Jefferson County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)

December 17, 2014

Minutes

Clarion Hotel and Conference Center, Shepherdstown

The Jefferson County LEPC met at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center on Wednesday, December 17th, 2014 at 1200 hours. Those present were: Ed Boober, volunteer; Michael Davis, volunteer; Woody Garrett, Shepherdstown Fire Department; Sandy Green, WVDHSEM Liaison; Sandy Hite, Jefferson County Health Department; Dr. Sheri Hoff, Jefferson County Schools; Jeff Jefferies, WVU Jefferson Medical Center; Don McLaughlin, EPA; Barbara Miller, JCHSEM; John Mills, LEPC; Jessica Owens, JCHSEM; Chief William Roper, Ranson Police Department; and Brandon Vallee, JCHSEM.

Mr. Mills, Chair, called the meeting to order.

Mr. Jefferies moved to approve the November 19th, 2014 meeting minutes. All approved.

Mr. Boober stated that there is $3,078.38 in the regular account and $15,024.46 in the Mass Fatalities Conference account. He stated that there will be a deposit of the HMEP grant, totaling $5,000.00 into the regular account. Mr. Boober stated that there are two pending invoices, one for $5,000.00 due to JH Consulting from the regular LEPC account and one for $725.00 due to Gestalt Management Corporation from the mass fatalities account. Dr. Hoff moved to approve the payment of the two invoices and to approve thefinancial reports. All approved.

  1. Unfinished Business
  1. “Cold as Ice” ExerciseAfter Action Report
  2. Mr. Green and Mr. McLaughlin talked about the after action meeting. Mr. McLaughlin stated that in order to prepare for next year’s full scale exercise, that participating agencies should submit capabilities they would like to test.
  3. The tentative date of the full scale exercise is September 19th, 2015. Initial planning meetings for this exercise will be held in January and February.
  4. Region Planning Meeting in Hardy County December 16 from 0900-1500
  5. Mr. Green stated that the Department of Homeland Security and the state are interested in strengthening overall capabilities. He stated that Jefferson County is leading the charge on capabilities, exercise participation, and preparedness when compared to the rest of the state.
  6. HMEP Grant application, $5,000 has been submitted to the SERC-Approved!
  7. Mrs. Miller stated that the grant funding for the current year has been approved by the SERC.
  8. 2014 Reimbursement in State Auditor’s Office; approved for payment
  9. Mrs. Miller stated that the reimbursement check has been received.
  10. Credentialing in Jefferson County
  11. Mrs. Miller stated that Jefferson County has suspended the credentialing process until various hardware and software issues are resolved. NextGen ID representatives will be coming to Jefferson County on January 5th to assist in the resolution of the credentialing issues.
  12. Tier II Reports January-March, 2015
  13. Mrs. Miller stated that all organizations which maintain a certain amount of chemicals at their facility must submit Tier II report2 electronically. This needs to be completed between January 1 and March 31, 2015. She stated that the information on how to report is available on the state’s website.
  14. Mrs. Miller stated that she will be formulating a letter to Tier II facilities on how to submit their Tier II within the next month. It will be signed by the LEPC Chair, John Mills.
  15. Above Ground Storage Tanks
  16. Mrs. Miller stated that above ground storage tank registrations can be completed at:
  17. WV Hospital Association Regions 8 & 9 Functional Exercise Report
  18. Mr. Jefferies stated that the functional exercise went well. He stated that WVU Berkeley and Jefferson Medical Centers did well, but there is opportunity to continue the learning process. He stated that in the future, they would like to organize an exercise which involves WV Hospitals Association Regions 8 and 9 and WV Homeland Security Region 3 and to encourage more players to be involved, including those outside of the hospital association.
  1. New Business
  2. WV State Training Schedule. To register for any of this training, go to then click on Course Catalog to register for the classes you want, or to view available classes.
  3. Mrs. Miller stated that there has been a change in the enrollment process. Instead of being able to enroll in classes a year out, course enrollment will be done on a quarterly basis in order to ensure equal access to all interested participants.
  4. Dr. David Didden/Sandy Hite-Health Department update
  5. Ms. Hite stated there has been no recent Ebola activity in the United States. The Jefferson County Health Department still participates on conference calls with the state and local health departments to discuss any Ebola concerns.
  6. Ms. Hite stated that cases of Enterovirus D-68 cases have been increasing across the United States. She stated that the influenza season is just beginning and that the first cases of flu have been reported in West Virginia. Mr. Jefferies stated that the current flu vaccine is not effective against the most prevalent strand of the virus, however it will assist in protecting against other stands. Ms. Hite stated that JCHD is working on mutual aid agreements with other health departments, specifically Berkeley County and Loudoun County.
  1. Member Sharing Time

Mr. Davis stated that there were no new updates to the website. He stated that if committee members have materials they would like posted onto the website, they should reach out to him.

Ms. Hite stated that the CDC is changing the review process for the Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI). Instead of focusing on planning for a biological incident, they are going to focus more on department capabilities. Jefferson County Health Department is a member of the National Capital Regions CRI District and has to participate in a full scale exercise with its regional partners once every five years. Ms. Hite stated that she is going to use this as an opportunity to reach out to neighboring counties in Maryland and Virginia in order to coordinate efforts and establish mutual aid agreements.

Mr. Jefferies stated that he is working with Mrs. Bock to bring her up to speed on safety and emergency preparedness for WVU Jefferson and Berkeley Medical Centers.

Mrs. Miller stated that there is an opportunity to host a railroad safety training course during the month of January. The training would consist of two classes, one during the afternoon and one during the evening. No date has been set for this training. Those present felt that it would be a worthwhile training for emergency responders.

Mrs. Miller stated that the passage of the recent federal budget did not cover the Department of Homeland Security funding. Determination of their budget will occur before February 15th. Mrs. Miller stated that the WVDHSEM still has access to DHS grant money from previous years. She stated that the state is interested in increasing the capabilities and the quantity of trained staff who know how to utilize those capabilities in its jurisdictions

Mrs. Miller stated that the county budget process will begin after the holidays. The County Comimissions final budget has to be submitted to the state by March 31st, 2015. Mrs. Miller stated that the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, in coordination with Blue Ridge Fire Department, is holding a meeting on December 19th, 2015 to discuss evacuation procedures for Shannondale and Mission Road during a disaster.

  1. Mass Fatalities Conference

The priority of the meeting was to work on the schedule and to propose workshop and lecture ideas for the conference. Mr. Mills stated that he would like to have a hands on workshop for first responders. He suggested the workshop be on triage and tagging. Mr. Mills stated that this workshop would be an ideal way to push for a standardization of triage tags across the state in addition to getting credits for training. Mrs. Miller suggested inviting Mr. Bello to provide hands on training on how to respond to an incident involving an Amtrak train.

Ms. Hite indicated that Ken Middleton would come back to teach a 4-hour workshop on stress and post traumatic stress.

In addition to workshops, the committee suggested ideas for classroom sessions. Ms. Hite suggested inviting a representative from the NIH to discuss hemorrhagic fever. Mrs. Miller suggested having the medical examiner teach a class. Mr. McLaughlin stated that he could teach a class on the broad scope of an environmental impact incident. Mrs. Miller suggested asking Mr. Harvey to present a class about mass fatality planning.

The committee preferred the idea of having regular classes in the morning, break for lunch, then resuming with the hands on workshop or classroom training in the afternoon.

Ms. Hite stated that she will work on a tentative schedule taking everyone’s thoughts into consideration. She stated that if any committee members had ideas about classes, workshops, or speakers, to contact her.

The next Mass Fatalities Conference Planning meeting will be held on January 21st at 1200 at the Ranson Police Department’s Meeting Room. The next LEPC meeting will be held in mid-February.