The Stevens County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) met at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at the Hugoton EMS training center for their regular meeting/working lunch.
The meeting had a good turnout with LEPC committee members, Harry Bartel, RoGlenda Coulter, Bailey Esarey, Richard Everett, Josh Grubbs, Cathy Hernandez, Debbie Hickson, Brent Inkelaar, Rodney Kelling, Courtney Leslie, Joy Lewis, Tony Martin, John Moser, Judy Parsons, Terry Pierson, Paula Rowden, Susan Schulte and Phil Thompson in attendance. Also present were, Trista Nordyke, Adrian Howie and Jack Rowden.
President Paula Rowden called the meeting to order. Following the meal provided by the EMS, Paula said she thought everyone already knew each other, but asked that everyone introduce themselves. Minutes from the December 2015 meeting, emailed earlier from Susan Schulte to each member, were gone over and the agenda was presented with requests for any changes. Motions were made and passed to accept both.
Everyone was thanked for attending and Paula gave a brief history of the LEPC being formed. She said she observed a real need for community safety after 9/11. She explained how the further we get from 9/11, the more we remove ourselves from those feelings of threat. She then added that we are in a season where weather is a great concern and wonders if we have processes to manage “a Greensburg”. She continued saying that it’s organizing our community to manage circumstances beyond what one single entity could handle. Therefore, partner relationships are important amongst all entities in our community.
The subject then turned to Emergency Support Functions (ESF) and Richard Everett was introduced into the conversation. Paula said that the Health Department has to have their ESF 8 report completed by July 1, 2016 which says they have talked about their role and the community has knowledge and knows the needs of public health. Richard then explained the ESF 8 and told Rodney there were changes that need to be made. Rodney used the actual plan to show and make the changes. He said he would then send changes to state for their approval.
Water testing and test kits were discussed after that. Tony Martin said that the Heart of America Chapter of the International Code Council (ICC), which the City is a member of, could have people out here within an hour to help with testing. Paula said that’s good to know and added that she would check with KDHE to see if they have free water testing kits that we could store. The group then discussed what is being tested for and the testing procedures. The group agreed that there is a need for memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the entities that have agreed to help. Rodney explained that during the ice storm in Moscow bottled water for drinking and a fire tanker to bucket flush the toilets etc. were needed. Motion was made and passed to accept the changes to the ESF 8.
Rodney then scanned through the entire ESF 8 plan and explained that ESF 10 has to be looked at and approved every year. All the others have to be looked at and approved every five years. Rodney went briefly through the entire plan.
Paula then turned the discussion to sheltering asking how the current school finance issues and hours will effect using the school to shelter. Adrian Howie, USD 210 Superintendent, explained the issues it would create including using the FEMA shelter in the weight room at the high school. He said June 23 they will meet and he hopes they have the issues resolved. Paula explained that this is the responsibility of the group to find new shelters etc. She said we need to have MOU’s to set up mass dispensing locations for patients to come for meds. Adrian said the school is the perfect fit. Paula commented that she had an MOU with her for him to sign for sheltering. Judy suggested checking with the churches. Rodney explained that these shelters must be set to American Red Cross Standards.
Paula said that Richard Everett organized a meeting with the Garden City Red Cross representative to share information. She also said she had an eye-opening experience because she thought we knew our “go-to” people and had an ongoing relationship with Red Cross. She found out that there isn’t an organization structure recognized by Red Cross in SW Kansas. Joy explained that it is their issue and then explained what happened. Paula said she understood, but continued saying if we have a mass emergency that we will need to have Red Cross assist. Paula said that she would like to have Corey Becker with Red Cross to come back, possibly at the next LEPC meeting, to re-establish the relationship. Joy noted that she would be surprised if they actually attend. Richard Everett said that unless something else comes up he will make sure Corey is there. Red Cross’ current structure and locations were also discussed. As an example, Richard explained that Red Cross would supply Paula with boxes and cards that would be given to someone who lost their home in a fire. Joy told Paula that she has the boxes and cards in the other room if she wanted them. Paula said this is something that she visited with Corey about. She told him there are people in the community that still feel they are an active part of this organization and we need to get better lines of communication. Richard gave examples of changes that have been made by Red Cross.
The attendees were asked if there were any other things that the LEPC members had questions about. Joy said that we need to have a “real-live” mock exercise. Debbie Hickson explained the “fire in the boiler room” mock drill they had at Kansas Dairy Ingredients (KDI). Rodney said they are always looking for something to train on and a place to do the training. Potential times and scenarios were discussed. Rodney discussed one he would like to do involving the school and asked Adrian Howie if he would work with them. Adrian was all for doing an exercise involving the school in the future. He explained exercises he participated in with other school districts. Trista suggested doing a full scale exercise next year and involving the Incident Management Team (IMT). Rodney agreed and Trista said Todd would probably come up with a scenario.
Rodney explained that Todd creating the exercise isn’t free. Cathy said if LEPC is serious about doing this they might be able to get assistance from KDEM at no cost instead of going through a contractor. Joy thought we need to “just throw it out there” without a lot of planning so we can see where we are lacking. The group then turned to starting with a small exercise at KDI. Rodney said he would like to be involved in the planning. Debbie said that in their exercise they do not tell anyone so no one can plan for it. Paula noted that you don’t get to plan for a natural disaster. Debbie added that they find out what they do right and what they need to improve on during these exercises.
Richard Everett discussed the Mass Fatality Plan which is attached to ESF 8. He said that some of the current LEPC was present when the plan was written. He explained that five SW Kansas counties came together to write the plan. He said this plan was reviewed by four different district coroners and they all agreed that it is a very good plan and signed off on it. Furthermore 14 counties in SW Kansas are using it without a lot of changes to it. He quickly went through the plan and said he would like to have approval of the plan. Motion was made to approve the Mass Fatality Appendix as written and motion carried.
Mr. Everett then discussed a Mass Care Health and Medical Toolbox they developed for the Health Department. He said that it is part of the Mass Fatality Plan that tells you, for example, how to set up shelter and how to deal with an illness in the shelter. Motion was made and passed to approve the Mass Care Health and Medical Toolbox as presented.
Paula thanked everyone for attending. The next LEPC meeting was scheduled for September 7, 2016 at the EMS Training Center. Meeting adjourned.
