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The Local EMA Meeting took place December 6th 2006 in
the Grand Jury Room of the County Courthouse. The following were in attendance:
Scott Parker/County EMA Director, Allyson Chase/County EMA Admin. Assistant,
Frank Blauvelt/Otisfield EMA, Ken Dixon/Andover EMA, Jim Dyment/Canton EMA,
James Siracuse/Hiram EMA, Robert Heard/Porter EMA, Ken Richardson/Denmark EMA,
Richard Perreault/Brownfield EMA, Bonnie Seames/Norway EMA, Tom
Standard/Buckfield-Hartford-Sumner EMA, Jon Tibbetts/Oxford EMA, Geoff
Low/Dixfield EMA, Wayne Dube/Canton Fire Chief, Bill Haynes/Waterford EMA, Wayne
Miller/Sweden EMA, Frank Robey/Stoneham EMA.
Meeting
Notes
Local EMA Certification Presentation
Geoff Low, Dixfield EMA, completed the 114 hour training curriculum required
by the state for Basic Emergency Manager Certification. We began the meeting by
presenting Geoff with a certificate and jacket for his accomplishments.
Congratulations on being the first Local EMA within Oxford County to complete
this training!
HLSG (Homeland Security Grants)
121 grants were submitted statewide and are currently under review at MEMA.
2.6 million is available statewide and 10 grants were submitted from Oxford
County totaling $695,000. December 22nd is the date MEMA should
release the awards.
Local EMA Certification
Over the next 12 months, in addition to the courses offered online for Basic
EMA Certification, MEMA will be offering several of the classroom courses. We
will keep you posted on these classes, as well as when we may offer them in
Oxford County taught by a fellow Local EMA or Scott.
Guest Speaker Joann Mooney
Joann Mooney, Maine State Hazard Mitigation Officer, spoke to the group on
the importance of mitigation identification, how a disaster declaration comes
about and results in Hazard Mitigation Grant funds. In addition, she explained
the nationally competitive Pre-Disaster Mitigation Competition which opens every
year around Thanksgiving time. The state deadline for the current Pre-Disaster
Mitigation competition is January 23rd. MEMA is offering an eGrants
Workshop on December 18th in Augusta. If you are interested in
learning more please check our website or contact our office.
CERT (Community Emergency Response Team)
We now have 76 CERT members in Oxford County. If your town or group of towns
would be interested in pursuing the formation of a CERT team for Shelter
Operations please let us know. Resources are dwindling in ARC world and we are
looking for townspeople to take the lead in opening and operating local shelters
when there is a need. CERT members are activated by the EMA office and thereby
covered by the states liability and workman’s compensation.
We are also looking for individuals in towns/regions that
would be willing to take charge of a local CERT team, if you are that person or
know someone who is interested let us know.
In addition, if you know of a facility near an identified
ARC shelter in your community that you believe would be suitable for a Pet
Shelter please let us know. The Oxford County CART team is hoping to identify
Pet Shelters around the County in the next year to create agreements and shelter
plans.
Local EMA Budget
In the next year we would like to see the local municipalities look into
providing funding (at the very least mileage and training reimbursement) for
their Local EMA’s. We are going to focus on this issue over the next twelve
months.
Laptop Project
We are still looking into the idea of a group purchase on laptops for local
EMA’s.
2007 Meeting Schedule
We have scheduled quarterly meetings for next year. They are as follows:
March 1, May 31, Aug 30, and November 29th.
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Oxford County
