October 30, 2014

Garnett, Kansas

The Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) met on Thursday, October 30, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. with the following members present: John Alford, EKAE; Todd Barnes, EKAE; James K. Johnson, Anderson County Commissioner; Kristie Kinney, LEPC Secretary/City of Garnett; Tom Laiter, Anderson County Deputy; Samantha Mason, SEK MCHD Anderson; J.D. Mersman, LEPC Chairman/Anderson County Fire/Emergency Mgt.; Dawn Moody, Anderson County Communications Center; Don Nungesser, Anderson County Coroner; Kevin PeKarek, City of Garnett Police Chief; Alan Quaintance, USD #365; Robert Robbins, LEPC Vice-Chairman and Anderson County EMS; Mike Thweatt, Kansas Highway Patrol; Vern Valentine, Anderson County Sheriff.

Absent: Don Blome, USD #365; Vern Brown, Advocate Newspaper; Tabitha Clark, USD #365; Josh DeHoux, KDWP; Dave Kueser, Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline; Trent McCown, KDWP; Michelle Miller, Anderson County Public Information Officer – Road Dept.; Bob Mills, City of Garnett Power Plant; Glenn Mudd, Beachner Grain; Bob Palmer, Lybarger Oil; Keith Peine, Kansas National Guard; Leslea Rockers, East Central KS Agency on Aging; Christina Rush, Anderson County Hospital; Kevin Ryan, KDOT; Pat Tate, City of Garnett Fire Chief.

CALL TO ORDER

J.D. Mersman called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. Introductions were made of everyone who was present since we had some guests.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of November 21, 2013 were reviewed. A motion was made by Jim Johnson, seconded by Mike Thweatt to approve the minutes of July 10, 2014. Motion passed unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS

J.D. Mersman reported that the County declined using the old hospital generator for the community building due to the size of the generator and the associated cost.

J.D. Mersman said the Cornstock festival was a success with minor incidents. Kevin PeKarek reported that there was one (1) incident that went smoothly. Tom Laiter added another incident occurred after the people had gone home and a fight broke out in a yard. J.D. Mersman stated that the organizers have estimated attendance at 3,500 to 4,000 people.

J.D. Mersman stated that the emergency shelters will be ongoing. He is working on having a shelter identified for each community in the county. We also need to identify shelters for after the disaster. Kristie Kinney reported that the Catholic Church removed the restroom in their basement a short time after that location was identified as a storm shelter. She said that we will need to look into that and find another location if that will be the case.

NEW BUSINESS

Robert Robbins reported that during the move to the new hospital, they will have two (2) emergency rooms operational at both facilities and both will be staffed with physicians. On January 29, 2015 they will move patients every two (2) minutes beginning at 7:00 a.m. There will be nine (9) transport teams. Once the hospital is moved, then they will start moving Long Term Care residents. Signage will direct visitors once they change to the new location.

Calvin Hobbs, Turner Construction, provided an update on the construction of the new hospital and reviewed the engineer’s map of the grounds. The new hospital completion date will be December 5, 2014. Crews are doing the finishing work and having inspections done now. Asphalt will be put down in the next few weeks. November 14^th is the scheduled inspection date with Andy Frye, City of Garnett Building Official. The scheduled date for disconnection of electric service is not set yet. He will take a copy of the LEPC sign in sheet so he can email members a copy of the design sheet. There will be 104 parking spaces and a temporary parking lot in the front for 40 parking spaces. Family Care Center parking will remain the same.

Kristie Kinney said the historical society was approached to open up the museum grounds for overflow parking. She said board members are in favor of this and she will discuss with Denny Hackenberg, Anderson County Hospital Administrator.

Travis Rockers, Anderson County Hospital, reported that after November 29, 2014, a fence will be up around the old hospital. Water and gas will be disconnected that week. The abatement crews will begin tearing out parts of the building and they will need electric service during that phase. The demolition has been scheduled for March 5, 2015. On January 13, 2014, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., first responders will tour the building, which includes EMS, fire department, and law enforcement. He suggested that first responders use the Family Care Center parking area for the tour.

COMMUNICATION AND REPORTS

Jim Johnson thanked everyone for their support on the new hospital.

Bob Mills reported that the power plant has down sized the fuel tanks. The tank went from 75,000 gallons to 45,000 gallons on hand to alleviate having old fuel in the tank since it only lasts about three (3) years.

John Alford reported that the groundbreaking of the new renewable diesel plant on November 17, 2014. This is not biodiesel. Core drilling and topographical charts are completed. They plan to produce three million gallons per year if everything goes as planned. Eventually they will produce six million gallons per year. About 15 new staff positions will be added. There will be a truckload a day of diesel leaving the plant and possibly a truckload of corn oil coming in each day. The ethanol plant will produce most of the corn oil by recycling, but they will have to supplement it. They will still produce feed as well.

John Alford introduced Todd Barnes, who is the ethanol plant’s new environmentalist. J.D. Mersman stated that a tabletop exercise is due at the ethanol plant and he will try to have that ready for December.

J.D. Mersman questioned if there is a shelf life on body bags. Don Nungesser replied no, only when the plastic starts to break down. It is important to store the bags where they won’t sweat because the zippers will rust.

Don Nungesser reported that he has an EMT class scheduled on January 20, 2015 in Ottawa at Neosho County Community College. There are a maximum of 20 spaces for the class.

Dawn Moody reported that on Monday, the County Commissioners authorized adding one (1) full time employee (FTE). That brings the department staff numbers to seven (7) FTEs and three (3) part time employees (PT).

Dawn Moody reported that Kansas is on the forefront for the next generation 911. Sometime after the first of the year they are to receive the new mapping for the system. The State is updating all the GIS information throughout the state. Beginning in August to about October, they will put the system in the dispatch centers in all counties. In one (1) to three (3) years, the next generation 911 will be the texting and the video portion. A box about the size of a VCR will replace all the 911 equipment and will feed through a T-1 circuit. Since all dispatch centers already have a T-1 circuit for the State’s computer, they are going to try to get something worked out with KHP to feed off the same circuit, otherwise they will have to run a new circuit in. All public safety access points (PSAPs) in Kansas will have the same 911 equipment.

J.D. Mersman reported that this will tie in to the nation’s First Net system that will offer a cellular network to responders other than the major carriers of wireless service. The government is building their own network. The plans are for the system to be available for everyday use for first responders. This should be rolled out in two (2) to three (3) years. A benefit of this will be that when a network crashes, they will be on a separate network. They estimated a cost of $40 to $50 each month, per user, with unlimited usage of voice, text and data.

Kristie Kinney reported that the Lake Garnett Grand Prix Revival had a huge turnout and organizers are asking for a two (2) day event next year. The various groups who came in for this was very appreciative of the community. This was good for the City, businesses and the community and brought back some of our rich history of the races.

Kristie Kinney reported that the Anderson County Historical Society is upgrading the alarm system at the museum and the Harris House. The old system was not monitored, but would call the non-emergency number in dispatch for security, and there was no fire alarm. The new system is a 24-hour, monitored system of both security and fire. The installation of the Harris House was completed yesterday. We have added additional motion detectors as well. Fire and police will be notified of alarms now.

Vern Valentine reported that the City of Kincaid is going to have a police department. He had informed them that he could not enforce their ordinances and code violations because he has no way of prosecuting them. They must have their own judicial system to process their city ordinances and code violations. They have a judge and prosecutor. They are looking for a vehicle for the department. He decommissioned a Charger that he was having trouble with, and sold it to the City of Kincaid. It won’t be a problem for their city. He left all equipment in the car. City Police Officer Jeremiah Thompson lives in Kincaid and will be a part time officer for them as well as a resource to them on law enforcement. He estimated their department would be functioning within the next 30 days. J.D. Mersman is scheduled to help with their emergency radios.

Alan Quaintance reported they are getting the winterization of the schools done. They are finishing up football which requires a lot of maintenance. The new stadium is in the planning stages. There is a new sign in front of the high school and they will be building up bricks around it. It was reported that the sign is visible 18 miles away.

J.D. Mersman stated that he and a Red Cross representative toured the new elementary school to see if it could serve as a 24 to 48 hour shelter after a disaster. The maintenance staff was great to help with that. Plans are to look at a couple of other schools in the county as well.

Robert Robbins reported that the hospital and St. Luke’s Health System has been preparing for a possible Ebola virus since there is a lot of that in the news. They had a class yesterday on personal protective equipment (PPE) and certified that everyone was putting on and removing their PPE correctly. They meet every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and they are following the Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. The hospital will contact KDHE hotline of someone comes in with the virus. Dawn Moody added that dispatch just received cards on information to ask on the Ebola virus.

Samantha Mason reported that no calls have come into the health department about this. They are beginning to work on a plan.

Kristie Kinney questioned whether the new hospital will have any isolation rooms with negative air flow. Robert Robbins reported that there is a Hazmat room in the emergency department and one (1) negative flow room. He recommended that anyone with questions go to cdc.gov or the KDHE website. Both have information on the Ebola virus. J.D. Mersman stated that KDHE is doing a weekly call every Thursday at 10:00 a.m. on their plan and any changes.

J.D. Mersman reported that he is in the final stages of the County Emergency Operations Plan to be compliant with the State. Once completed he will get the electronic link sent out to committee members.

J.D. Mersman reported that on November 24-25, 2014, there will be a Pillowcase Project at Garnett Elementary School with the third, fourth and fifth graders. The project was a result of the Katrina Hurricane when college kids put their belongings in their pillowcases when they evacuated. The kids will decorate a pillowcase and talk about safety preparedness. The plan is for kids to take some of the information home to help their families be more prepared.

J.D. Mersman reported that there are eight (8) CERT team members now. He stressed that they need to get out more into the community and give presentations on what they are doing.

The next meeting will be tentatively scheduled for December 11, 2014 if we can get a table top pulled together. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:10 a.m.

_____________________________________ Kristina L. Kinney, Secretary