Peninsula Emergency Preparedness Committee Meeting Minutes
Monday, 5 March 2007
Board of Directors:
Gretchen Wilbert, Former Mayor of Gig Harbor (June 2007)
Hugh McMillan (June 2004)
Bob Jardin (June 2007)
Joseph Jones (June 2004)
Tonya Lee (June 2007)
Officers
General Chair: Dave Watson (June 2009)
Vice-Chair: Marv Nauman (June 2009)
Secretary: Jeanne Roberts (June 2009)
Treasurer: Don Lee (June 2010)
Presiding / Conducting: Dave Watson, General Chair
MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE:
Board of Directors: Gretchen Wilbert, Tonya Lee
Committee Members: Dave Watson, Don Lee, Mark Yordy, Keith Stiles, Jerry Byrum, Alana Byrum, Jeanne Roberts, JoAnne Gray
Called to order: 6:00 p.m.
REPORTS
Minutes from September 2006 - approved
Treasurer's Report: approved as distributed
We have pledged $9000 to Peninsula School District for a generator to make it possible to use the cafeteria there to cook for and feed masses of people in an emergency situation. Also, to power selected areas of the school for emergency shelters. This is contingent upon PSD taking the initiative to work this problem.
Committees
1. KGHP: Keith Stiles reported on the storm. KGHP was on the air until the system broke down. Wires are a problem: there is the risk of losing the transmitter and incoming phone lines. A major disadvantage is there is "no go" with phone communications in this state. All communications will come from here (the EOC) and that will be better. PLC has a license to transmit and could bypass phone and boradcast from Spring Hill where the translator tower is. If the situation gets really bad, we could install further equipment at Spring Hill and broadcast on one bank from there. PLC has storage there and independent power. We would need significant help from major players to make this happen. Our storm was mostly a nuisance and still, many things went wrong; in a major emergency, we would need much more amateur radio help. The 104.5 frequency has been replaced with 93.7.
2. Barrel Sales: Don Lee reported we have 16 water barrels on hand with white bung tops only. More will be ordered.
3. Former Mayor, Gretchen Wilbert informed the committee that the City of Gig Harbor has recently partnered with the Chamber of Commerce to promote a Volunteer and Visitor's Center at the Bogue Volunteer Center in downtown Gig Harbor, across the street from the Post Office. The new Volunteer and Visitor's Center is stocked with an abundance of information for local residents and is making their facilities available for public meetings. Gretchen suggested this would be a great place to conduct preparedness presentations and have a water barrel display. She suggested that Committee members visit the new Volunteer Center and apply for permission to conduct training meetings.
4. School Districts: Dave Watson reported on his meeting with Pen Light and School Superintendents. Pen Light will send engineers to look at wiring the school to determine whether it can be fixed or needs to be re-wired. Pen Light is not in a position to fund the wiring work. PEP-C has pledged $9000 to install a large generator in Peninsula High School to power the kitchen, showers and some areas of the school. Could PEP-C people go talk to the Lyon's Club, Rotary Club, etc. in an effort to raise $100,000 for a generator that could handle the job?
Perhaps there are grants available from Homeland Security or FEMA.
5. PARET: Mark Yordy was sent from DEM to coordinate 14 volunteer operators in the storm. There are communications issues. We do not have a direct radio link from the PEOP (Peninsula EOC) to County EOC. They used HAM radios for this. Mark is a radio communications manager who will work on trying to fix the radio communications issues. The DEM portal is established for internet link-up and communications. It is accessible for those cleared to use it. Someone needs to provide equipment and personnel to work this. Mark wants to work with PEP-C regarding radio volunteer operators and communications.
Jeff Bowman is the Zone 1 leaders for ARES and RACES.
6. JoAnne Gray: reported talking with the local Home Depot suggesting they set up a table on Saturdays displaying literature and emergency items.
Gretchen Wilbert suggested setting up a literature table at Skansee Brothers Park on June 3 during the Maritime Gig Festival. She is willing staff the table if someone will set it up. Jeanne volunteered to help her.
7. Website: Sue has been keeping in touch; the conversion to the new host is going slowly;
Note from Sue: a new, updated website template has been acquired (at no additional expense) and transfer of content from the online, dynamic website to the new template is a fairly easy process. The glitch is in making sure that the optimization code used in the dynamic website is not lost. PEP-C has hundreds of top search engine listings that would go away overnight if the optimization code is not transferred accurately.
Sue also discussed with Don Lee the need to streamline payments for website expenses. A motion was made to authorize automatic payments from the checking account for website expenses (ISP fees, domain name renewal, etc.) Motion was seconded and approved.
8. Fire 5: Chief Black of Fire Dept. #5 reported on his meeting with leaders and agencies in the area about our recent windstorm. Pen Light called crews in in advance from all over. Still, there were problems with public works such as wires in trees and trees over the lines in the streets. All sub-stations were down at one time. Pen Light worked well with the Phone Company and roads establishing teams to go out and clear trees over power lines enabling line crews to restore power. Priorities for power include the most people affected and business centers.
Internet capability is now available at the EOC. Chief Black discussed securing equipment not now available for communication in an emergency.
The Women's Prison facility was on generators for a long time; longer than ever before. One generator failed. Pierce County provided a generator but it took a day and a half to wire it in.
KGHP would like to have a set-up at FD#5 for emergency broadcasting. This would eliminate the problem of needing to communicate via telephone or HAM radio for dispensing information to the community.
Tom Minor from Pierce County Dept. of Emergency Management helped immeasurably with his ability to get things done quickly.
The DOT reader boards on the highway included instructions for tuning to KGHP for emergency information.
The City of Gig Harbor was impacted the least during the recent windstorm. Their Public Works crews would be avialable if asked in the future.
Chief Black suggested there are several ways PEP-C could help in future emergencies such as distributing handbills from the EOC in neighborhoods containing information as to where to get updated news on the radio, in disbributing water, training for answering the telephones at FD#5 and hHelp with security access screening at the EOC.
The EOC asked volunteers to sign up on Skills and Survey forms.
Mark Yordy (RACES, ARES, and PARET) was on site at the EOC as well and worked with his HAMs to communicate needs. Mark is now a full time employee at PCDEM in communications.
9. Jerry and Alana Byrum introduced themselves and shared their backgrounds in emergency preparedness from Texas. They were active in a CERT group there.
Community Events
1. The Health and Safety Expo will be held at the EOC on Saturday, April 5th. A display will be set up by Dave and Sue Watson with help from JoAnne Gray.
2. The Partners in Preparedness Conference is out of our price range this year, so we won't be sending anyone from the Committee to attend.
3. June 2, 2007 Maritime Gig Festival and Parade: It was determined that PEP-C will not participate in the parade this year, but Gretchen Wilbert will staff the table on Sunday, June 3, 2007.
ADJOURNED: 8:15 pm
