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.

Coordinator Mastandrea called the Sarpy County LEPC 4 th Quarterly Meeting to order and thanked everyone for the outstanding turnout. The roll call was done by sign-in sheet. Coordinator Mastandrea reminded members to initial in the far right column next to their name if an appointee. If not an appointee but representing someone else, attendees were requested to find the name of the person on the sign-in list they were representing, to write their name legibly just above the appointee’s name and initial in the far right column of the sheet. Guests were asked to sign in on a separate sign-in list for guests. Coordinator Mastandrea said meetings were opened to the public and guests always welcome to attend.

Coordinator Mastandrea asked the members if they had a chance to review the minutes from the previous meeting. Handouts were provided at the meeting and members were e-mailed a link to the minutes that were posted on the LEPC website. Rod Buethe made a motion to approve the minutes from the 12 October 2005 meeting. Dick Williams seconded the motion. All were in favor, none opposed and motion passed unanimously. Coordinator Mastandrea thanked Dick for hosting the last meeting and providing refreshments.

BOARD REPORTS:

Chairman Report: Coordinator Mastandrea reported that Chairman Wilson had knee surgery, was recuperating and asked the committee to push forward with the 4 th quarterly meeting in his absence.

Vice Chairman: No report.

Information Coordinator: Coordinator Mastandrea advised the committee that he submitted the rewritten Local Emergency Operations Plan (LEOP) to the State. He reported that the State approved it and he was now collecting resolutions in support of it. He requested that members let him know if they find any changes, which was possible since the LEOP is a snapshot of a moving picture. Once he obtains all the resolutions, he will provide printed copies to fire and law enforcement chiefs, mayors and county and city clerks. He stated that a CD copy would be provided in addition to the printed copy. The State wants to get away from paper copies, so yearly updates will be sent on a CD. That means that members will receive a CD every year with the update. Coordinator Mastandrea told the members they should print out any updated section(s), remove old section(s), and replace with the updated one(s). He thought that after one 5-year cycle of getting updates on CD, members would be ready to go to disk-only versions of the LEOP.

Coordinator Mastandrea informed the committee that J.R. Reider from metro Omaha CERT had been replaced by Vickie Stevens, Medical Reserve Corps Coordinator from the United Way. He mentioned that he was working with a volunteer in Vickie Stevens office of the United Way to work on the new database for the Resource Book and thanked Vickie and her volunteer for their assistance. It was identified as a finding in the March Operation Secure Metro Exercise. Coordinator Mastandrea explained that the database would be redesigned to meet responder needs and would be a combined Resource Book for Douglas and Sarpy County resources. The database would include all kinds of resources, broken down by category. The intent is to provide information that responders would need in the field in time of disaster. Coordinator Mastandrea requested feedback from LE and Fire Chiefs regarding the lay-out of the database. He said their input would be critical and that the database would not be populated until he was sure it was designed properly to meet their needs.

Secretary: Secretary Reiter had no further report. Previous meeting minutes were approved earlier.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Exercise: Coordinator Mastandrea mentioned the upcoming Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Workshop scheduled on 18 January. He stated that most organizations should have received an invitation from Dave Points. He said it was important for agency representatives to attend for two reasons. First, it was a requirement for the $5.1M UASI grant. Second, it would afford the opportunity to hash out processes, understand each other’s roles and responsibilities, and find out what response support partners need The workshop was scheduled for a morning session only from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon and he hoped that those invited from the three counties would attend and take advantage of the opportunity afforded to dialogue with each other.

Legislative: Coordinator Mastandrea informed the committee of the next SERC Meeting to be held January 10, 2006 in Lincoln. Location had not yet been determined.

Right-to-Know (Outreach): Steve Young had no report.

Response Plan : Coordinator Mastandrea informed the committee that the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) issued guidelines for establishing NIMS compliance which were posted on its website at www. nebema.org. The guidance includes training recommendations for several different agencies and is based on individual level of authority and responsibility when responding to an emergency situation or incident. The website also includes information about completing independent study (IS) classes like IS 100 ICS and IS 700 NIMS. The IS courses are free and available on-line at training.fema.gov Coordinator Mastandrea thanked all those who completed training. Dale Tedder mentioned that Bellevue was hosting the 100/700 classes for police, fire and public works. He said e-mails were sent to Sarpy County agencies inviting them to the training on the 13 th and 26 th . Kirk Schuster from LaVista Fire was scheduled to teach the classes at the Bellevue Fire Training Site. The 100 class would be offered on one day, followed by 700 the next, so training would involve two 8-hr days. Coordinator Mastandrea emphasized the importance of taking the training because it would impact things like getting a disaster declaration and cost reimbursements in the future. It also means complying with Homeland Security Presidential Directives 5 and 8 and with the Governor’s Executive Order 05-02 issued in March 2005. Coordinator Mastandrea referenced the testimony given to Congress by the International Association of Fire Chiefs about how the lack of NIMS and ICS in LA hurt the Katrina response. Coordinator Mastandrea stated that members had until the end of September 2006 to get trained and encouraged everybody to get on board.

Training: Larry Lavelle replaced Dan Peterson as the 911 and Emergency Management Agency Director and Chair of the Training Subcommittee. Larry reiterated the importance of the 18 Jan Workshop. He said it was necessary not only to participate in these sorts of things, but to be eligible to receive future grant funding and ensure the right thing was done with any funding received. He said he was working with Dave Points to update information for the attendee lists. Larry told the members that if they had been designated as their department’s representative to attend the Workshop, that it was very important to do so.

Larry described putting together a NIMS training package for elected officials so they could go on-line and complete the training at their own pace. For those not yet trained, he recommended figuring out how to complete training through in-person classes in Bellevue or on-line. He said he was looking at collecting database information on training stats and verifying data that agencies might have already collected. Larry said he didn’t want copies of certificates, but wanted to be able to have information readily available for audit purposes.

Larry also provided information about the Emergency Response for Domestic Biological Incidents Course. The purpose of the course is to improve the ability of emergency service agencies to respond to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) incidents involving biological agents. The course would be free and provided locally through the Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP). He asked the members to let Coordinator Mastandrea know if they would be interested in having the class and could guarantee that there would be a turn-out. Coordinator Mastandrea stated that NEMA has one point of contact who schedules these kinds of classes. The jurisdiction is required to provide three dates and a training location. The dates need to be at least two months out to enable ODP to schedule instructors, lodging and airfare. Kirk Schuster mentioned that ODP instructors were scheduled to teach a WMD class 27-29 March and 30 March through 1 April at the Bellevue Fire Training Site. The 27-29 March class was full, but the second class was available if anybody wants to attend. Kirk pointed out that course flyers were posted in the Bellevue Fire Training Site. Larry thanked Kirk for bringing that up as another opportunity for committee members. Coordinator Mastandrea indicated that because of the outstanding interest, he was sure that the class could be brought back if needed. Coordinator Mastandrea told Kirk to sign him up for the second offering and Larry indicated that he had already done that for both himself and Coordinator Mastandrea.

A question was asked about the location for 18 January Workshop. Larry informed the committee that the Workshop would be held at the Firefighters’ Union Hall on 60 th and Grover. The program for the day would include a brief overview and county breakout, followed by individual county reports. After that, there would be a breakout by disciplines including law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services, public health, volunteer agencies and elected officials. That again would be followed by group reports and then a quick hotwash of the entire Workshop. Larry explained that becomes the first of a series of building blocks leading up to the Full Scale exercise 27-28 October, 2006. Coordinator Mastandrea said those would comprise the big exercises for 2006. Because of construction at Offutt, there wouldn’t be an Air Show Exercise. Coordinator Mastandrea expected that Bellevue would conduct its annual mass casualty drill in September.

Coordinator Mastandrea explained the program for tonight’s meeting would be a shortened version of the first part of the 18 Jan Workshop. He said the committee members would talk through a scenario and play a little “what if”.

OLD BUSINESS: Coordinator Mastandrea asked for any old business. Veon Dillon introduced himself, said he was associated with Omaha Metro CERT, and mentioned efforts to get CERT up and running in Sarpy County. He told the committee that CERT received a grant this year. He mentioned a CERT Steering Committee run under the auspices of Curtis Rainge. However, he pointed out that Sarpy County did not have a Citizens’ Corps Council and that several LEPCs in other counties had taken on that responsibility as a subcommittee of the LEPC.

Veon described the current scope of the CERT program in Sarpy County which included 8 trained instructors and 80 trained citizens, one of which was operating out of Bellevue. He thought that to do things right, CERT needed a Citizens’ Corps Council to oversee CERT operations and to supervise and steer CERT in the direction the county would like the emergency response teams to go. Veon indicated that the May LEPC Meeting Minutes referenced the formation of a subcommittee to look at the issue and he wanted to know if there was interest by the LEPC to form a subcommittee to manage the CERT program in Sarpy County.

Coordinator Mastandrea suggested that if the LEPC put a Steering Committee together it would include many of the same members as the LEPC. He said that at the very lowest level, CERT helps in member neighborhoods after a disaster. In bigger disasters, CERT members can be pulled from all over the country to assist, just like they did two years ago for the hurricane situations in Florida. He asked the committee to consider how to integrate CERT into the plan. Coordinator Mastandrea mentioned that if CERT had a separate committee, most of the LEPC members’ organizations would be going to those meetings anyway. He asked if the LEPC wanted to do it as a subcommittee of the LEPC which would be comprised of the number of persons it took to meet the category requirements. Coordinator Mastandrea suggested this could be an opportunity for LEPC members to change from the current subcommittees they were members of. Subcommittees include training, exercise, legislative, response plan and outreach (right-to-know). Initially the Citizens Corps Subcommittee would need to meet more frequently but meeting frequency could be reduced to quarterly once the program was better established. Coordinator Mastandrea stressed that CERT was going to need to integrate into the LEOP, especially in the bigger disasters. He explained that CERT fell under the auspices of Omaha Fire in Douglas County. He said they were trying to sort out who they would report to in Sarpy County. Vickie Stevens said that would include the whole Citizens’ Corps Council including MRC, Volunteers in Police Service, Neighborhood Watch and CERT. Coordinator Mastandrea told the committee that the recommendation was made, but never voted upon, to place CERT under the LEPC as a separate subcommittee. Jane Nitchals asked how many people would need to be on that subcommittee. She thought it would be logical to do it that way. Coordinator Mastandrea asked her if she was making a motion to have an LEPC Subcommittee act as the Citizen Corps Council.

Secretary Reiter asked for clarification regarding a concern noted in the previous minutes about liability. Veon Dillon said that liability was sort of a separate issue. He explained that as self-activating emergency response teams, CERT still needed the Citizens Corps to provide guidance and direction from the county. CERT members would be able to help Sarpy County citizens before the first responders could get there, and as greater need comes along, they could get activated to go to other places and that’s where the liability issue comes in. Coordinator Mastandrea said that CERT members are covered by the insurance of the agency which activates them. If called up by Omaha Fire, CERT members are covered by Omaha Fire’s insurance. Veon said CERT members from this area were activated by the State to assist in Hastings, NE and those 24 people were then covered under the State liability program.

J.J. Kuzma said he would support the CERT Subcommittee of the LEPC and seconded Jane’s motion. Coordinator Mastandrea asked if the committee members felt they knew enough to vote on the motion. Larry Lavelle said that once the Subcommittee was approved, one of the first tasks would be to ensure they understand the whole issue of liability and MOUs. Larry recommended modeling on places that have those things already in place. Ron Clark advised that CERT was going to be here regardless so this would provide an opportunity to administer some control over their activities. Omaha Fire placed them under their wing, and Sarpy County should put them under somebody’s wing to exercise some kind of control. Veon said that’s what they were looking for. He conveyed that CERT didn’t want to be perceived as loose cannons running around in the county. CERT members were concerned citizens who want citizens to be prepared for emergencies. Sarpy County CERT members wanted guidance and direction coming from some level within the county that would help ensure they were moving in the right direction and getting the kind of training that would best benefit the citizens of the county. Citizens’ Corps helps ensure that CERT does the right thing and spends the resources obtained from grants properly.

Coordinator Mastandrea offered that the Subcommittee could meet anytime. He reported that the Steering Committee had been meeting the last Tuesday morning of each month with Curtis Rainge, Veon Dillon, and United Way. Coordinator Mastandrea asked for any other questions or comments. Hearing none, he asked if the LEPC wanted to act as a Citizens Corps Council? A vote of the members was taken. All were in favor, none opposed and motion passed unanimously. Coordinator Mastandrea told the members to sign up on their way out if they wanted to join that Subcommittee. He advised that members were welcome to be on more than one subcommittee.

NEW BUSINESS: Coordinator Mastandrea reminded the committee about moving the meeting dates to the second Wednesday of the second month in each quarter. Meeting dates would then be 8 February, 10 May, 9 August (he recommended moving that back because school would not have started yet), and 8 November. Coordinator Mastandrea asked the members if they wanted to tentatively save 8 Feb, 10 May, 9 Aug, and 9 Nov meeting dates for 2006. Steve Young moved, seconded by J.J. Kuzma to tentatively use those dates for next year’s meetings. All were in favor, none opposed, and motion passed unanimously. Next, Coordinator Mastandrea asked for volunteers to host each of those meetings. Dale Tedder, Dick Williams, Jane Nitchals, and Robin Gullie volunteered to host a meeting at their facilities. Coordinator Mastandrea indicated that Midlands Hospital would host the February Meeting, Offutt Fire would host the May Meeting, Werner would host the August meeting, and Bellevue Fire the last meeting. Coordinator Mastandrea asked for anything else for the good of the group. Hearing none, he moved on to the program.

Program: Coordinator Mastandrea described the scenario for the TTX. Earlier in the afternoon, a Burlington Train hit a semi tractor trailer that was stalled on the tracks near I-80 and Giles Road. A railcar derailed and a plume was released. He went around the room and asked the members what their department would do and what help it would need. The first question responders asked was about the weather conditions. Coordinator Mastandrea advised that it was mostly cloudy, 39 degrees with winds out of the west at 12 knots

The next questions involved mutual aid, whose district the incident occurred in, and what caused the plume. Coordinator Mastandrea explained that a leaking railcar released chlorine. The incident occurred in Omaha, but Omaha HAZMAT was working another incident, so Bellevue HAZMAT would need to provide mutual aid. Secretary Reiter asked for the rate of release. Coordinator Mastandrea said he trained Bellevue HAZMAT on CAMEO, so they would know what to look for. He advised them to go in and describe the size of the hole. He reported that the incident involved derailment of more than one railcar. A wheel from the railcar behind the chlorine car smashed into the tank and punctured it. It produced a rectangular hole with an opening 6 inches long and 12 inches wide.

The next questions concerned the population in the affected area. Coordinator Mastandrea reported 33,310 Sarpy County residents would be affected by the plume. Secretary Reiter asked about sensitive populations. Coordinator Mastandrea said that Papillion Police Department, Papillion Fire, South Memorial Library, Tara Plaza, Tara Hills Golf Course, Bakers Square, LaVista Fire, LaVista Police, LaVista Falls Golf Course, Oak Hills Country Club, and others would be inside the plume. The area also included a lot of unincorporated county so he asked responders to consider how to close off all those roads. A half a square foot hole in a chlorine railcar would dump its contents in 2 minutes, so it would be a very quick release. One suggestion was to call for assistance from State Patrol to close the Interstate. Omaha and Douglas County Sheriff would be concerned with closing roads up north.

Coordinator Mastandrea asked the members to think in terms of evacuating or sheltering in place and how to get the word out to residents. He advised that EMA would contact National Weather which would send notification over the all-hazards radio and the media would rebroadcast it from there. He cautioned that this was a rolling plume which moved faster near the source and slower near the end of the footprint. Because of the time of day, the atmosphere would tend to break up the plume. Coordinator Mastandrea explained that early morning was a bad time for a release because the atmosphere was relatively stable with the least wind of the day. Veon Dillon asked at what point in the plume would the effect of chlorine gas dissipate to the point where it would no longer be considered a hazard. Coordinator Mastandrea stated that within 15 minutes, you would be safe near the source because the plume would have passed. At most, you would have to shelter in place for an hour.

Jane Nitchals stated there could still be casualties even with a shelter in place announcement. Coordinator Mastandrea replied that you would expect that because cars would be on the road. Jane asked if anyone would call the Emergency Department to notify them about patients being transported. Bellevue Fire indicated that they would do that. Coordinator Mastandrea asked if everyone felt pretty confident about what their agency would be responsible for doing. He also asked what responders would need from other organizations for support. Coordinator Mastandrea asked Chief Gullie if Offutt Fire would be able to provide mutual aid or be restricted to the base. Chief Gullie indicated that Offutt Fire would be ready to help.

Coordinator Mastandrea asked Mitch Beaumont if he had an 800 MHz radios. He said that about 10 years ago, some of the TV stations and Omaha World Herald bought 800 MHz radios that they can receive only, and they were given a media talk group. EMA has it which is one more way to get the word out. Some members did not know there was a media talk group.

J.J. Kuzma asked about agricultural areas inside the plume. Coordinator Mastandrea stated that there was minimal development way out to the east end. Coordinator Mastandrea asked who would be the Incident Commander. Omaha HAZMAT is busy but would have to be IC and mutual aid in specialized help in terms of Bellevue HAZMAT and maybe Offutt HAZMAT. Coordinator Mastandrea asked the Fire Department where they would put decon because the chlorine would be a rolling cloud. Chlorine would escape as a mixture of gas and aerosol and as it escaped, it would flash boil. The point of rupture was at the bottom of the railcar. It the point of rupture was at the top, it would be a vapor release which would take longer to release because it would auto-refrigerate and produce a longer plume.

The responders considered transportation of evacuees. Coordinator Mastandrea advised that this incident happened so quickly that it would take an enormous amount of preparedness and reverse 911 system to be able to call people to tell them to close and lock windows and doors. J.J. Kuzma asked who Burlington Railroad would be required to notify first. Coordinator Mastandrea indicated that Burlington was required to call 911within 15 minutes. The railcar would have emptied its contents before first responders even heard about the incident.

Coordinator Mastandrea asked for other questions or comments. He said that he was scheduled to teach a 3-day CAMEO class at Offutt on 22-24 March and could probably get some civilians in to be trained. He then thanked everyone for participating. He reported that there had been a lot of good planning and training activities this year, along with good exercises. He conveyed his appreciation for everything the members and their organizations had done and hoped that 2006 would be another good year.

With no further business, Dick Williams motioned for adjournment, seconded by Rod Buethe. All were in favor, none opposed and motion passed unanimously.

Respectfully Submitted,

MARIA REITER

Secretary

Created February 1, 2006