February 23, 2017

Garnett, Kansas

The Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) met on Thursday, February 23, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. with the following members present: John Alford, EKAE; Mike Barger, East Kansas Agri-Energy; Todd Barnes, EKAE; Mick Brinkmeyer, Anderson County Emergency Mgt./Fire; Jerry Howarter, Anderson County Commissioner; Kristie Kinney, LEPC Secretary/City of Garnett; Tom Lasser, Hawkins, Inc.; Samantha Mason, SEK MCHD; Wes McClain, Anderson County Sheriff Office; Trent McCown, KDWPT; J.D. Mersman, LEPC Chairman/Anderson County Fire/Emergency Mgt./Fire; Bob Mills, City of Garnett Power Plant; Dawn Moody, Anderson County Communications Center; Meg Pearson, United Way; Kevin PeKarek, City of Garnett Police Chief; Kevin Ryan, KDOT; Pat Tate, City of Garnett Fire Chief; Mike Thweatt, Kansas Highway Patrol,

Absent: Don Blome, USD #365; Vern Brown, Advocate Newspaper; Tabitha Clark, USD #365; Scott Harris, Anderson County EMS; Dave Kueser, Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline; Tom Laiter, Anderson County Deputy; Don Nungesser, Anderson County Coroner; Keith Peine, Kansas National Guard; Travis Rockers, Anderson County Hospital Engineering; Vern Valentine, Anderson County Sheriff; and Daris Wyatt, MFA Oil.

Also attending: Denny Landess, Phillips 66 Pipeline

CALL TO ORDER

J.D. Mersman called the meeting to order at 10:04 a.m. Introductions were made of committee members and guests.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Kristie Kinney appologized that she had not finished the minutes from December 29, 2016 due to undergoing the 6 ½ weeks of daily radiation treatments now. We will approve the December minutes at our next meeting.

CHAIRMAN REPORT

J.D. Mersman reported that there was a hazardous material release in the county on February 8, 2017. The accident involved a 850 gallon anhydrous tank on 1100 Road east of Westphalia. There were no injuries. Leroy Coop handled the cleanup. Jamie Poire worked with them as an expert. The weather service gave a wind report and the fumes were going over fields. Mick Brinkmeyer added that responders let the tank vent out which took about 2 hours.

Tom Lassar reported that a lot of farmers have switched to Liquid Ammonium Sulfate since it is more stable. It is not as cost effective, but it is more stable. In addition, drug dealers/users are not able to make meth with it.

J.D. Mersman reported his department reports back to Kansas Department of Emergency Management (KDEM) on Web EOC. During large events, Emergency Management is able to update electronically to KDEM, request resources, and communicate with KDEM. A phone call starts the process and then the department manages the incidents on Web EOC. Dawn Moody in dispatch is able to log burn permits and it identifies the districts. This allows name searches on all of an individuals burn permits issued. Trent McCown questioned if it is able to keep track of out of control burns that the fire department is dispatched to in order to track if this is something an individual does more than once. The hardest part of this is updating the system during an emergency. The hospital now has access to Web EOC. In the past there was discussions on getting the City access to it as well. City burn permits are also logged into the system.

J.D. Mersman reported that we recently had some reportable incidents. On October 6, 2016, an ethanol truck went on it’s side on Main Street. Another reportable incident on February 14, 2017 when KCP&L was doing horizontal trenching for a water line and hit a underground transformer at 33965 NE 2200 Road in Greeley. They lost 5 gallons of tranformer oil.

NEW BUSINESS

J.D. Mersman reported that many companies are putting a Coop Plan, Continuity of Operations Plan, in place. His definition of a Coop Plan is “The ability to maintain primary mission essential functions during a wide rage of emergencies.” He passed out worksheets for everyone to work with members of their organization to determine the primary mission essention functions for a scenerio should we had an ice storm where we are without power for 72 hours. He added that the city and county are examples of organizations with a broad spectrum of order of succession. There are four (4) steps in the planning process:

· Identify essential functions your organization must maintain no matter what the situation is;

· Outline order of succession within your organization in the event key players are out of the game;

· Assure the delegation of authority is in place for those in order of succession;

· Think about alternative sites you can operate from in the event the primary site is out of service.

Meg Pearson reported that in a disaster, people can call 211 which is answered by the United Way Call Center in Wichita and they call Meg’s cell phone. They have a 45 minute response time. Franklin County has a lot of homeless people and she questioned what do we do with them in cold weather. She recommended contracting someone to come in and assist with a shelter from mental health and law enforcement personnel. Since people are sleeping in close and open proximity, it would be good to have law enforcement there so no one is taken advantage of or other problems. Volunteers can also be directed to call 211 so Meg can coordinate the volunteers in a meaningful way. Donations can also come through by calling 211 to see what the local needs are.

Meg Pearson said she uses Google Board for her order of succession on their website. You can limit who can see it and who can edit it. Jerry Howarter asked J.D. Mersman to do the same for a list of the order of succession for all LEPC members to see. Meg volunteered to set it up. She will send the link to J.D. Mersman so he can send it to all LEPC members with the sign in.

Denny Landess reported Phillips 66 now is pushing that if there is an emergency they talk to emergency management and the sheriff’s department. Getting to know who to talk to is important. That is the reason they are going out and meeting members of the LEPC’s. J.D. Mersman said that emergency management tries to go to the pipeline safety meetings. It was noted that Phillip 66 and Southern Star was not there. Denny replied that Phillips 66 decided to go through the local emergency management rather than the pipeline group.

Trent McCown said we learned in the 2002 ice storm that we will have several key people out working to clear roadways, restore power, etc. Those key people need help too, so we need volunteers helping those key people by clearing their driveways, etc. so they can keep focused on getting their work done. We need to keep a list of who is out working, then volunteers should help them since they can’t work on their own properties.

Jerry Howarter said during the 2002 ice storm, Roger Brummel, a local buisness owner, ordered 500 sandwiches from Country Mart for the workers. Mick Brinkmeyer reported that the fire auxillary is working with Yoder’s Country Store to provide food in emergencies. Bob Mills said in the 2002 ice storm they have three (3) meals a day at the power plant and once in the middle of the night from the women’s fire department auxillary. When other cities came to town to help, the City of Garnett put them in cots at the fire station where they had hot meals and showers. The school district brought a bunch of food in as well.

Kristie Kinney stated that documentation in a disaster is important. Man hours and equipment hours must be documented to get reimbursement. Kristie stated she wrote a debris management plan for the City with truck load tickets for the guys to complete in order to keep track of loads. The weight of the load and truck must be documented. J.D. Mersman said a debris management plan is reimbursable and we do have to have that information and the dump truck sizes. Kristie Kinney stated she believes that is in our County Emergency Operations Plan to which J.D. Mersman confirmed and said if we have an approved debris management plan, FEMA will kick in about 5% or 10% more in funding. Kristie Kinney stated we need to look at the debris management plan she created for the City because it didn’t go to FEMA for approval. J.D. Mersman said he has a template and it’s easy to submit it for approval.

COMMUNICATION AND REPORTS

Mick Brinkmeyer reported that we are in the burn season and if we don’t get any moisture soon, we may be in a State-wide burn ban. Right now with the low humidity and low moisture it won’t take much to start a fire.

Jerry Howarter stated the County Commissioners are regularly questioned on the emergency planning expenses in their budget. He said he would appreciate it if someone could come up with a article for the newspaper that would list everyone involved with the LEPC and explain when we meet, what it’s all about, what we are doing, and that we discuss and plan for everything from chemical, fire, accidents/disasters and weather related disasters. The LEPC is compiled of medical, police, local government, industries, etc. He suggested something that we can mail out to everyone or put something in the newspaper and list everyone who is involved so they can see the coverage we have. J.D. Mersman stated that this is an open record and everything is posted on the county website. Anyone is welcome to come to our meetings. Education is part of the process. Commissioner Howarter said some positive publicity would be good. Bob Mills said most cities do not have an active LEPC like we do.

Denny Landess stated had the anhydrous tank that flipped over been a fuel truck, Phillips 66 has booms, spill response trailers and everything we would need if a spill would get into the creek. If we give them a call, they are more than willing to help. Their spill equipment is in Paola. Bob Mills added that he has used them twice at the power plant. He estimated that in less than 2 hours, they had corraled 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel and pulled it into bales of straw which absorbed the fuel. He said it doesn’t take them long to get here, and when they get here they know exactly what they’re doing.

Dawn Moody thanked the County Commissioners for approving the purchase of the Emergency Medical Dispatch program to integrate into the CAD system. This program gives dispatchers more information when a 911 call comes in for medical emergency question prompts than the card set had. The software is still in the implementation process and should be live in a couple of months.

Dawn Moody reported that 911 Texting is coming to Kansas. It is currently testing in Hutchison right now. Counties that are on the 911 system should have this feature by late spring. The moto is “Call When You Can, Text When You Can’t”.

Wes McLain reported there are two (2) openings in dispatch.

Kevin PeKarek reported that police department is down one (1) officer. Out of 25-30 applications, only five (5) were qualified.

Pat Tate reported there has not been any fires in the City of Garnett since the old lumber yard fire on Highway 59. The county fire departments, law enforcement and EMS all worked together really well. It’s unfortunate that we have big fires. He stated that there were a lot of questions from Dane Hicks, publisher of the Anderson County Review, on the fire and he answered all the questions professionally. He spoke off the record about Phone Forum and told him how displeased he was that he was putting the derogatory comments about the fire department and equipment in the newspaper. Mr. Hicks thanked the county fire departments in his article. Mr. Hicks had asked him to respond to the comments in the Phone Forum and he said he refused to use the Phone Forum.

Pat Tate reported that the ladder truck started having some electrical issues that night and they became compounded last Friday. So the truck has been out of service all week. The mechanic is coming today. The fire department is going to start using one of the older engines to respond to critical medical calls for heart attacks, lift assistance or stressful EMT calls. Last month the firemen responded to a lift assist for a gentleman over 600 pounds and there was no room to work with him. The firemen will begin training on those types of calls.

Pat Tate reported grass fire season is here. There was a grass fire yesterday. There is no burning in town right now.

Mike Barger reported that meetings are being coordinated for a shut down at the ethanol plant in April. They are working with emergency management to develop a confined space rescue plan. John Alford will schedule a fire drill later on this year. They would like a larger fire scenerio to have fire departments and law enforcement participating. John Alford added that there are some alternate water sources to aid in fighting the fire at the plant.

Mike Barger reported that the renewable energy is producing at a slower rate than anticipated. There is still a lot of work going on there.

J.D. Mersman reported the storm spotter presentation will be March 2, 2017 at the community building and it is open to the public. March 5-11, 2017 is severe weather week. March 7, 2017 at 10:00 a.m., there will be a State-wide tornado drill. If there is inclement weather, the drill will be moved to March 9, 2017. Particular attention is paid on the City sirens working and someone will need to go to Lone Elm to ensure the sirens work there.

J.D. Mersman reported a full scale active shooter, mass casualty exercise at the Garnett Elementary School is scheduled and confirmed for August 9, 2017. The exercise will involve the teachers and outside contractors.

J.D. Mersman reported that on April 11, 2017 at 6:30 p.m., a table top hazardous materials exercise is scheduled for fire, EMS, and law enforcement with an outside contractor. He said the time may change to earlier to provide time for everyone to eat before the exercise. Attendees will need to rsvp since the meal will be provided.

Kristie Kinney reported that City staff was pleased with the recent hazmat class and said they learned a lot. Trent McCown agreed and said it was a great class. Mick Brinkmeyer stated that the instructor did a real good job teaching a lot of material in 4 hours. J.D. Mersman stated that class was expensive since a contractor was brought in, but Coffey, Osage, Franklin, and Anderson Counties all went in together and did a Hazardous Material Training Grant through the State. We were able to get the class completely funded. The grant required a soft match so everyone who attended the class had their hours go towards the matching grant. There were 52 who attended the classes in Anderson County. There was some time confusion since they started earlier than the first notification had advertised. He tried to get an email out to everyone on the Saturday class, but communication sometimes is difficult.

J.D. Mersman stated the next meeting will be June 22, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the Law Enforcement Center.

There being no further business, a motion was made by Mick Brinkmeyer, seconded by Jerry Howarter to adjourn the meeting at 12:10 p.m. Motion carried.

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