Oxford County
Emergency Management Agency

PO Box 179, 26 Western Avenue
South Paris ME 04281
Ph 207-743-6336 FAX 207-743-7346 oxctyema@megalink.net
Office hours: Monday through Friday 8am-4pm

LEPC Minutes, May 26, 2009

The Oxford County Local Emergency Planning Committee met on Tuesday May 26, 2009 at Rumford Power, Inc. in Rumford. The following were in attendance:

I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 4:07 PM by Chairperson Teresa Inman.

II. Approval of Minutes
Dick Knight moved to accept the minutes and Scott Parker seconded the motion. Vote: Approved

III. Old Business
None

IV. New Business
a. 2008 Facility of the Year Presentation
http://www.sunjournal.com/story/319332-3/RiverValley/Power_plant_recognized_for_safety/#

b. Treasurers Report
Scott Parker motioned to accept the Treasurers Report and Dick Knight seconded the motion. Vote: Approved.

c. Chemical Spill Report
Report provided Kara Walker, DEP.

d. Training Scheduled for June/July
Rail Car HazMat Technician training in Waterville on 5/27, 12 RRT 10 members from NewPage will be attending. 3 more courses are offered in South Portland the next week. There will also be an Advanced Tech Refresher (24 hour class) in August and September, 2 separate classes have been okayed by the SERC.

e. Exercise Programs – 2009 Western Maine Regional Exercise
The Red Cross will take the lead in managing the shelter at OHCHS. The Alternate Care Site was set-up and evaluated by hospital staff in mid-April. This is a CDC initiative that SMH is tackling. Other hospitals will be invited to participate and view operations.

August 23rd – Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, 8am-3pm, Full Scale Exe/Sheltering
September 27th—Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, 8am-3pm, Full Scale Exe/ACS
October 18th—Oxford Plains Speedway, 8am-3pm, Full Scale Exe/Response

f. Exercise Programs – Flood Recovery Tabletop AAR
This event was well attended by community leaders and first responders from Gilead to Canton, as well as the County Commissioners, Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff. We have received the 40-page AAR and will be meeting with tabletop attendees to review the suggestions.

g. Tier II Update
In 2006 we had 60% of our facilities reporting, 82% in 2007 and as of the end of May, 95% of our facilities have reported. We now have 16 EHS facilities reporting within our county, last year we had just 10. Facilities can now import plans into CAMEO, as well as pictures, diagrams, etc.; thereby making CAMEO a very useful pre-planning tool.

h.  Maine Partners in Emergency Preparedness Conference
Over 500 folks were in attendance and the offerings were well organized and very useful. We would encourage you to mark your calendars for next year. The dates are May 24th and 25th, 2010.

i. Decon Strike Team #4/Training Funding FY2010
We are continuing to develop and strengthen our DST. Looking at asking operational folks from other FD’s to arrive on scene and assist DST members. We are working on a new philosophy that is more similar to FD response and mutually supporting agencies rather than a strict DST response. Liability for those responding firefighter’s who are not part of the DST was questioned. Bill Hussey stated that once the EMA has called and the team has been dispatched all responders assisting are covered by the state no matter what forms have or haven’t been filled out.

DST’s first priority is public safety and their secondary mission is to back up the RRT.

Robert Gardner is now auditing all Ops classes due to course issues noted elsewhere in the state. Ray Seames stated that not everyone can wear a suit, but all should know what kind of suit it is, how to help put it on, and how to ensure it is on properly.

As you all know, our funding for Operations training for the upcoming fiscal year has been capped at $6,122.72. This is approximately one-third of what we typically spend annually to train Oxford County first responders to Operations level.

Due to this reduction, we held a meeting on Tuesday, May 12th of the County LEPC Instructors. The proposal from that meeting is as follows:

Beginning on July 1, 2009, Oxford County LEPC instructors will be paid $25/hr for instructing Operations and Operations Refresher Courses. This means that for instructing an 8 hour Operations Refresher Course you will receive $200.00, if you bring on an additional instructor for the 4 hour practical portion of the course that individual will be paid $100.00. For instructing a 20 hour full Operations course you will receive $500.00, as was stated for the Ops Refresher, if an additional instructor is brought in for the practical exercise, they will also be paid $25/hr for hours worked. The maximum student/teacher ratio for the Ops and Ops Refreshers practical exercise is 12:1.

At the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2010), the remaining available dollars will be split amongst the instructors who have taught throughout the year based on number of students taught and the type of course instructed.

j. Advanced CAMEO Training June 2009
Teresa will be attending the 3-day training in Boston. The more knowledge of the system and how to use it effectively, the more useful the program becomes for our exercise programs and our EHS facilities.

k. H1N1 Update
http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/boh/swine-flu-2009.shtml

l. IMAT Status
The initial organization for our Type IV IMAT team has been completed. The first quarterly report has been submitted and we have bi-monthly meetings scheduled. The NEPW fire was our IMAT initiation. The team has been involved in 2 tabletops, has been given a $3000 equipment budget for 2009, and now has a new telephone system in place that is efficient. They are working on go-bags and have participated in a training event with the ARES trailer as a workspace.

Currently looking to balance out the team with specialty players and folks who will help to meet all qualifications of the team, as well as looking for more depth. The team works very well together (no disagreements to date). One challenge is how do you get the right mix of folks to the incident to assist. The main IMAT vehicle is located in Mexico and alternate vehicles are located in Fryeburg and Oxford.

There are two large concerts planned in Oxford at the Fairgrounds in the month of July. Toby Keith on July 24th and what has been termed Oxxfest on July 26th.

m. EPA tabletop at Rumford Power
Jim Gaffey from the EPA has conferred with Teresa and has funding for LEPC’s for exercising EHS facilities. The EPA will bring in a team to run the exercise as well as participate. This is fully funded by the EPA and will be hosted by Rumford Power.

n. Location and Timing of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on July 28th at 4pm at Stephens Memorial Hospital. An IMAT meeting will be held at 2pm prior to the LEPC meeting.

Other Items:
Faith Mayer noted that the SERC has voted to change fee schedules and facility payments will be due only in March as opposed to the previous October and March payments. Additionally, they now take credit cards at the SERC

o. Adjournment
Scott Parker motioned to adjourn. Bill Hussey seconded. Meeting adjourned at 5:37pm

Respectfully submitted,

Allyson Hill

Send mail to oxctyema@megalink.net with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2007 Oxford County Emergency Management Agency
Last modified: 10/26/09