Meeting Minutes
Olmsted Room - Senate Building
May 11, 2017
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Attendees:
Council Chairs Division of Emergency Management
Lt. Governor Spencer J. Cox, Co-Chair Judy Watanabe, Deputy Director
Commissioner Keith D. Squires, Co-Chair
Department of Transportation Department of Health
Carlos Braceras, Executive Director Dean Penovich, Deputy Director
Department of Environmental Quality Department of Natural Resources
Alan Matheson, Executive Director Sid Groll, Director
Brent Everett, Director
Utah National Guard Department of Agriculture and Food
Maj. General Jefferson Burton, Adjunct General Thayne Mickeson, Homeland Security
Utah Association of Counties Utah Emergency Management Association
Dean Cox, Washington County Tal Ehlers, Uintah County
Cody Barton, Sevier County
Council Subject Matter Experts General Public
Jim Buchanan, Salt Lake Community College Jeff Graviet, University of Utah
Will Lusk, Cache County Jan Buttrey, Utah Hospitals Association
Legal Counsel
Kevin Bolander, AG-DPS
Absent:
Attorney General Department of Workforce Services
Sean Reyes, Attorney General Jon Pierpont, Executive Director
Utah League of Cities and Towns Utah Association of Counties
Dustin Lewis, South Jordan City Lance Peterson, Weber County
Council Subject Matter Experts
Jeff King, Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District
Brian Garrett, Zions Bank
Welcome and Introductions - Lt. Governor Spencer J. Cox, Co-Chair
Agenda Item: Meeting Minutes Approval - Lt. Governor Spencer J. Cox, Co-Chair
● The meeting minutes for the October 4, 2016 meeting were approved unanimously.
Agenda Item: Open Meeting Act Training - Kevin Bolander, DPS-AG Legal Counsel
● Annual training required to comply with the Opening Meeting Act. The objective is to alert and make sure that council members are aware of the issues.
● Public has a right to see how government functions and conducts business.
○ For electronic (video, GoToMeeting, phone) meetings to take place you have to have an administrative rule in place. It is an option and DPS currently has a rule in review.
○ Notice of the meeting and agenda items have to be on the notice or action can’t be taken by the council. The rule is 24 hours before a meeting you have to give notice of what is going to be discussed and all of its pertinent information. The council chair may entertain discussion of an item raised by the public however no action can be taken on the item.
● Emergency meetings can be held by and an emergency vote by the council to waive the 24 hour rule can be done. Make sure if there is an emergency meeting that it is noted in the minutes and that the unforeseen circumstance is stated.
● Issues during the meeting and when can a council close the meeting. The council would only be able to close the meeting for specific purposes: personnel, security systems, investigative proceedings, and litigation. 2/3rds vote to close the meeting. An entirely closed meeting does not exist. You’d have to initially start it in public and end it in public with the closed portion during the meeting.
● Keep minutes of meetings by requirement. Minutes in the closed portion are classified or protected and can only be released by court order.
Agenda Item: FirstNet and UCA - Dave Edmonds, Executive Director of UCA and Gordy Coles, Statewide Interoperability Coordinator UCA
● FirstNet is the final icing on the cake for the lessons learned through 9/11 and the communications that happen. The primary purpose of FirstNet is for LE and Fire to have the ability to communicate and to share information to first responders. Gordy Coles will go over some issues and challenges. AT&T will be the principal for FirstNet. Governor Herbert will be responsible for opting into the system when the opt-in period starts.
● FirstNet and Public Safety Communications in the State of Utah
○ There use to only be 4 channels in the U.S. and 30 years later we have 100s of channels, tens of thousands of users and we trunk it over to various levels. In addition we now have to carry features such as push to talk including data and protecting the public.
● What is FirstNet and how does it help first responders?
○ To provide bandwidth for video, data, and photographs for first responders for better situational awareness, coordination, and response. It is based on an app and the pipeline will be the cell tower and data carrier provider. It will be processed through dispatchers. It is an effort that has included the federal government, communications providers, state governments, and local responders and is a result of lessons learned from the 9/11 Commission report and the need to create a broadband network. For first responders that use this system there will be a dedicated network for data. Currently first responders get data service and coverage from a service provider and you’re competing with the public on the network. Service can become slow or inaccessible.
○ FirstNet was signed into law in 2012 by President Obama. Congress appropriated 7 billion dollars for its buildout and it was initially allocated 20 MHz. There are on average 8 million public safety users compared to AT&T’s 50 million users. This dedicated frequency and bandwidth will allow for good coverage and accessibility.
● Where we are now with FirstNet
○ Released RFP in January 2016 and a contract was signed in March of 2017 to AT&T. The highlights of this contract for AT&T are:
■ Contract period for 25 years
■ Contract ceiling $100B
■ AT&T has to pay back 18 billion dollars back over the contract period.
■ 16 billion will go back into the network. Build outs in rural areas.
■ Within AT&T there are several other companies that have specialty areas to increase capabilities for first responders that use the FirstNet network
■ To date, AT&T has met all objectives of the RFP and exceeded rural coverage milestones
● What does this mean for Utah?
○ When a state opts in to have FirstNet built AT&T will give priority to those public safety entities to subscribe to AT&T for other communications needs and will include a 24/7 help desk for public safety customers. This includes a dedicated security operations center and access to over 40,000 WiFi hotspots.
○ States will need to opt in and service will begin to be available at the end of 2017.
○ FirstNet is an additional capability to UHF/VHF and 800 MHz radios. Those communications networks will still function as they’re currently being used.
● What are the next steps?
○ There will be a kick-off meeting in June 2017 in Dallas, TX with AT&T. The documents will be made available through the FirstNet portal. The secure site of the portal will only be available to the Utah team before the access can be give to those here in Utah.
○ June - July the state plan will be reviewed and then the comment period will be open to submit and review comments in the FirstNet portal.
○ Mid-September UCA will present to Governor Herbert so he can make a decision about whether to opt-in. If FirstNet comes in to build it there would be no costs associated with the build out. Utah would be responsible for subscription costs.
○ If Governor Herbert opt-in the final plan delivery for Utah to the Governor would be in September, 2018 with a buildout being completed by 2022.
● Discussion
Dean Cox: In an emergency what happens to close the bandwidth from the public so that first responders can utilize all of it?
Gordy Coles: The exact system hasn’t been decided but the concept is to be able to automate where that bandwidth would be closed off during an emergency so that first responders can utilize it.
Tal Ehlers: How does the rural coverage work into the build out?
Gordy Coles: The rural build has to be part of the overall build and will not be last in the overall plan. It has to be part of the original plan to build out the entire state. We don’t know how that looks yet but it will be done in a consistent manner to have rural areas built out at the same time as urban areas.
Jan Buttrey: Will hospitals and military have access to this network?
Gordy Coles: Yes in fact military and hospitals currently have access to band 14 for that. Currently your phones don’t have the band 14 but in the future that would be available.
Agenda Item: State Emergency Response Commission - Cody Barton, Past Chair for the SERC Advisory Committee and Jim Buchanan, SERC Advisory council
● Background on the SERC through EPCRA was explained and the makeup of the Commission and how it functions. The SERC is tasked with hazardous materials planning, response and remediation.
○ Hazmat incident in Juab County of a chemical spill illustrates the need for regulating hazardous materials cleanup. A licensed cleanup company was contracted to take care of this particular spill. When the company showed up they were met by the tow truck company which had received approval from the responsible party’s insurance company to allow the tow truck company to clean up because their cost would be lower than the contracted company. Currently the incident commander and first responders have no way of verifying who can clean up hazardous waste. The question is why are there no certification requirements for hazardous materials cleanup. There are laws for storage, transportation, and disposal. The SERC is currently studying this issue to provide DPS and DEQ with a proposal of how to address this issue.
● We’ve spoken about the importance and need to support LEPCs through engagement with their local elected officials. Why an LEPC is important and why does it exist.
○ In the State of Utah we have many LEPCs that aren’t sure where to start.
○ The SERC Advisory wants to educate the whole community of why do we need an LEPC and to take a series of presentations to the Counties, ULCT, UAC, and the Private Sector to improve support to LEPCs.
○ What is the government’s role and what is the private sector’s role. It has to be a collaborative effort. Working with the business to be better engaged and what services and resources can the private sector bring, training, etc.
○ Toolbox or Toolkit that an LEPC can utilize to have increase its effectiveness and to involve the whole community.
Agenda Item: Spring Snowmelt Briefing - Brian McInerney, National Weather Service
● Sizeable snowpack could create some serious challenges based upon how it melts through the spring. The water supply is great and it's the best it has been in the last 5 years. However, we have 200% in the bear river drainage and 150% in the upper green drainage.
○ Streamflow on the logan river - CFS snowpacks melt much later when they’re larger. Records have already been set with daily maximum flows for February and March.
○ Snowpack May 7th Bug Lake automated snow measuring station in Cache County. Flood warnings for the South Fork, Causey, and Bear River, and anticipate the Logan River going to flood on Saturday and then dropping off. Additionally, Tony Grove Lake is 172% above average.
● Flood Scenarios:
○ SLC Airport we went 25 degrees above average in 1983 which caused the flooding and so far we have warmed up roughly 15-20 degrees higher during February which caused flooding in Cache County.
○ We’re going to see agricultural flooding and we could see some homes in the flooding zone as we currently have flooding in farmland in Weber County.
○ This is a range of possibilities because of the ability to forecast weather to a maximum of 5 days out.
○ The Wasatch Front and Cache valley could be prone to flooding if we have a rapid increase in temperature and have rapid melting of the snowpack with the possibility of some rain adding to compound the risk. The concern is that we’ve already had wild swings with high precips and high temperatures. Are we going to have average conditions or wild swings is the question that can’t be answered right now because of forecast limitations.
○ Central Utah is melting fast and soon we’ll run out of snow in Central Utah and flooding does not seem to be an issue. The concern is from Provo to the North.
● Discussion
Lt. Governor Cox: We may want to be put together a briefing for the Governor on potential for flooding.
Agenda Item: Utah Seismic Safety Commission Update - Leon Barrett, USSC Commission Chair
● USSC three major points that will be highlighted.
1. Earthquake risks in Utah are real and verifiable especially with 80% of the population living along the Wasatch Front. USSC was organized by statute and has representation from several different agencies including the University of Utah, Department of Public Safety, Department of Natural Resources, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, and American Society of Civil Engineers. Probability of a major earthquake is 43% for a 6.75 magnitude in the next 50 years.
● Christchurch earthquake is similar to the effects and magnitude with its impact on Utah as any other earthquake.
2. Major earthquake is a big deal.
● Quick