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NC EMERGENCY RESPONSE COMMISSION (NCERC) MEETING

Full Commission Meeting Minutes

Raleigh, North Carolina

April 16, 2004

Chairman Bryan Beatty called the April 16, 2004 Emergency Response Commission meeting to order at 9:05 am.

PRESENT: Bryan Beatty, Chairman; Kenneth Taylor, Vice-Chairman; Kevin Beauregard, Commissioner; Bob Andrews, Commissioner; Drexdal Pratt, Commissioner; Richard Holden, Commissioner; Dempsey Benton, Commissioner; Robin Pendergraft, Commissioner;

Leah Devlin, Commissioner; Ray Harrington, Commissioner; Marty Zaluski (Representing Barry Pittman, Commissioner); Larry Hughes, Commissioner; Jim Pendergraph, Commissioner; S. Dewayne West, Commissioner; Frank Palombo, Commissioner, Johnny Wayne Teeters, Commissioner and S. T. "Tommy" Cook, Jr., Commissioner.

STAFF: Anthony Bonapart, Administrator; Cheryl Perry, Legal Counsel; Erin McIntyre, 112(r) Coordinator, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Phyllis Simon, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, Administrative Assistant.

GUESTS PRESENT: Jonathan Williams Assistant Secretary, Department of Crime Control & Public Safety; Linda Hayes, Chairman, Governor’s Crime Commission; Doug Hoell, Operations Chief, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Don Needham, Information & Planning Chief, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Gary Faltinowski, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Jack Midyette, Homeland Security Branch, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; William Service, North Carolina Department of Public Health; Elaine Wathen, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, Richard Berman, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Pat Beckman, Union County Homeland Security; James Klopovic, Governor’s Crime Commission; Emily Harding, United States Coast Guard; Faye Stone, Governor’s Office, Citizen Corps; Scott Bullard, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Rebecca Troutman, North Carolina Association of County Commissioners; Woody Sandy, North Carolina State Highway Patrol; Darlene Johnson, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Jack Forshey, North Carolina Department of Labor; Ronald Campbell, Guilford County Emergency Management; Jim Kirkpatrick, North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services; Renee Hoffman, North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety; Joe Wright, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Tom Collins, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Mark Dalton, North Carolina State Highway Patrol; Wesley Walters, Governor’s Crime Commission; George Sullivan, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Gary Pope, Harnett County Emergency Management; Beverly Williams, Harnett County Emergency Management; Kay Radford, State Auditor; Pam Tully, State Bureau of Investigation; Jeff Batten, Durham County Emergency Management; Vonna Viglione, North Carolina Community College System; Roylin Hammond, Scotland County Emergency Management; Frank McKay, Richmond County Emergency Management; Mark Schell, Durham County Emergency Management; Steadman Meares, Moore County Emergency Management; Monty Stevens, Stokes County Emergency Management; Susan Decatsye, Central Piedmont Community College; Brian Brantley, Nash County Emergency Management; Gordon Deno, Wilson County Emergency Management; Melton Sadler, Forsyth County Emergency Management; Mark Brown, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Chris Merritt, North Carolina Community College System; Don Daniels, Cary Fire Department; Johnny James, Emergency Response, NCRPS; Kent McKenzie, Orange County Emergency Management; Ricky Tuttle, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management; Allan Cain, Fire Chief, Town of Cary; Holt Watts, MOTOROLA; Craig Blackwood, DATA Tech; Joe Richardson, North Carolina Department of Agriculture; Shirley McGuire, Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration; Steve Cline, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services; Lori Cherry, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources; Donnie Sides, North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services; Kevin Hutchinson, Office of the Governor; Scott Rogers, Nash County Emergency Management; Mike Hodgson, North Carolina State Highway Patrol; Steve Newton, Orange County Emergency Management, & Linda Fitzpatrick, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Chairman Beatty officially opened the meeting at 9:15 am and welcomed everyone. Secretary Beatty informed the Commission members that Nick Waters of Orange County Emergency Management is very ill and asked the members to please keep him and his family in their thoughts during this time. Dr. Tom McGinn III/Department of Agriculture has accepted a position with the Department of Homeland Security in Washington DC, and is no longer a member of the Commission. He has been replaced on the Commission by Dr. Barry Pittman.

The first order of business was the January 23, 2004 minutes. Commissioner Pratt moved to approve the minutes and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Pendergraph. The minutes were unanimously approved.

Next, Vice-Chairman Taylor gave an overview of the revised Resolutions (thirteen (13) in all). He directed the Commissioners to talking points on the Resolutions that were contained in their reference material. Vice-Chairman Taylor discussed the history of the Resolutions and the revisions that were made and noted that Cheryl Perry/Legal Counsel has also reviewed the Resolutions. Vice-Chairman Taylor called for a motion to adopt the Resolutions. Commissioner Pendergraph moved to adopt the Resolutions and was seconded by Commissioner Teeters. The resolutions were unanimously approved. Next on the agenda was a presentation by Capt Woody Sandy of the State Highway Patrol.

Capt Woody Sandy’s presentation covered the following areas:

Tactical Solution

Temporary solution for interoperable emergency communications

17 remote fixed site communications gateways

Controlled at SHP Communications Centers

Pre-equipped with radios for locals

Estimated Cost $3.3m

Tactical Solution Issues

Memorandums of Agreement between Agencies

Operational Plans

• Plain English (no 10 codes)

• Who authorizes interconnect

• Disconnect procedures

System Capacity impact

Mobile Solution (Tactical)

3 mobile interoperable communications platforms to eliminate diminished capacity for extended periods

Pre-positioned across the state

Long term incidents / events

• More than 6 to 8 hours

Enhanced unit to support 800 MHz systems and operate as a standalone communications system.

Large special events

What will the Tactical Solution do for me?

Provide temporary interoperable communications with other public safety agencies on-demand during emergencies.

Provide interoperable communications with those agencies from surrounding jurisdictions that may come to assist you.

Mobile solution can provide temporary communications system if there is a catastrophic system failure state or local.

Strategic Solution

Statewide 800 MHz trunked radio system available for all emergency responders.

APCO 25 compliant

Individual talk groups for agencies

Mutual aid talk groups

VIPER is the infrastructure

• 95% in-street portable coverage

Agencies responsible for subscriber units

• Subscriber units from multiple manufacturers

Industry Partnerships

Utility Companies

• 39 sites that we’ve identified that may be re-useable for the VIPER Strategic Solution.

Hopefully we can encourage other utility companies to participate.

What will the Strategic Solution do for me?

Provide locals with a state-of-the-art, robust APCO 25 CAI compliant communications system.

Multi manufacturer radios – the option to buy from multiple vendors.

Autonomous talk groups – agency specific talk groups.

Coverage redundancy – if a transmitter fails in your area you benefit from infrastructure in surrounding areas.

Wide area coverage (coverage from surrounding counties sites)

What will the Strategic Solution do for me?

Interoperable communications daily with a single radio – improved information sharing, quicker response times when resources are needed, enhanced safety for emergency responders, better service to our citizens.

Statewide roaming - ability to respond to emergencies outside normal jurisdictions

Mutual aid talk groups

 

After Capt Sandy completed his presentation he answered questions about the VIPER project:

Commissioner Palombo - is the system categorized as type 1 or type 2?

Capt Sandy - the system falls under the type 2 category.

Commissioner West - what type of coordination problems are occurring with the counties?

Capt Sandy - we have state and local partners to include industry partners such as utility companies:

• Attend meetings statewide to discuss VIPER

• Also mutual aid talk groups

• Emergency Management Conference

• Sheriffs Association meetings

• Sampson Technical Community College etc.

Commissioner West - I read an article about an $86 million 800 MHz Interoperable Communications system purchased by the Alabama State Police. After spending all that money and effort, the states law enforcement agencies cannot communicate with each other using the system. I don’t want that to happen here in North Carolina.

Major Clay - the Alabama State Police did not effectively partner with state and local agencies before implementation. That will not happen here in North Carolina.

Chairman Beatty - how many states have implemented voice interoperable communications?

Capt Sandy - Michigan, South Carolina is almost complete, Ohio, Florida, Utah has implemented in the center of the state.

Commissioner Teeters - will this project end up costing more than the 3.3m outlined in the presentation?

Capt Sandy - there is a chance it may cost more.

Commissioner Teeters - some people assume that all districts have an 800 MHz system but they are wrong. For example, Charlotte and Greensboro cannot talk to each other because of a lack of proper communications equipment. This inability to communicate puts our responders at risk during a Mass Casualty situation. We should move forward with this project.

Commissioner Teeters - some jurisdictions want to do things by themselves and purchase what they deem appropriate. But you must have training and some way to maintain the items you purchase. You are taking on a debt and I believe we must work as a team.

Commissioner Holden - if we have a disaster, it is not one agency that will respond but many. We cannot combat a disaster without other agencies’ assistance. Response to a disaster works much better when we know who is responding and where. I remember responders being displaced during a disaster because we could not communicate with them. We have got to come together and resolve these issues now, before we face a critical situation.

Commissioner Pratt - Medical services have partnered with the Highway Patrol on our VHF system and the partnership is working very well. For example, during the incident at West Pharmaceutical we could communicate with the Highway Patrol and local hospitals. The advantage of communicating with key agencies during this incident directly resulted in a more effective response.

Commissioner West – we voted in January to support VIPER, therefore, that is not the issue. The issue in regards to VIPER is funding. Are we going to fund VIPER at the expense of other local needs? I believe that is the real issue.

Chairman Beatty – Commissioner West comments leads us to the next topic.

Chairman Beatty gave an update on the 2004 Homeland Security funding:

The Commission has agreed that interoperable communications is our number 1 priority.

If we split the funding up 100 different ways we will not be able to address our interoperable communication needs, therefore we must work together on this project.

Governor Easley has said that he will find some money to support VIPER, so the state is making a commitment to support this project.

We proved that partnerships can work by joining with local agencies to build the Mobile Data Network. This network provides law enforcement agencies across the state with the ability to communicate and interact with other law enforcement agencies and access criminal databases.

I received a recommendation from the North Carolina Emergency Management Association, Metro Fire Chiefs, Metropolitan Coalition, League of Municipalities, and County Commissioners Association regarding the allocation of the funds. The recommendation is to take the $41 million in state and local Homeland Security funds and split it in half. Take 50% and allocate to the counties on per capita basis, similar to the FY03 process. The other 50 % will go into a competitive grant process that will be managed by the Governor’s Crime Commission with interoperable communications as a priority. We will also establish a review committee consisting of local government personnel from all disciplines. After careful review of the proposal, I have decided to accept this recommendation.

The Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program has $12,280,000 in funding but has received $60M in proposals.

Commissioner Pendergraft – Law Enforcement agencies are partnering with each other during this process along with other agencies.

We have 60 days from March 29, which would be May 28, 2004 to inform the Department of Homeland Security how funding will be allocated.

We are not taking any money away from the locals, in fact we are still meeting the 80% requirement.

Commissioner Devlin – how close can we get to state wide interoperability with this current plan?

Chairman Beatty – we are not sure, but we will do as much as funding will allow. We have already completed I-40 from Raleigh to Wilmington using federal funds.

Commissioner West – who can apply for the competitive grants?

Chairman Beatty – any agency/jurisdiction that shows a partnership.

Commissioner Palombo – how do we help those jurisdictions that do not have the staff or talent to write proposals to compete for these grants?

Commissioner Pendergraft – the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program staff can assist them.

Commissioner West – they can also solicit their local Community College for assistance.

Commissioner Harrington – the Community College system is ready to help in this endeavor any way we can.

Commissioner Cook – EMS/Rescue supports this project and we are committed to seeing it through.

Next, Ms. Faye Stone provided the Commission with an overview of Citizen Corps.

Ms. Faye Stone covered the following areas during her presentation:

Citizen Corps is a national volunteer initiative that was created by President

Bush after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The initiative encourages all people to volunteer in some type of activity that is focused on homeland security, disaster preparedness and response, public health, public safety, and/or personal safety and preparedness.

Citizen Corps is promoted in local communities by Citizen Corps Councils, a group of local leaders from emergency management, law enforcement, fire departments, EMS, public health department, education, utility departments, media, volunteer organizations, and the faith community.

Citizen Corps has four charter volunteer programs: Neighborhood Watch,

Volunteers In Police Service, Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT),

and Medical Reserve Corps.

Financial sponsors for Citizen Corps are the US Department of Homeland Security, US Department of Justice, and US Department of Health and Human Services.

Even though Citizen Corps has only four charter member volunteer programs, any organization with any of the same focus areas as Citizen Corps are considered to be Citizen Corps programs such as:

o volunteer firemen

o EMS

o Civil Air Patrol

Citizen Corps is being promoted in every state in the nation, however our state is a leader in the initiative.

North Carolina currently has 58 Citizen Corps Councils (32 county councils, 23

city/town councils, 2 tribal councils, and 1 state council), 33 CERT teams,

23 Volunteers in Police Service Programs, and 5 Medical Reserve Corps.

SERC members (and their agency or organization) are invited to become a collaborative partner with Citizen Corps in NC.

Next, Chairman Beatty moved to the subcommittee reports.

Commissioner Pendergraph presented the Homeland Security Funding Priorities Subcommittee report:

Showed 15 minute video regarding the need for public awareness and vigilance against terrorism from Sir John Stevens of Scotland Yard.

Sir John Stevens will speak at a Governor’s Crime Commission Safe Communities seminar in October in Charlotte NC.

Commissioner Pendergraft presented the Prevention & Mitigation Subcommittee report:

Distributed an information sheet that covers the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program.

Proposals received by the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program:

o Viper=$33 million

o Information Sharing = $13 million

o Threat Recognition = $11 million

o Intervention and Prevention = $1.5 million

o Target Hardening = $1 million

We focused on direction of the committee and we are working on a definition of prevention and mitigation.

Our goal is to make recommendations to the Commission and not act as an implementing agency.

Commissioner Beauregard presented the Technology Subcommittee report:

We received a listing of equipment requested by the jurisdictions and we are working to narrow the list, so we can focus our recommendations on certain types of equipment.

Distributed the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) information sheet for testing and certifying air-purifying respirators intended to protect emergency responders from chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) exposures.

Vice-Chairman Taylor presented the SARA Title III, "Community Right-to-Know" Law Subcommittee report:

The committee reviewed and approved the revised Resolutions.

We discussed the 2004 Hazardous Material Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grant cycle.

Emerson Teer recommended that Branch managers review LEPCs that have failed to meet the contract requirements in the last three years and consider their record when deciding who should receive the grant.

Anthony Bonapart has been expanding our outreach program by visiting various counties and speaking at symposiums.

Commissioner West presented the Professional Standards and Interoperability Subcommittee report:

The Committee is looking over the new National Interagency Incident Management System (NIIMS) to ensure all training agencies are on the same page.

The National Interagency Incident Management System has been developed to provide a common system that emergency service agencies can utilize at local, state, and federal levels.

Next, Dr. William Service of the Department of Health and Human Services gave a presentation on Biological Agent Threats, Public Health Response Protocol.

Dr. William Service covered the following areas:

Purpose

Standardize Response

Maximize limited resources

Define Roles

Forensic Integrity

– site, samples

Scene Control

– exposure, environmental contamination

Improve Sample Quality

– Minimize Submittal of Unnecessary Samples

– Maintain Lab (LRN) Capacity

Safety and Health of the Public and Responders

Discovery

Don’t Touch, Taste or Smell

Leave the Area

Isolate the Area

Wash

List of Exposed

Isolate Exposed

Threat Assessment

Law Enforcement Lead

Public Health, Hazmat Participation

Rule Out Examples

– Return Address, Explainable Substance

Credible/Not Credible

Handheld Detection System

Should not be used

– for threat assessment

– for screening

US Dept of Health and Human Services

– July, 2002

False Positives

– Chemical interference

False Negatives

– LD = 106 to 1011

Credible Threat

FBI/SBI Threat Verification/Notification Before Proceeding

Public Health Deployment

– if not on-scene

RRT/Haz Mat Deployment

– if not on-scene

Establish and Maintain Area Isolation

Decon Exposed Personnel Prior to Release

Notify SLPH

Collect Samples

– Hazmat personnel (appropriate PPE, Decon)

Sample Collection

Screen for Radiation and Explosives

– Hazmat protocols

Bulk (object)

– if unopened

Wipe

Swab

Vacuum

Packaging and Transportation

No Paint Cans

Triple Container

CDC Shipping and Packaging Guidelines

Law Enforcement Transportation

We are asking the SERC to support this protocol to include training Law Enforcement personnel statewide.

Commissioner Teeters – How long does it take to get lab results back?

Dr. Service – Right now we have three (3) regional labs but we need new ones.

Commissioner Teeters – I believe it is appropriate for the Professional Standards and Interoperability Subcommittee to review the protocol.

Commissioner West – a lot of training will be required for Law Enforcement personnel.

Commissioner Hughes – I would also like to see training for Fire, EMS & Rescue who may be first on scene.

Commissioner Palombo – I don’t think there will be a problem unless law Enforcement does not feel safe following the protocol system.

Commissioner West – Methamphetamine labs is a good foundation to test the protocols.

o Methamphetamines are synthetic amphetamines or stimulants that are produced and sold illegally in pill form, capsules, powder and chunks.

Commissioner Harrington – our Community College system is here to help educate our responders on the protocol.

Chairman Beatty - the Professional Standards and Interoperability Subcommittee will review the protocol and make a recommendation to the Commission.

Chairman Beatty thanked everyone for attending. The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, July 9, 2004 at 9:00 am in the Archdale Building Ground Floor Hearing Room, Raleigh, NC.

Meeting adjourned at 12:05 pm.