretary Reiter reviewed the 27 July full scale Air Show Exercise. Secretary Reiter explained that almost without exception, any Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) incident would quickly overwhelm a military installation or community’s ability to respond. It is therefore imperative to establish partnering relationships. Secretary Reiter urged agencies to seek out opportunities to engage their counterparts to exchange capabilities information and to seek and leverage training opportunities as often as possible. Having strong community relationships provides staffs greater understanding about how different agencies are organized to respond and what their capabilities are. For military installations, most legal departments formalize community relationships through Mutual Aid Assist Agreements. Secretary Reiter then showed a 3-minute videotape produced by the Air Force News Service which did a nice job presenting the exercise from a joint perspective. The emphasis behind the exercise was joint response and integration between the military and community which has become so important today. Secretary Reiter highlighted some of the high points from the exercise. Namely, it was the largest full-scale exercise staged by the base, it boasted about 1,000 participants including 200 boy scout casualty actors, the staffs of 11 metro area hospitals, 6 area fire departments, Life Flight, Salvation Army, and Red Cross. At the community hotwash, the Vice Wing Commander, Col John McLean, and Bellevue Mayor Jerry Ryan, recommended that this type of exercise be done more than once a year. The current Vice Wing Commander, Col John Daly agreed to conduct another large-scale Air Show Exercise tentatively scheduled for Saturday, 26 July 2003.

OLD BUSINESS: None

NEW BUSINESS: Secretary Reiter shared with the committee an informative brochure on Shelter-in- Place produced by the Pottawattamie County LEPC to educate the public. Chairman Fliehmann agreed to contact them to see if our LEPC could use it for public information for Sarpy County residents. Secretary Reiter also passed around a 4-part series of articles about an anhydrous ammonia incident that occurred outside Minot, ND. Presented in The Forum, "Derailed Lives" tells the story of Minot residents who struggled to survive after a toxic cloud poured from punctured rail cars in the early morning hours of 18 January. One person died and more than 1,000 were injured from the incident. Many residents are still experiencing adverse chronic health effects from that incident.

Adjournment: Date of the next meeting is 12 February at Midlands Hospital. Due to technical difficulties, Secretary Reiter was unable to run through the CD of still photos produced from the Air Show Exercise. Jane Hedges offered to upload the program on the computer equipment at Midlands Hospital and will show it at the next meeting. Chairman Fliehmann thanked everyone for coming. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Submitted by

 MARIA REITER

Secretary

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Created January 8, 2002